@JDługosz not anywhere close to that yet. So far just writing a rendering engine on top of OpenGL. Mostly out of fun and to understand how it all works. Currently I'm not able to render a simple triangle anymore
Apparently we're not allowed to ask questions looking for the "best" of something. Too vague. How can a reword my question so it doesn't have multiple possible answers?
No. And I feel worse about it with each day. But I gotta be egoistic, and while it wouldn't take much time to go through some of it I presume I am still too much involved with sinking every free minute into coding..
I guess I'm looking for a biological system that can be effected by a real toxin, drug, or injury. So a good answer would include real biological facts about a system and how it is affected by toxins, drugs, and injuries, the practical details of what a wizard would need to avoid in that world.
@Bellerophon I see your point! Surely that would have to be an entirely new question, because making that edit would absolutely ruin all the existing answers, but I like the thought.
But really the problem is that any question with multiple possible answers is still going to be called vague and broad. It's really hard to search for something when there's more than one thing that would satisfy your needs, ironically.
Even if I remove magic from the question, it's really hard to narrow it down to one exact biological system without already knowing what the system should be.
It is a recognisable organ. A lot of substances get into it so the toxin shouldn't have to have a weird way of administering. It is good at recovering.
Alcohol is the main one. A knife in the liver would affect it injury wise. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids damage it quite badly if taken over a long period and cause cramps and vomiting if a lot is ingested at once.
Maybe I should ask a question about how to base a magic system around the liver and the various injuries/drugs/toxins that affect the liver. I'm starting to think I don't have the necessarily skills to ask a question here and I'd be better off just reading some biology textbooks.
Am I crazy, or does the liver just not feel important enough to be the seat of magical power? Reading about toxins that affect the liver is great and interesting, and yes any of these could be the kryptonite for my wizards, but I keep hoping to find something more exciting.
Hormones secreted from the pituitary gland help control: growth, blood pressure, certain functions of the sex organs, thyroid glands and metabolism as well as some aspects of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, water/salt concentration at the kidneys, temperature regulation and pain relief.
@James The pituitary gland is an important thing for certain, and having it be the vulnerability of a wizard would make a lot of sense, but it's not clear how to exploit that vulnerability. I'll have to look into those hormones.
@Bellerophon I see what you're saying. Each hormone has an opposite. I'll have to look at the exact effects of each hormone and figure out which seems more plausibly connected to magic, but it's a good place to start.
"Questions need to be specific and answerable. If a question can have more than one answer, it isn't specific." Is that really true, that questions which might be answered in more than one way are forbidden? If so, how would one get around that problem in the way we ask questions?
Wizards have enormous power, but often a story needs to balance that power with some sort of weakness or limitation, like how a vampire is limited by garlic, crosses, and sunlight. It's easy to say that wizards are vulnerable to some magical glowing green rock, but it's so much better to give a w...
I suppose I'm looking for an answer that specifies real biological facts, a system/process of biology that might be connected to a system of magic, and the real world toxins/drugs/injuries that are relevant to it that a wizard might need to be aware of in my invented world.
@Bellerophon I appreciate the principle of asking only one question at a time, but I'm not sure how to apply it here. I'm only aware of one question, so if I ask fewer questions I'll end up with zero questions.
I suppose I'm looking for an answer that specifies real biological facts, a system/process of biology that might be connected to a system of magic. This is 1 question.
the real world toxins/drugs/injuries that are relevant to it that a wizard might need to be aware of in my invented world. 2nd question.
@Bellerophon But how could one ask either of those things without the other? Are they really separate questions? I mean, any system or process of biology might be connected to magic. What I need is to understand how that system connects to the outside world so I can work it into my system of magic.
I start off choosing the vascular system and doing research into that, but the more I looked into it, the more it became difficult to use for my purposes. It seemed like I'd just made a poor choice of system, at least from my limited education in biology. It's really not clear that all systems are equal.
Sources of magic are not all equal. A magic system has needs. It can't be just random rules. A good story needs to craft its magic system with care, and the choice of biological system affects the rules of the magic system.
@Geo A wizard is already affected by real world chemicals/injuries/etc. If they get shot they suffer from lead poisoning. If they get stabbed in the spleen their spleen is not going to work.
All you need to do is state what kind of technology and chemicals are available, what kind of effects you want (short-term or long term, permanent damage or temporary damage visible side-effects or no visible side effects) and what kind of method you are using to administer the chemical and then ask which organ you should target.
@Bellerophon Interesting. I'll have to give that some thought. In the meantime I guess I should delete my current question, but it warns me that I might get banned from asking questions if I do that.
@Bellerophon True. It'll be painful to keep losing rep from it, though.
It occurs to me that if I ask a question that is too specific, it might end up being unanswerable. I mean, if I ask for an biological system that has X, Y, and Z specific features without knowing that such a system actually exists, then isn't there a good chance that there is no such system?
That's very interesting. It's really the opposite approach to what I was doing before. Instead of investigating biology to try to figure out my options, I just take control, make a demand for what I want, and expect biology to provide what I'm looking for. Considering how wide and varied biology can be, it might actually work.
Asking questions here is a bit nerve-racking, though. Supposedly good answers are more important than good questions, but this site is pretty brutal to bad questions. At the same time draining rep from people whose questions get downvoted, and forbidding those questions from being deleted, as a permanent mark of shame for any who dare to ask a bad question.
@Geo well, if you can clean it up, do so. deleting will deny access to the answers, but if the answer are not much good either, it isn't much of a loss
@Shalvenay It also says I will be banned from asking questions if I do it too many times, and doesn't say how many times is too many. That would be much of a loss.
Still I'm going to have to be super careful with my next question. I'm going to be looking for a chemical/injury and I need to know exactly what I want from it to fit the needs of my story.
I want it to affect some sort of regulatory system, some mechanism by which the body controls something. I want it to be effective instantly or nearly instantly, require a small dose, like less than a cup and the smaller the better, be applicable by skin contact, ingestion, or at least through breaks in the skin.
@sphennings Sounds like a good idea!
The sandbox is pretty well hidden! It really ought to be front and center for new users.
Is it good form to ask a question like: "Is there a chemical that satisfies these requirements?" followed by a long list of bullet points describing each requirement? I'm not sure how I would title or summarize such a question.
It feels weird to write a question like this. I'm deliberately making it so specific that any answer could only ever meet my particular needs, but I guess that is what it takes to be not too broad. I'm glad I discovered the sandbox so I don't risk asking this question directly.
What's the word for the time it take a drug to take effect after administering it?