Continual Light: How to?'

[LadyLens]

In D&D, one of the most popular spells around is continual light, or in later editions continual flame. I've been thinking about how to do this in Mage, using something less than Forces 5. My current best attempt is a co-location portal to basically anywhere in space this side of Earth's orbit, using a Key to pass only light and possibly heat. Any other suggestions? Indefinite duration is a given.

[TenguGrib]

I think you could pull it off using Forces 4, according to the chart room temperature and a flashlight are equivalent, so you should be able to just turn the ambient heat in an area into light. Again, indefinite duration is a given. Lower than Forces 4 I'm not sure other than Forces 2 Control Light which would allow you to take a dim light source and make it much brighter. Depending on the situation that might be feasible.

[Malus]

Stick one Aether in a lightbulb?

[Vent0]

While the practical impact is minor, free energy is a pretty big deal.

I do wonder if an unveiling of either Matter and/or Forces would let everyone know where objects are (and what "color" they are) in the vicinity would fit. It wouldn't really be light, but would basically work just like it for most purposes. It would need the Scale Spell Factor increased to cover the area-to-be-"illuminated", but it could work. Run it as a combined Matter+Forces spell, and you can use the Matter 2 Attainment Permanence for easier Advanced Duration.

[Mrmdubois]

Forces 3 could Weave kinetic energy to emit light, put the spell on a stick and wave it around.

[Vent0]

Forces 3 could Weave kinetic energy to emit light, put the spell on a stick and wave it around.

Transform heat energy into light and you never have to worry about the refrigerator light staying on. Win-win.

[KaiserAfini]

I wonder, could you use Veil of Moments on a glow stick or flashlight to make sure they continue to function but the power sources aren't used up ?

I can think of only one way to do it with less than Forces 3. First you need a pair of rings made out of phosphorus. Now you pick a point in space and use a sensory Compelling of Matter to concentrate a good amount of oxygen into it, while also creating a small tunnel of concentrated air leading back to a point close to you. When you click the rings, a spark flies off them and into the tunnel, being carried by the highly combustible nature of concentrated air into the big pocket, where it explodes and generates light. So long as you keep feeding it a steady supply of air, it will keep exploding and producing light. On a small scale and with a long duration, you will have a continuous light source and be able to light things remotely. On a big scale, you will be playing as Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist. And, if you invest in both Arcana, then you can end up making perfected fire, which is very powerful indeed. Although, I recommend against making the spell lasting, because it will use a point of mana every time and you could end up asphyxiating everyone nearby, including yourself, by using up all the air.

Can it be done without the rings ? Yes, you probably should, especially since you would need to put them away after every use or risk setting yourself on fire. A lighter can do the job, but it has limited fuel supply. Plus the rings just sound plain cooler

[Menace]

What does the spell do, for people who don't play much D&D? Judging by the name, making a fire/light not burn out itself would be a Perfecting spell So casting it on a torch would make the torch burn as long as the spell lasts unless doused, With patterning you could propably ignore the "unless doused" part and have a fire that burns forever, even with lack of oxygen/fuel/etc.

A Shielding spell might make a fire more difficult to douse too.

[Johnny Awesome]

The reason this doesn't come up much in Mage is that if you have Forces you may as well just give people Nightvision instead.

[Mindflower]

It seems to me that a lot of the technique to make this light source depends on how you expect to use it. I like the idea of picking a spot in a room where the ambient heat (70°?) simply draws into a conversion of light continuously. If it's a big-enough room you won't really have to worry about the room growing 'too' chilly, since heat will seep in from the greater world around and reach an equilibrium, end effect being a 'cool' room. That added effect could be useful too, for other purposes. That being said, what you get is a stationary light. You could make it mobile I suppose.

The phosphorous tool sounds wonderfully geeky, though some Academics skill may be needed.

It all comes down to this, in my mind. The lower your dots in Forces, the more cleverness you'll employ to find your work-arounds in lieu of simply making light.

[LadyLens]

Control Light would be enough. Cast it on a crystal, and you can cause ambient IR to enter the crystal, at which point the spell shifts it up the spectrum to visible. There's always at least enough IR around (if only from the person needing the light) to produce the equivalent output of a 100W incandescent bulb. At the very worst, two spells will do the job: one to gather and one to shift.

[Aristarkos]

I suppose it is too complicated to just buy a flashlight for everyone and thus not risk paradox?

Sorry for the sarcasm. Anyway, you could find a Forces ley line and have it perpetually power up your lights. And many other things.

[Mrmdubois]

Anyway, you could find a Forces ley line and have it perpetually power up your lights. And many other things.

You would need a Node, not just a singular ley line.

[Pale_Crusader]

Couldn't Matter Perfecting be used for on alkaline or lead acid based batteries to cause them to "reset" into their new unused state, and if transformation was cyclically to occur each Ritual Interval that could lead to continual output until disrupted? Also note with the default Scale being assumed size 5, that's either a large pile of batteries or a very large one. Side benefit is dispelling the magic just prevents the renewal cycle and doesn't cause it to immediately lose power, as the batteries likely will have mundane charge based of their type.

[21C Hermit]

This thread is slowly showing us that one thing more dangerous than a mage is a mage who knows how physics work.