Originally Posted by
Valdoroth
The Invention of the Astral Boards and Bikes.
During the technological breakthrough with the material called forcium, many usuful inventions were created. One in particular was the hover board. A scientist and inventor named Skalid Lenton figured out how to create a small energy output that could lift a small object off a table a few inches and hover there. This brought to mind dozens of new ideas for Skalid. He drew sketches of large carriages and small shelves and even a floating bed. His most favorite idea was a board that would allow the user to float above the ground and travel above the towns and trees. He put to task to start making prototypes. It was much more challenging a task than he had first thought, and his first dozen versions failed to lift off the ground. While eating during a break one day recollecting his previously failed experiment, he suddenly realized that his circuit might be wrong. So with several days straight of remaking his circuits he finally figured out one that created a significantly larger force.
Installing this new circuit in his board he finally got it to lift a foot off the ground. Excited with this solution he tested adding other thrusters to allow him to adjust the direction he went. His first models had the stearing as a tall column with the controls on handles that were attached. The board took up a decent amount of space, so he designed a collapsible steering column. The board also could not move very fast yet and wasn't very stylish. Another scientist discovered how to have data transmit wirelessly, which allowed Skalid to make a wrist attachable steering controller. Over the course of a year and a half his board design had some large changes. As he perfected the components he was able to make the entire board smaller and slicker. With the assistance of another scientist, Skalid created
a safety system that both prevented the user from falling off from fast movements or the board from tipping.
The best invention that the Research Academy created was the ability to miniaturize tools into a single card that had activation buttons. Skalid was able to make use of this immensely. He could now have a board that could fit into people's pocket. Soon he was able to patent and begin selling his new boards, which he called hover boards, but people naturally thought of it as an astral item and called it an astral board. After his he finished his boards first complete final design he started work on a larger single personnel vehicle. His first ideas resembled a bicycle, but as he started adding the parts to it, it became much bulkier. After five months of applying the same designs as the boards into a bike, he had a working version, but he wanted it to be faster. So he upgraded all the circuitry to stronger and faster versions. His end project was a blue bike that had the user leaning forward almost laying down. By the time his first bike had sold, Skalid Lenton was in his seventies and was too frail to continue to work. He passed away, but not before teaching everything he knew to an apprentice, Rien Raulden.
Rien's work mainly pertained to designing new communication devices and various tools related to astronomy. However, looking at the first blue bike sitting in the corner of the workshop collecting dust, an idea struck him. He decided he wanted to make his own personal bike that would be much better then Skalid's blue model. His first idea was to create mods that could upgrade the could be used on the current bikes to improve their performance, however, they were not perfect all the time and sometimes degraded the circuits. He however made a working item he patented and called bike upgrade kits.
Learning that the kits did not increase the performance to the degree that Rien wanted, he started the entire thing over and began working on a new design. This model was both larger and more advance than the blue bikes. The first models all proved to be no different or non working compared to the blue. Finally he decided to get some help from a old school friend, Carl Waltriss. Carl wasn't a scientist like Rien, but he was a mechanic who had created several new tools for his workshop that had become popular around the kingdom. Together they worked on improving the design of the components and to their surprise, the shape of the material seemed to make a small difference. Through countless versions and models they finally figured out the best shape for the maximum effect. The began putting the bike together and soon they had a full scale prototype. They tested the first version and it ran faster and more effective than the blue, however, it was unstable and harder to control. So they got back to the drawing board and in two months had a second prototype. This one seemed to be working perfectly in the small area they were testing. They decided to test it's limit outside the town, and everything was working perfectly. Carl was the test driver, but while testing it's maximum speed, he pushed the machine too far and then a catastrophic failure occurred and the bike spun out of control. With no time to react Carl was spun into a massive tree at a high speed. A huge explosion followed the impact. Rien was struck with grief the instant the accident occurred, knowing his life long friend had just disappeared.
After the accident Rien did not touch anything in the workshop for a week, but his father told him he shouldn't give up on the masterpiece he and Carl had created. With the renewed strength to finish what he and his best friend had done, he remade the second design but installed limiters as well as a better control system that he spent eight months creating to perfection. After eleven months he had finished the third prototype and was ready to test it. This model had a built in pre-test system that would verify that all the critical system components were intact and would not fail when pushed to the max. After the pre-test finished it's 2 minute run-up, he was ready to test it out. He shot off out of the workshop and into the town. People saw him blur by in awe. Not only had the bike worked perfectly, it also looked more advanced than the blue as well as had a integrated storage compartment that worked similar to cards. The bike card was slightly larger than the blue, but it was lighter. He named the version RW-3 after his and his best friend's last names, Rien-Waltriss third prototype. This new bike was tested by the kingdom researchers and deemed safe for reproduction. The RW-3 were an instant hit and hundreds of units sold in the first month of production.
Rien didn't stop with only making a better bike than his Master Artisan. He decided a year after completing the RW-3 to create a new board. Since laws had been placed
on speed limits for boards due to accidents occurring from other board owners attempting to alter the speed modulators of the original design Rien was not allowed to created a faster board legally. Despite legality, he used the RW-3 system and naturally the board was significantly faster. He had to create a new limiter as the RW-3 were not powerful enough to slow the new board enough. After five to seven months he had finished the new board. He not only created a safer, faster (illegally if altered), and more powerful board, but the style proved to be popular. Force users that had learned how to use boards in combat also learned that this newer series proved a lot more effective. Rien called the new board the K-board, after his father's name because of the inspiration his father gave him to finish his bike. Because of these three inventors, travel was expedited for personal use and recreational activities. Annual bike races were held as a popular sport. The boards and bikes were just a beginning to what could be a new world of transit.
This is the tale of the origin of the Astral Boards and the Astral Bikes.
Researched and compiled by Valdurin, Scribe and Researcher of the Great University
