| abstract
| - The basis of distant communication in the Third Age is the principle of Essence Modulation. Pioneered in 103 P.E. by an Air Caste Terrestrial and Changing Moons Lunar, Essence Modulation is the the theory of how the resonating patterns of essence Essence which is charged and discharged through Adamant and Oricalcum vanes can be modulated as it is charged and discharged; and how that resonating pattern can be detected by similar vanes of Adamant and Oricalcum and deciphered back into the original input. The original Essence Modulation transmitter was the size of a Colossal Warstrider, and the first receiver was the size of a grown man. However, the device was impressively demonstrated when two sets of each were constructed, and the Terrestrial researcher on the far side of Autochthonia held a conversation with her Lunar partner, who was at the time deep inside the Silver Chair. By 409 P.E., the technology was small enough to fit in a set that a boy could carry in a backpack or satchel, and the discovery of parallel resonance allowed for the function of the receiver and transmitter to be combined into a unified transceiver with no loss of functionality, while the discovery that the modulation's resonating harmonic could be adjusted into a huge number of resonating bands meant that potentially limitless numbers of people could be using the technology at once. Now, Essence Modulation is common technology, built into all sorts of things. Advances in the technology and the miniaturization thereof have led to multiple revolutions in the implementations and spread of E.M. technology. Not all applications are equal, however. The small handset with a minute transceiver and which is mostly essence battery which a foreman in a factory in Estasia-Lookshy uses to communicate with his department heads might be able to reach other small handsets in Estasia-Lookshy, if he knew how to (and was able to) configure it to reach their modulation bands. Compared with the enormous Patropolis-sized Essence-Modulation Transceiver Array (an Alchemical Charm based on the same principles,) it is but a toy. Between is a vast and wide swathe of potential applications. All E.M. transceivers share common functions. The most basic and universal function is the ability to transmit and receive audio. Though this function has been a part of Autochthonian society for as long as can be remembered - far into the pre-Evacuation days - thanks to hard wired systems and deific powers, Essence Modulation technology put it into the hands of everyone, and made it portable. E.M. distance communications are very mote-efficient, with nearly all transceivers running on an internal battery or external connection to a larger essence source, and need absolutely no ability to control Essence internally from their user. Many more high-end sets allow for video communication, though most of these are actually reception sets without transmit capability, and at the highest end are holographic tanks and projectors which allow for long-distance visual representation of distant persons; these are rarely seen below the use of the Celestial Exalted or the Fleet itself.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)