So…this is just a place to hide odd ideas that I come up with; a grab bag of unfinished stories, as-yet unused plot devices, and whatever else I can get my sticky fingers on that is short and fails to fit elsewhere.

Up first: System 7, and the Mythril Engines. Enjoy…!

Classification: Plot device.

Status: Unused.

Permission to Use: True.

Restrictions: No changes may be made without permission from Author (Hideout Writer)

Reference this Author as point of origination.

System 7:

System 7 is a technological system, designed for use as a quality of life enhancement for humans.

It starts with a base of nanites. These nanites greatly accelerate biological repairs, and establish multiple small interfaces within targeted sectors of the brain.

As a preventative measure, the system establishes four secondary circulators that provide backup power (in terms of blood flow) in the event of a heart failure. The flow rate is roughly equivalent to forty-five beats per minute, but due to the circulators being purely mechanical in nature, do not exhibit a detectable pulse. Major contacts are created near the heart for heart-rate control, or to restart the heart in the event of failure. Similarly, all arteries and major veins are widened by two hundred percent, then artificially restricted such that the restrictors can regulate blood pressure in the event of an extremely high heart rate.

After the creation of preventative measure systems, S7 moves to repair of pre-existing conditions, and is capable of correcting chemical imbalances in the brain, rooting out and destroying cancerous cells, repairing tissue damage, repairing broken bones, and even prompting the building of new limbs in the case of birth defects or catastrophic damage.

S7's nanites also maintain greater than bodily average concentrations overall within the brain, to better allow for communications and control. These interface with all senses, and maintain an interface that exits the skull entirely. These interfaces allow the system to present the user/host with sensory inputs that are not present in actuality.

With the higher than average concentrations of nanites within the brain, System 7 is capable of autonomic system overrides. With the interfaces in the sensory centers of the brain, the system is able to display autonomic override options to the user's conscious sensory input stream.

This allows any user, with little to no prior knowledge of human systems, to take complete control over their autonomic systems, allowing them to manually set sleep/wake times, control heartrates, induce production of adrenaline, just to cite a few examples. This allows for maximal leverage of human capabilities in a variety of environments. System 7 comes with safeguards already set in place that can prevent the user from doing damage to their own bodies from overuse of overrides, or reckless use of the overrides, but an experienced user can choose to temporarily circumvent the safeguards in exceptional circumstances.

Due to the extremely high level of integration, System 7 is best suited to give nutritional advice, as it is perfectly customized to each user's specific needs and activity patterns.

The second stage of the system is a set of pods that sit over the shoulders. Two titanium screws secure a U-shaped bracket to the collarbones, using a titanium screw socket set into the collarbone. The bend of the bracket is closest to the neck, and is twisted by ninety degrees for better airflow. Each pod measures four inches long, one inch wide, and three quarters of an inch thick. All vertices of the pods are rounded 90 degree corners. The pods are arranged lengthwise along the shoulders, and mounted onto the brackets via a sliding slot beneath the pods.

The pods carry sensors of all descriptions, giving the user far more sensory data than originally equipped with. The nanites within the brain sort and filter the information to prevent it from causing an overload in the user's consciousness. The sensors are extremely miniaturized, to allow for a total maximum of one hundred and fifty sensors per pod, and can be outfitted according to the user's needs or desires. Each pod is powered by a 75-year sealed system pocket fusion powerplant, and is capable of carrying Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs) within an openable section. They are also designed to carry overhead shield emitters, generating a cone-shaped shield over the user's head and shoulders, for use as a windbreak device. The total weight of each pod is four ounces.

Mythril Engines:

Mythril is a magical metal well known for a number of amazing magical properties. Lightweight, capable of flexing without succumbing to metal fatigue, and able to transmit electrical impulses within a conductive environment without discharging into the conductive environment, it is perfect for use within a human body as a conductor.

Mythril must be worked into ritual shapes in order to wring benefits out of it. A four-post cage, known as the powerplant, must be ritually worked into place via song during open heart surgery, or it can be worked around the heart prior to transplanting, if conditions for the integrity of the heart can be maintained.

Conduits of braided strands run from the powerplant out to the palms and heels of the user, and supply power to the engines. As with the powerplant, the conduits must be sung into place. The engines are made of very fine wire, and, unlike the powerplant and conduits, can be tattooed into place, or hand bent. They appear in their unpowered state to be a silver tattoo of a fifteen-point star in the user's palm or heel. Minor variations in the design of the star manipulate the output of the engines.

The magical properties of the powerplant, plus the nanites of System 7 can allow the heart to operate at speeds of up to five hundred beats per minute for brief periods of time, though this causes catastrophic damage to the heart that forces it to stop working entirely within approximately fifteen minutes, resulting in flame-out on all engines upon cardiac arrest.

Designed for use in parallel with System 7, the engines require a minimum heart rate of one hundred per minute before they begin to generate any kind of thrust, though they can begin to visibly flicker, exhibit a fully-formed flame, and generate engine noise at heart rates as low as eight-five per minute. Takeoff can be achieved with the correct configuration at one hundred and ten bpm, which translates to roughly ninety miles per hour. At five hundred bpm, a correctly configured user can reach speeds of up to Mach 5.

With proper changes to the design of the star, weaponry can be added, though the addition of weapons removes power availability to the engines, and requires a higher heart rate in order to maintain the same speeds that a user not powering weapons could achieve. The color, yield size, and shape of the energetic discharge of the weapons array are dependent on the design of the star, and will match the exhaust of that engine when running normally.

Mythril engines are rated for an average of fifteen hundred flight hours, or one thousand firing cycles, depending on the user's proclivities. The actual operating time of any mythril engine is highly variable, and can be extended by running at lower power/speed ratings, while higher power/speed settings (above 200 bpm/1480mph) can actively wear down the engine.

Engine failure is usually marked by a detonation, followed by a streamer of black smoke and decreased thrust. Occasionally, an engine can fail and still generate some thrust, though this usually only happens with engines kept at lower speeds. Weapon failure generates the same symptoms as engine failure, though without the possibility of minor continued function for a brief period following the failure.

Engines can be ejected by grasping the thumb, and pulling it down to a near 90-degree angle, relative to the other fingers, then bending the fingers back. The ejection tends to have the appearance of being mildly spring loaded. In the case of a mild failure, the engine will appear on initial inspection to be intact, though blackened. In the case of a complete failure, the engine will eject in fragmented shards. If a user has a new hand-bent engine available, he or she may simply grasp the thumb with the opposing hand, and from the ejecting position, return it to a position parallel to the palm, then press the palm onto the engine. This must be done on a hard surface.

Given enough material, mythril from destroyed engines can be reused in new engines at a concentration of up to 100% recycled material, though nearly 30% of the material recycled is lost in purification and refinement. The slag runoff from the purification and refinement stages can be continuously recycled, though with diminishing returns.

And there you have it. Tell me what you thought, and if you found this idea to be usable, please, tell me! I'd love to check it out! Good hunting, and have fun writing!