[BBS] Open discussion post

[wrnpcs]

Hello SeeDs, Cadets, and staff members,

I'm sure you've all heard about the peculiar winter Trabia continues to experience. Normally the continent would be starting to warm up around this year (as much as it ever does), but this year the usual seasonal changes have not taken hold:

Temperatures remain cold

The snow and ice have not melted

Nights are still long

Plants are not showing signs of new growth or blooming

Hibernating animals are still hibernating

Migratory animals have not returned

Trabia's top scientists are beginning to suspect time compression is to blame. A scientific team from Esthar is looking into how to stop this seasonal freeze at its source, but since the prolonged winter is already affecting farming and looks set to affect the hydroelectricity grid, the Trabian government is more concerned with bringing on spring.

As we have considerable experience with the effects of time compression, as well as a number of people with from different worlds which may work differently from our own, a small delegation including a researcher from the University of Trabia's Environmental Science department and the Trabian Minister of Agriculture will be arriving in Balamb Garden on Tuesday to discuss possible solutions.

This will be a closed conference, unfortunately, to keep order and so as not to disrupt classes, but I would appreciate and will pass on any suggestions or proposals you may have. Please use this post to discuss among yourselves how Trabia might induce spring.

Best,

Headmaster Cid

(OOC: Open discussion post! Threadjack each other and don't feel like you need to wait for NPC responses. The date is an IC arrival date only rather than an OOC tagging deadline; please feel free to keep backtagging! The delegation's visit will not be logged, but all suggestions will be passed on IC.)

Comments

[tiamat_shot]

If you need to melt ice, you use fire.

We have more than enough paramagic, if we use it wisely.

Why hasn't this already been done?

[Emias literally sees no flaw in this train of thought.]

[rewritethis]

Use it wisely and wait for the ice to come back so you can waste some more, you mean. I wonder.

[seethelanterns]

It's almost sad to think of spring never coming after winter. I'm not sure if the Time Compression has affected the weather like this before, but if there is some way we can help, I'd like to try. Perhaps if we are able to melt the snow and ice that will help the plants at the very least?

[tiamat_shot]

If there's no water then there's no ice.

We just have to use enough to dry up the water.

[...yes, the moogle is essentially suggesting that a Scorched Earth plan is an effective way of dealing with permafrost.]

[rewritethis]

Sure, that makes sense. If what they're going for is giving the farmers something else to complain about.

But come to think of it, picking one symptom to tackle first could be the way to approach this, so long as they pick something sane. [Unlike some possibilities that may have been raised.] The plants, maybe. We're talking about a whole ecosystem being out of whack. It's all connected.

That's assuming they'll be as useless about addressing the underlying problem as they have been up until now, anyway.

[tiamat_shot]

You think Time Compression is really something that can be fought? I mean... from what little I've learned about this place, it's basically a magical force of nature, like Mist storms back home. You... can't really fight something like that. You can install measures that lessen the impact, but if something happens and an area gets flooded with Mist, you might as well just find another place to live because that city is fucked.

Except Time Compression is affecting the whole world. And other worlds, if we're trusting that it's what brought us here.

[rewritethis]

Instead of asking me, how about you ask the eggheads who're supposed to be working on it? But can or can't, the fact is as long as nobody IS fighting it, the problems it causes will just roll around again - force of nature nothing, that's true of everything.

[tiamat_shot]

Can't talk to eggheads I can't reach, just the eggheads that are right here.

Besides, I get the feeling you know as well as I do that they'd find a way to dodge the question.

[rewritethis]

Well, since everyone HERE seems to have even worse priorities than those guys, I guess you're out of luck. That's a shame.

The point was, whether or not you already gave up on understanding the root cause of this, not everyone thinks the same way just yet. Ostensibly. That's reason enough to keep going, I'd say.

[espio]

And setting fire to things helps... how? The migratory animals won't come back. The daylight hours will still be reduced. The weather will still be too bitter for food to grow.

[tiamat_shot]

It melts the ice.

We can't just not do anything, we have to start from some point.

[tiamat_shot]

The problem isn't understanding. The problem is that the 'root cause', if it really is - we don't have conclusive proof, just speculation after all - is something that is stronger than the technology of this world. You can understand a charging malboro and still not be able to stop it, and forces of nature are no different there.

[espio]

It's Trabia. Trabia is icy. Ice is Trabia's thing. Thus, the ice isn't even the problem. Fix what's broken, not what isn't.

[tiamat_shot]

I didn't know. I've only been here a few months.




Sir.

[guidethesun]

We'd need something big in numbers for that, Blondie. If it works, there would need to be a lot of it to get as far as Trabia is concerned.

[guidethesun]

What I know of Tradia is what I've gotten from books here in the library, but the only thing I can think of is regarding the animals not migrating back. Maybe someone should follow their migration path and see if they'd been cut off at a pass or something like that.

The weather's changed, right? So maybe the migratory animals are reacting to that.
- Eugene Fitzherbert

[rewritethis]

Understanding is the first step BECAUSE all we have right now is speculation. How did you know for sure it was a malboro to begin with? How do you know you'll never be able to stop it charging? Technology moves on. And turning speculation into something else, ruling out what doesn't work even if there's no clear cut answer at the end of it, that's what science is about. I'll take that over just wringing my hands and hoping for a miracle any day.

[tiamat_shot]

In order to do science, you have to have observable results.

Results that have not been shared with us offworlders, yes?

So what do we know Time Compression can do? It can pull us from our worlds, so obviously it has the power to bridge the gap between dimensions. Apparently it also has power over time, if the days haven't gotten any longer. Is it just in Trabia? Or do all the regions of this world have the same length of day?

If you want to do science, then let's do science. Let's get some facts in here.

[espio]

You should also consider that melting a large quantity of ice like that would create flooding.

You have a list of the issues there. Why not go through them individually?

[tiamat_shot]

But it would help the temperatures and ice.

There is simply no reason short of magic on a global scale that days would fail to grow longer. The sun simply doesn't work that way.

[selphie_t]

The Spring thaw is usually late though up there anyway because Trabia's so far north. Still though, it should be starting to warm up at least.

Trabia's my home too so what're we gonna do to help out when we've got all the info?

[curiouseyes]

That's very strange that it hasn't come back. I don't know much about witches, but would magic help?

[earthlychild]

I'm not quite the green thumb I used to be on my home planet, but I'd like to see it for myself if that's possible. Maybe I can figure something out.

[seethelanterns]

I guess so. I'm not sure what we might be able to do to help the animals, I hope they are all right. I guess they're still hibernating because it is still so cold up there.

[bunnypassingby]

What kind of magic?

And what do witches have to do with this? Do you know something the Headmaster didn't bring up?