The nature of handwavium

Having noticed the importance of handwavium to so much of the Honorverse technology, I have been wondering about its nature and caracteristics. Is it a natural material or man-made? Is one application sufficient, or does it need to be renewed? Can the Haven Alliance corner the market on it, rendering their enemies helpless? If anyone has answers that's good, but more questions would be more interesting.

catfish wrote:Having noticed the importance of handwavium to so much of the Honorverse technology, I have been wondering about its nature and caracteristics. Is it a natural material or man-made? Is one application sufficient, or does it need to be renewed? Can the Haven Alliance corner the market on it, rendering their enemies helpless? If anyone has answers that's good, but more questions would be more interesting.

Hm. I ..... you serious or are you just trolling?

catfish wrote:Having noticed the importance of handwavium to so much of the Honorverse technology, I have been wondering about its nature and caracteristics. Is it a natural material or man-made? Is one application sufficient, or does it need to be renewed? Can the Haven Alliance corner the market on it, rendering their enemies helpless? If anyone has answers that's good, but more questions would be more interesting.

You really expect DW to explain in more exhaustive detail than he already does how things like their stealth systems work?

Handwavium comes in several "flavours".

1) Classic Handwavium :- Usually internally consistent and applied only when required for plot progression purposes. May conflict with known facts, but at the time of writing, was usually seen as being not against the laws of physics.

2) Makeitupasyougoalongium :- A varient of Handwavium noted for being applied without warning or foreshadowing. Generally used by lesser writers. Classic examples can be found in recently made episodes of Doctor Who, which rely on it to quite a degree.
Also linked to "New Powers As The Plot Demands".

3) Nonsensium :- Total lack of internal consistency, sometimes apparent on the same page or scene. Similar to (2) but generally affects the plot less or shatters the willing suspension of disbelief. Often used by novice writers, those whose imagination exceeds their intelligence or cloudcookoolander authors.
Too many examples to list. You know when you have encountered this.

4) Narrative Causality :- An unusual varient of Handwavium which actively shapes the story it is involved in, rather than acting as a way of letting the story continue. The greatest examples are found in the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett and the 500 Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey.

Hope that this print-out-and-keep guide helps some.

Awaiting comments.

Tongueforkium: Tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Generally used when Redshirting unsuspecting culprits during LAC battles at 2nd Handcock and whole SD's at the Battle of Spindle. Or what was said book with thousands of Joe Buckleys that all got axed... =)

catfish wrote:Having noticed the importance of handwavium to so much of the Honorverse technology, I have been wondering about its nature and caracteristics. Is it a natural material or man-made? Is one application sufficient, or does it need to be renewed? Can the Haven Alliance corner the market on it, rendering their enemies helpless? If anyone has answers that's good, but more questions would be more interesting.

From my intense research of literature that discusses handwavium, I have discovered the following facts.

Handwavium is #263 on the Periodic Table of Elements. Discovered by B.S. Johnson in 106 P.D., it became widely used due to its unusual material properties. A few are listed below:
1. It has near infinite conductivity at room temperature.
2. It has an atomic structure that allows it to be formed into a mono-molecular edge or armor that is highly resistive to any form of energy transfer.
3. It can be formed into extremely log molecular strands and woven into fabric.
4. It can generate or absorb gravitons, depending on its orientation.
5. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in water, and is one of the more deadly poisons known to mankind.
6. In its raw form it has been known to have mutengenous effects. Prolonged exposure has been known to cause increased awareness of life, enhanced strength, and a disturbing tendency to merge with the swamp and become its eternal guardian.
7. It is reputed to have hallucinogenic effects when extracted from a drowned sandworm then digested by anyone else. However, this is questionable since you would have to be pretty far gone in the first place to even think of consuming anything that had been extracted from a drowned sandworm.

Rook wrote:

catfish wrote:Having noticed the importance of handwavium to so much of the Honorverse technology, I have been wondering about its nature and caracteristics. Is it a natural material or man-made? Is one application sufficient, or does it need to be renewed? Can the Haven Alliance corner the market on it, rendering their enemies helpless? If anyone has answers that's good, but more questions would be more interesting.

From my intense research of literature that discusses handwavium, I have discovered the following facts.

Handwavium is #263 on the Periodic Table of Elements. Discovered by B.S. Johnson in 106 P.D., it became widely used due to its unusual material properties. A few are listed below:
1. It has near infinite conductivity at room temperature.
2. It has an atomic structure that allows it to be formed into a mono-molecular edge or armor that is highly resistive to any form of energy transfer.
3. It can be formed into extremely log molecular strands and woven into fabric.
4. It can generate or absorb gravitons, depending on its orientation.
5. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in water, and is one of the more deadly poisons known to mankind.
6. In its raw form it has been known to have mutengenous effects. Prolonged exposure has been known to cause increased awareness of life, enhanced strength, and a disturbing tendency to merge with the swamp and become its eternal guardian.
7. It is reputed to have hallucinogenic effects when extracted from a drowned sandworm then digested by anyone else. However, this is questionable since you would have to be pretty far gone in the first place to even think of consuming anything that had been extracted from a drowned sandworm.

8. Some readers believe that they have been building an immunity to handwavium, but in fact the hallucinogenic effects just make them believe they know more about it and its effects than the author.

Michael Everett wrote:Handwavium comes in several "flavours".

1) Classic Handwavium :- Usually internally consistent and applied only when required for plot progression purposes. May conflict with known facts, but at the time of writing, was usually seen as being not against the laws of physics.

2) Makeitupasyougoalongium :- A varient of Handwavium noted for being applied without warning or foreshadowing. Generally used by lesser writers. Classic examples can be found in recently made episodes of Doctor Who, which rely on it to quite a degree.
Also linked to "New Powers As The Plot Demands".

3) Nonsensium :- Total lack of internal consistency, sometimes apparent on the same page or scene. Similar to (2) but generally affects the plot less or shatters the willing suspension of disbelief. Often used by novice writers, those whose imagination exceeds their intelligence or cloudcookoolander authors.
Too many examples to list. You know when you have encountered this.

4) Narrative Causality :- An unusual varient of Handwavium which actively shapes the story it is involved in, rather than acting as a way of letting the story continue. The greatest examples are found in the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett and the 500 Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey.

Hope that this print-out-and-keep guide helps some.

Awaiting comments.

5) Leftfieldium :- Popular amongst baseball fans, this allows authors to suddenly end their stories by pulling something completely unforeseen totally out of the blue to end the story. It was last seen in a recently published novel.

catfish wrote:Is it a natural material or man-made? Is one application sufficient, or does it need to be renewed?

It's totally man-made and since it has a very short half-life it requires constant renewal to keep the trolls under control.

A good dose of Handwavium will keep a troll fed and quiet for a day at least.

Handwavium is the principle ingredient in the process of manufacturing unobtanium, of course!

I tried to get unobtainium.................