Editing Sphere (section)

==Abilities, Powers and Equipment==
Sphere's [[tinker]] specialty allowed him to create drones that let him in turn create bubbles ideal for sheltering occupants from innumerable hazards.<ref name="12.6">I was pretty damn sure that his power was as complete a counter to mine as anyone could hope for.  Anyone who had paid attention to the news in the past five years knew who he was, what his story was.  Mannequin had once been a tinker who specialized in biospheres, terrariums and self-contained ecosystems.  A tinker who specialized in sustaining life, sheltering it from outside forces; forces that included water, weather, space… and ''bugs''. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/07/14 Excerpt] from [[Plague 12.6]]</ref> He could theoretically make huge bubbles capable of holding cities and even started a project to get a whole moon base operating.<ref name="R3.1">Uphill/doomed project from the start. Shards are situated on Earth, reaching through realities for corona pollentiae. Powers don't really go into space, because, well, you've got the shard situated on the planet, and their reach is stretching, stretching up & out to the person with the shard. Do they exceed the shard's reach?<br />Broken shards don't care so much, some powers can draw energy in other ways, but by and large, powers stop being responsive or start getting fucky at some point between the upper atmosphere and 400k km out. Many powers are manton limited so they don't actually get out into the vacuum.<br />When it comes to Sphere, keep in mind that he effectively second triggered, except it wasn't really a true second trigger. In Weaverdice terms, he got the Renovamen/Angel Life Perk. Get taken out of action, come back in another form. So he had a different power, but when he broke, it took on a complete other angle. Best not to compare Sphere and Mannequin too much. If it helps, think of Mannequin as a tinker creation of Sphere, chopped up brain handling the corona differently.<br />He was an Architect tinker. He could do large scale stuff. He likely had the means of creating the moon bubbles and tertiary systems and life support and keeping it running... but maintenance starts getting tricky. The first option is that the shard goes 'this is worth the effort' because Gramme is giving the shard fuel for something interesting, and all is well except for whatever it is that the shard was so keen about. The second option is that the moon base works fine, the first colony gets out there, and then somewhere along the line Gramme's well of inspiration and his eye for key details in his tinkerings just... stops. - [https://redd.it/5isiez reddit comment] by Wildbow.</ref>

Alan specialized in large projects as a type of architect tinker.<ref name="Tinkertypes1">Better to say Alan Gramme was an Architect, but a dramatic shift and change to becoming Mannequin made him a Combat Magi instead. - [https://redd.it/5iblo6 reddit comment] by Wildbow.</ref> He primarily worked through automated constructors, which, as they were not self directed, required his attention to keep on target. He had several processors that would consume resources to create the various materials he would use, such as ceramics that were selectively electrically conductive.<ref name="R3.2">'''kagedtiger'''<br />This is all good information (thanks for that, I'm a Mannequin fan), but I guess my bigger question is this: how do Architect tinkers build these large-scale constructions by themselves? Sphere was just an easy example. In an effort to avoid scaring you away, I would add that I really only require the broad strokes.<br /><br />'''Wildbow'''<br />Time, efficient use of resources.<br />Sphere might have created something like a glass spinner, which would work around a plotted path and gradually form a structure made out of one of his altered, ultrahard, selective electricity conduction glass materials. Workstations that convert supplied sand into raw material, workstations that harvest sand, and have his 'workshop' sprawled out across a beach, which he consumes to produce his dome on the water's surface.<br />They're not really drones or AIs, though. He manages and pilots and fine tunes a lot of it. But he can work from terminals while keeping an eye on the actual goings-on. - [https://redd.it/5isiez reddit comment] by Wildbow.</ref>
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