MACC
Magical Accumulator (MACC)
The Magical Accumulator or MACC is a device that can store magical energy. It was invented by Rupert Quintus Pickerel (aka Rupert Pyke) towards the end of his tenure as Director of the Sechsäugigerwyrm's magical research establishment at Teichöden. Pickerel realised that the resonator cube crystals used as controllers for the magical sabotage creatures (including the Quicksilver Wyrms) must be stores of magical energy that was shared between the group. Anna-Lise Baldour, the creator of the crystals and the technology for their manufacture also created a form of gem that could combine and split beams of magical energy. These were made from star gems, the natural forms of which show a six pointed star in their surface when illuminated by an intense light. The amount of magical energy transferred between the resonator crystals was limited but Pickerel realised that combining the energy from six of the crystals using the star gems could produce a single higher intensity beam. This beam could be used to divert the energy from the resonant interactions of the resonance crystals and hence create a beam of raw magical energy.
Since a single six cube unit would only create a low power beam Pickerel adapted the technology to concentrate the beams from six of the sub units to combine them into a thirty-six fold beam. The raw energy from this beam could be modulated by a wizard using a single focusser crystal so that the magical intention of the wizard would effectively multiplied by the power of the MACC. Hence even a simple MACC unit could provide six times the energy for a spell and the prototype thirty-six cube unit could multiply a spell effect by thirty six.
Pickerel had plans for an even greater unit combining the energy of two hundred and sixteen cubes but the project was hijacked by the military commanders of the Sechsäugigerwyrm and he never saw the final incarnation of his invention.
The MACC may be recharged with magical energy from any source. The initial prototypes were charged by MERCA units using living creatures as the primary source of the magical energy. The full scale military versions of the MACC require human life force, preferably magical. In this they are akin to the God stones created by the ancients but, whereas the god stones could only create magic appropriate to each god e.g. An Aphrodite stone for love spells, the MACC unit may create powerful spells of any type. However the energy storage in the MACC is not 100% efficient. Some energy is lost with each use and this appears as degradation of the storage and combiner crystals: especially the output combiners. Thus a super powerful MACC unit using more crystals that the 216 crystal variety would almost certainly be unstable and might explode when used.
The MACC may be recharged with magical energy from any source. The initial prototypes were charged by MERCA units using living creatures as the primary source of the magical energy. The full scale military versions of the MACC require human life force, preferably magical. In this they are akin to the God stones created by the ancients but, whereas the god stones could only create magic appropriate to each god e.g. An Aphrodite stone for love spells, the MACC unit may create powerful spells of any type. However the energy storage in the MACC is not 100% efficient. Some energy is lost with each use and this appears as degradation of the storage and combiner crystals: especially the output combiners. Thus a super powerful MACC unit using more crystals that the 216 crystal variety would almost certainly be unstable and might explode when used.
