Professor Upham's page

"Intriguing Miss Yukarii, I was unaware of that sect but your information fits in with the idea of these poor people being preppers, especially the prohibition on magic. We assume this was a failed attempt avert disaster but quite how banning magic and technology would do so I couldn't say. Still as interesting as that is, I feel we have a moral obligation to find out why they can't move on and help them do so if they wish." replied the elderly professor.

"They could have been preppers." remarked Professor Upham, "We don't know much about them, but from fragmentary stories passed down through the generations we gather that when prophesies of apocalypse really got going in the decades before the sundering, numerous communities renounced magic and technology with the intention of going back to nature so to speak. We have no idea why, perhaps you could ask them?"

The professor admitted, "Well I don't really know. Maybe! If you try it out do let me know how you get on."

Professor Upham added, "If I may, there is a particular worry, some of the materials the ancients used to power their devices are inherently toxic and mutagenic. Consider the marshes of Timbre Island, and the many strange and deformed creatures that lurk there. Visitors who linger sicken inexplicably, it is possible we may encounter areas like that..."

He's talking about radiation (there are rules for this in the technology guide). Please note that nobody alive has any idea about radiation although the ancients and the Githyanki understood it well.

"Er. Yes of course doctor..." Upham replied as he was helped up onto the stage. He shuffled over to where Dr Munore was standing and produced what looked like a small rock crystal, he held it up to the light which it diffracted into a rainbow pattern.

"Pretty isn't it? Just a bit of quartz or so you might think. Well this actually contains a complete copy of the Xun Lai archive, every bit of knowledge the ancients thought it worth to preserve. It's not magic, its technology, stored in a way we don't understand. There's hundreds of these, probably thousands in fact. All perfectly preserving a wealth of knowledge, all useless without the means to read them. We had hoped the Nautilus might have had a reader but no the Gith have entirely different and inscrutable machines."

His eyes twinkled as he told you, "What we're really hoping to find, what everyone is hoping to find is one of the ancient's reading contraptions so that we may unlock the archive. Previous digs in other islands have found fragments of devices that might have been readers but nobody could ever be sure what a reader looked like. We assume they were so ubiquitous the ancients forgot to describe them."

Upham scratched his ear and replied uncertainly, "I don't believe so no. I think the general assumption was the destination would be guarded. Still the chances of it being used after all these years seem vanishingly small, it's probably more of a theoretical security concern."

"That's quite unsettling..." replied Upham dryly before adding, "Accounts from antiquity suggest these statues are usually paired to allow for two way transportation. In theory that means somebody could open a portal from the other side, although there's no guarantee the pair if any survived the sundering. Apparently a pint of blood is sufficient to open the way for an hour, but I'm no hurry to see if that's true!"

While Dr Munroe was engrossed with the pottery, Professor Upham tottered around and caught sight on the statue, "Oh my! Could that be?" Very carefully he knelt down examined it before rising arthritically and asking excitedly, "By all the saints, this appears to be an intact blood gate! I've read about these but never thought to see one, the art for their creation was lost with the sundering. Supposedly these toothsome statues gather power from a pint or so of blood powering spells that can fold space, opening a portal to another place. As far as we know, these are the only way to instantly travel between islands."

Turning to you he asked, "Was this on the wreck? If so I wonder where it came from?"

Upham laughed self depreciatingly, "Do I look like a man who cares for luxury? I'm quite aware how dangerous the skies can be, I wasn't always a mathematics professor. In fact I learned my numbers in the navy..."

While Zendara was talking to Dr Munroe, the wild haired Professor Upham bumbled in and gave his own answers, "Well I'm not getting any younger and I've spent decades battling mathematics toughest conjectures. As much as I enjoyed calculus I just can't compute enough of them in order to probe the deeper mysteries. I know most of you don't believe the difference engine existed, one way or another I'd like to find out while I still have time. Besides I've made a hobby of learning ancient languages and cracking ciphers and if push comes to shove I aid with the defence. Oh and as for yesterday afternoon I was marking term papers, got through fifty of the darned things."

An elderly yet still spritely man with a shock of wild white hair and a pair of spectacles approaches Edwin, "Ahh Professor Edwin I see you are thinking of joining Munroe's expedition, excellent, excellent. Good to see somebody with a little practical experience coming along for the ride and not just us theoreticians!"

He edges in closer and whispers conspiratorially, "They say this one is going to be rather dangerous, but where there's danger there's opportunity! What if the prophecy is true, we might find one of the pre-sundering difference engines! So much was lost but if it's found mathematics will never be the same."