I should think so. About a baseline, that is; the city has peaks and valleys but nothing permanent, you know? Nothing profound. Our patrons can impact our surroundings, but even that seems to be... manageable.
[Some kind of status quo, he thinks. It's a guess, but...
Well, it seems as possible as anything. He shrugs.]
As for Moon Presence: the whole Sanctuary is seemingly protected by her and her influence; there have been times the wilder incidents in the city couldn't reach us, thanks to that. We're looked after, I suppose. As for stones and such, absolutely: we found rituals to create anti-corruption tools, similarly under the moon's influence.
[...this is probably a thing he should have been more active in advertising outside Sanctuary, but. There were other pressing matters. Oops.]
Ah— well. There's minimal blood to be added in the making, but.
[He makes a face, because of course there are drawbacks to this kind of apparent miracle tool, and luckily he's memorized every piece of text he's ever read, so he can easily recite:]
'But the weapons began to crack at the edges and where they had once glowed with the white light of the Moon Drops, they dulled. The tips turned black and it seemed that for all the corruption it cured, the more corrupted the weapon itself became'— we found it back when we were documenting this place, earmarked as from a book of fables. Now, given how much around here really does operate on word of mouth mysticism, there's no real verification process for the story...
[He shrugs again. So maybe this guy in an old story turned into a beast. Like, that happens. Moderation is key.]
Personally, I think it makes sense. Doesn't it? If corruption is indeed comparable to a toxin, then to draw it out of one source and hold it in another follows logically. And if used safely and with considerable oversight, these things could remove corruption from a person at the cost of a— a pretty moon knife, or something, it's an option.
[ Dang dude, listen to this guy. At least it's informational? So it sucks in the corruption... ]
...I always thought corruption disappeared. [ Admittedly. But he's tugging his mouth aside. ] Corruption's the symptom of pollution, right? So it's a reaction. That's what I thought. People put around incense and everything to keep it down, but...
[ A small shrug, and admittedly: ] I haven't been studying. Just kinda made sense some of it goes, if it's the moon or us doing it.
[ But now Robby isn't sure, and he feels like he's touching more on a subject that he doesn't understand, asks: ] So what do you think Moon Presence does with it? If they're not uh, destroying it?
[He says this with absolutely complete conviction, like he's thought long and hard about this before. Because he has, and he figures, what reason is there to go against the idea of Moon Presence converting corruption into an energy source? The whole ebb and flow of corruption in this place points to something cyclical anyway, he thinks.
But okay, holding up a hand,] Or something like that. Processing it, cleansing it, it's not like any of us have asked. A creature like Moon Presence may very well interact completely differently than we do with the "substance" of corruption, after all.
However, you raise a good point: where does it go? I've tossed around the idea that it has its own antithesis, like matter and antimatter. We measure corruption and pollution by its effects on us, yeah? We don't look at corruption in jars and vials. So there may very well be another "substance" we can't see that manifests from things like the incense, or even the hugs and kisses. Admittedly, I'm biased: this two-energies system is how things operate at home.
[ He makes something of a face at digesting it, but it's one of those, 'well--alright then, why not' types. Like, they are in Trench. ]
Have one substance, stick another in it, come out with something new? [ It wasn't that unusual. But sticking corruption in jars or vials... that does make him think. ]
Has anyone actually looked at corruption or pollution on a molecule level? Whatever that is here. If it's just blood or something else-- do we have the tech for that?
[ How do you identify gas molecules, for example? Or could you look at the blood of someone corrupted and see it that way, under a microscope? ]
[And, hmm, that's a good question... He remembers hearing here and there from a few people about trying to study blood, but most of them have since left the city long before this new project got started. Shame, honestly.]
Viktor has microscopes, [he says, with the slight shrug of someone who is not that kind of researcher. He's a death wizard, he has so much less experience with technology that isn't kinda-sorta made out of flesh and bone, but not gross like it sounds.] That is a Viktor question, most assuredly.
[Allow him to flip to a new page of notes, write down "VIKTOR QUESTIONS," and then "microscope???" Tada.]
I'm well-situated at the Lumenarium enough to get us some corrupted blood samples. Viktor would absolutely have our hides for getting corrupted on purpose, even for donations.
[Said so fondly, nothing gets him more saccharine than Viktor being a mother hen, swoon.]
[ Well, there's a thought! And Viktor is the microscope person, got it, but that dreamy remark does have Robby wondering if he would get corrupted in the name of research? ...maybe. If it was (somewhat) safe. ]
...live samples might be better. [ After all. But it's followed by a shrug, adding: ] I'd do it. I mean, if we need it. We can get rid of it anyway. [ So it doesn't seem that big of a risk. ]
Viktor doesn't seem like he'd go crazy with it. [ Unless he is secretly a mad scientist type... Robby only knows them via media. ] But I guess our focus is on the corruption on the outside. Or pollution.
No, but he'd disapprove of too much research-related recklessness. It's a miracle he's letting anyone donate blood without strict supervision.
[Palamedes, a guy who regularly will slice his hands open to do necromagic, the kind of bloodletting Viktor complains about: "Wow, why doesn't anyone like it when I do that??"
But no matter. They probably shouldn't corrupt themselves intentionally, a thing Palamedes believes only because he absolutely would, which means a normal person would not, therefore -- they shouldn't.]
Regardless, the Lumenarium has plenty of visitors suffering from corruption, without us having to make any more. So does the Sanctuary— we've got options.
But I would getting into the idea there. [ A joke, a small lift of his lips, and maybe you can make jokes about a monstrous condition that changes peoples and often leads to death. Once in a while, as a treat. ]
But okay. So if corruption or pollution's something Moon Presence can digest, destroy--but Never Mind thinks we can destroy it too with our powers. [ A beat. ] Darkblood powers, kind of...warp it into non-existence. If it's that easy, someone would have done it by now--but does lunar energy have any effect on corruption?
Maybe next time, if you're responsible with round one.
[As the self-proclaimed ethics and safety committee of Viktor's research efforts, he's allowed to declare this. Maybe it's a joke, maybe it's not, who knows!!]
Lunar energy: yes, I'm fairly certain. The relics I mentioned only move it around, as discussed, but the purest form of energy may very well dissolve it entirely. Warping it with darkblood powers raises the same concern as the relics, I'd think: where is it going, ultimately? We don't want to find a pit of corruption somewhere later on that we created ourselves.
dang brain, where did you get 'would' from 'was'??
Maybe darkblood would destroy it? Not dissolve it, but--just stop it from existing. We can try that with corruption, couldn't we? Even if it does sound weird that the relics are better with dealing with corruption, but all it does is suck it up.
[ Like, huh. That's weird. He can get why Palamedes is cautious about 'where does corruption go' when something so useful doesn't just...get rid of it. ]
We can try— I'm just not wholly convinced that's how the alleged 'out of existence' part works. Even with these darkblood abilities. It's— I might liken it to entropy: a constant amount, never decreasing. We'd only have to look as far as our own surroundings to see that kind of thing, the way the city fluctuates but never wholly collapses or becomes entirely well.
[He pushes his glasses up to pinch the bridge of his nose, waving his other hand like, never mind, now he's going off on another tangent. Entropy! Listen to him!]
We can try. Let's start with an object and not a person, just in case.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[Some kind of status quo, he thinks. It's a guess, but...
Well, it seems as possible as anything. He shrugs.]
As for Moon Presence: the whole Sanctuary is seemingly protected by her and her influence; there have been times the wilder incidents in the city couldn't reach us, thanks to that. We're looked after, I suppose. As for stones and such, absolutely: we found rituals to create anti-corruption tools, similarly under the moon's influence.
[...this is probably a thing he should have been more active in advertising outside Sanctuary, but. There were other pressing matters. Oops.]
no subject
Is it better than using blood? What's the downside to making them?
[ Because everyone would be using them if they were accessible, wouldn't they? Less bloodshed means less pollution. ]
no subject
[He makes a face, because of course there are drawbacks to this kind of apparent miracle tool, and luckily he's memorized every piece of text he's ever read, so he can easily recite:]
'But the weapons began to crack at the edges and where they had once glowed with the white light of the Moon Drops, they dulled. The tips turned black and it seemed that for all the corruption it cured, the more corrupted the weapon itself became'— we found it back when we were documenting this place, earmarked as from a book of fables. Now, given how much around here really does operate on word of mouth mysticism, there's no real verification process for the story...
[He shrugs again. So maybe this guy in an old story turned into a beast. Like, that happens. Moderation is key.]
Personally, I think it makes sense. Doesn't it? If corruption is indeed comparable to a toxin, then to draw it out of one source and hold it in another follows logically. And if used safely and with considerable oversight, these things could remove corruption from a person at the cost of a— a pretty moon knife, or something, it's an option.
no subject
...I always thought corruption disappeared. [ Admittedly. But he's tugging his mouth aside. ] Corruption's the symptom of pollution, right? So it's a reaction. That's what I thought. People put around incense and everything to keep it down, but...
[ A small shrug, and admittedly: ] I haven't been studying. Just kinda made sense some of it goes, if it's the moon or us doing it.
[ But now Robby isn't sure, and he feels like he's touching more on a subject that he doesn't understand, asks: ] So what do you think Moon Presence does with it? If they're not uh, destroying it?
[ For one way of putting it. ]
no subject
[He says this with absolutely complete conviction, like he's thought long and hard about this before. Because he has, and he figures, what reason is there to go against the idea of Moon Presence converting corruption into an energy source? The whole ebb and flow of corruption in this place points to something cyclical anyway, he thinks.
But okay, holding up a hand,] Or something like that. Processing it, cleansing it, it's not like any of us have asked. A creature like Moon Presence may very well interact completely differently than we do with the "substance" of corruption, after all.
However, you raise a good point: where does it go? I've tossed around the idea that it has its own antithesis, like matter and antimatter. We measure corruption and pollution by its effects on us, yeah? We don't look at corruption in jars and vials. So there may very well be another "substance" we can't see that manifests from things like the incense, or even the hugs and kisses. Admittedly, I'm biased: this two-energies system is how things operate at home.
no subject
Have one substance, stick another in it, come out with something new? [ It wasn't that unusual. But sticking corruption in jars or vials... that does make him think. ]
Has anyone actually looked at corruption or pollution on a molecule level? Whatever that is here. If it's just blood or something else-- do we have the tech for that?
[ How do you identify gas molecules, for example? Or could you look at the blood of someone corrupted and see it that way, under a microscope? ]
no subject
[And, hmm, that's a good question... He remembers hearing here and there from a few people about trying to study blood, but most of them have since left the city long before this new project got started. Shame, honestly.]
Viktor has microscopes, [he says, with the slight shrug of someone who is not that kind of researcher. He's a death wizard, he has so much less experience with technology that isn't kinda-sorta made out of flesh and bone, but not gross like it sounds.] That is a Viktor question, most assuredly.
[Allow him to flip to a new page of notes, write down "VIKTOR QUESTIONS," and then "microscope???" Tada.]
I'm well-situated at the Lumenarium enough to get us some corrupted blood samples. Viktor would absolutely have our hides for getting corrupted on purpose, even for donations.
[Said so fondly, nothing gets him more saccharine than Viktor being a mother hen, swoon.]
no subject
...live samples might be better. [ After all. But it's followed by a shrug, adding: ] I'd do it. I mean, if we need it. We can get rid of it anyway. [ So it doesn't seem that big of a risk. ]
Viktor doesn't seem like he'd go crazy with it. [ Unless he is secretly a mad scientist type... Robby only knows them via media. ] But I guess our focus is on the corruption on the outside. Or pollution.
[ Less inside. ]
no subject
[Palamedes, a guy who regularly will slice his hands open to do necromagic, the kind of bloodletting Viktor complains about: "Wow, why doesn't anyone like it when I do that??"
But no matter. They probably shouldn't corrupt themselves intentionally, a thing Palamedes believes only because he absolutely would, which means a normal person would not, therefore -- they shouldn't.]
Regardless, the Lumenarium has plenty of visitors suffering from corruption, without us having to make any more. So does the Sanctuary— we've got options.
no subject
But okay. So if corruption or pollution's something Moon Presence can digest, destroy--but Never Mind thinks we can destroy it too with our powers. [ A beat. ] Darkblood powers, kind of...warp it into non-existence. If it's that easy, someone would have done it by now--but does lunar energy have any effect on corruption?
no subject
[As the self-proclaimed ethics and safety committee of Viktor's research efforts, he's allowed to declare this. Maybe it's a joke, maybe it's not, who knows!!]
Lunar energy: yes, I'm fairly certain. The relics I mentioned only move it around, as discussed, but the purest form of energy may very well dissolve it entirely. Warping it with darkblood powers raises the same concern as the relics, I'd think: where is it going, ultimately? We don't want to find a pit of corruption somewhere later on that we created ourselves.
dang brain, where did you get 'would' from 'was'??
[ Like, huh. That's weird. He can get why Palamedes is cautious about 'where does corruption go' when something so useful doesn't just...get rid of it. ]
brains be like that sometimes
[He pushes his glasses up to pinch the bridge of his nose, waving his other hand like, never mind, now he's going off on another tangent. Entropy! Listen to him!]
We can try. Let's start with an object and not a person, just in case.