Researchers: @Sellalellen & @Viviane
Project: The first prototype “Internet Cauldron,” as Sel mentioned above. http://forum.ackerlygreen.com/t/magimystical-research-and-development-lab/1064/32?u=viviane
Process: Designed and tested several prototype Internet cauldrons for their capabilities in physical object transportation. Each prototype set was constructed and engraved with a unique runic identifier for ICP: “Internet Cauldron Protocol,” linked via a magimystical energy network, and tested for ping before any attempts were made to transport objects. The following is a detailed list of the different prototype cauldrons, their specifications, and their performance in the tests conducted.
Prototype 1: The first attempt at creating two linked Internet cauldrons, one to send and one to receive, relied on a magiqal synthetic substance that would, in theory, comfortably support objects of various sizes while also maintaining the temperature, coloring, and chemical composition of the objects throughout the transfer. Unfortunately, the synthetic’s properties reacted unexpectedly with the network so that adding the tea created an infinite loop that exponentially increased the temperature inside the cauldrons and ended up melting both the teacup and the prototypes. The lab was temporarily evacuated in accordance with safety protocols.
Prototype 2: The next set of prototypes were traditional iron cauldrons. We hoped a magiq-null metal would prevent the aforementioned melting issue. Unfortunately, this set of prototypes never got past the initial setup phase of testing, as iron apparently also slows magiqal network connectivity to unworkable speeds. (We’re…not actually certain, but we think the ping test to determine the speed is still running.)
Prototype 3: This was the most successful prototype set, made from an alloy of aluminum, platinum, and cosmosium (a magiqal metal with transmutative properties). Seventeen total attempts were made at sending objects through this prototype, the plan being to start with an empty teacup and work up to a perfectly-prepared cup of tea. However, it seems that the connection has been configured incorrectly, since the first teacups sent through one cauldron seemed to vanish and not reappear in the paired cauldron. Several tweaks to the setup have proved successful, as the most recent teacups sent through one end now come out in the other cauldron as a misshapen heap of notably ceramic material.
Results: Unfortunately, at the time of this report, no viable product has been successfully created. Despite the desire to continue the project, development has been discontinued due to insistent requests from other tea-drinking members of the research staff that we “please stop diffusing all of the lab’s teacups into particles and not replacing them, as they are communal property.” I personally think tea from a coffee mug or paper cup is a completely acceptable sacrifice for the sake of research…but the project has nevertheless been shelved.
Addendum: If anyone can think of a benefactor willing to supply us with several hundred identical, un-sentimentally charged teacups for testing purposes, please give them my contact information.