Mandelbrot Device?


Anti_Proton

 

Posted

About 3 years ago I started a thread about an historic marker in Founders Falls that was in the game, but did not respond when clicked upon. It was at location 2688.3, -0.0, 889.2. The general consensus was that it was awaiting further gamelore.

I was rescuing a CoT ritual victim today nearby and thought I ought to see if it now said anything. To my surprise, it does:

"Positron discovered residual fractal energy from Professor Xaos' Mandelbrot Device at this location. The fractal energy was cascading off of the main hyperbolic components. Luckily, Positron was able to neutralize the energy before it became dangerous to the public."

Anyone who is expert in The Lore able to connect that to anything we have seen before? What is a Mandelbrot Device, anyway?

PS It is the marker north of Jenny Firkins in FF, in front of a statue of an angel with a shield


"How do you know you are on the side of good?" a Paragon citizen asked him. "How can we even know what is 'good'?"

"The Most High has spoken, even with His own blood," Melancton replied. "Surely we know."

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Melancton View Post
Anyone who is expert in The Lore able to connect that to anything we have seen before? What is a Mandelbrot Device, anyway?
A Mandelbrot Device is obviously a machine which creates a finite-size lake with an infinite-length coastline. It would have ruined the value of lakefront property all over the world if Positron hadn't stopped the evil plot!



Being serious, the only other reference to it that I know of is the Chaotician badge, also in Founder's Falls.


http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

 

Posted

I've occasionally wondered if Professor Xaos was opposed by a hero called the Effective Butterfly, but beyond that, I have nothing for you. I've always thought Xaos had a great deal of potential as an in-game character, though. For that matter, so do a number of other characters mentioned only in plaques, although a fair number of them are deceased. I'd still like to see the Teal Serpent (adversary of Atlas), though; the name sounds like a character with the potential for a neat costume.


"Bombarding the CoH/V fora with verbosity since January, 2006"

Djinniman, level 50 inv/fire tanker, on Victory
-and 40 others on various servers

A CoH Comic: Kid Eros in "One Light"

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper View Post
A Mandelbrot Device is obviously a machine which creates a finite-size lake with an infinite-length coastline. It would have ruined the value of lakefront property all over the world if Positron hadn't stopped the evil plot!
And here I thought it had to do with wine ...

In seriousness, it could have something to do with the Mandelbrot Set, a kind of fractal.

Or it could have something to do with Johnathan Coulton's song of the same title.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Melancton View Post

"Positron discovered residual fractal energy from Professor Xaos' Mandelbrot Device at this location. .............................
Anyone who is expert in The Lore able to connect that to anything we have seen before? What is a Mandelbrot Device, anyway?
It is a German word, related to Christmas. Note that Prof. Xaos's name is an amalgamation of X-mas and Chaos. That's no coincidence.

The Mandelbrot Device was the target of the endgame (L40!) raid during the Christmas event of 2003. Being during the pre-Beta, where AT's were free-form the few players that were available for the raid were unable to complete it, due to many of them picking horribly gimped combinations like ForceFields/Empathy and Invuln/Regen/Stone Armor.
They /petitioned for help and Positron finished the mission for them.



Or I'm lying and a Mandelbrot Device is a powerful weapon capable of destroying a city, using destructive energies greatly magnified from the playing of an un-tuned mandolin.
Picture of an Electric Mandolin:


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleDavid View Post
In seriousness, it could have something to do with the Mandelbrot Set, a kind of fractal.
Hey, I already made that joke!

C'mon. Finite area lake, infinite length coastline? It's Mandelbrot Lake! The actual set part of the Mandelbrot set!


...


Plebes


http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

 

Posted

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this yet.

<shakes head> I don't know, the quality of gamers these days, wouldn't know a mathematical concept if it bit them on the asymptote...

<exits, muttering about it used to be better in the old days when this were all just fields...>


Warning:

The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.

 

Posted

For those who don't know what the Mandelbrot Set is, here's an image.



What's unique about the set is that no matter how far you zoom in, there's more and more detail, making it literally infinite in scope. Clearly, the Mandelbrot Device was some kind of reality warping machine that could spell DOOOOOM for all of existence.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Melancton View Post
"Positron discovered residual fractal energy from Professor Xaos' Mandelbrot Device at this location. The fractal energy was cascading off of the main hyperbolic components. Luckily, Positron was able to neutralize the energy before it became dangerous to the public."
At least we know who Professor Xaos is....


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scythus View Post
What's unique about the set is that no matter how far you zoom in, there's more and more detail, making it literally infinite in scope.
This is true of all fractals; hardly unique to the Mandelbrot Set. See Julia Set and Weierstrass Function for more info.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by GuyPerfect View Post
This is true of all fractals; hardly unique to the Mandelbrot Set. See Julia Set and Weierstrass Function for more info.
Or even something simple like the Koch Curve/Snowflake, Sierpinski's Triangle, or the Devil's Staircase.

What I think is interesting about fractals is that they're fixed points of iterated function systems. The Sierpinski Triangle is normally rendered as a set of triangles within triangles to form:


But it doesn't really matter what you start with. So long as you do enough iterations, the fractal still looks the same.

Using the same IFS as in the first image, I can make the Sierpinski Triangle using...
A point:


A line:


A pentagon:


http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by GuyPerfect View Post
This is true of all fractals; hardly unique to the Mandelbrot Set. See Julia Set and Weierstrass Function for more info.
Isn't the Julia set intrensically connected with Mandelbrot because of the Julia islands that show up?


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scythus View Post
Isn't the Julia set intrensically connected with Mandelbrot because of the Julia islands that show up?
Where fc is a complex function and J(fc) is the Julia set of that function, the Mandelbrot set is the set of all c such that J(fc) is connected.


http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper View Post
Where fc is a complex function and J(fc) is the Julia set of that function, the Mandelbrot set is the set of all c such that J(fc) is connected.
Now say that in English for those of us who suck at math.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scythus View Post
Now say that in English for those of us who suck at math.
The Mandelbrot set is defined by the Julia set.


http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Canine View Post
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this yet.

<shakes head> I don't know, the quality of gamers these days, wouldn't know a mathematical concept if it bit them on the asymptote...

<exits, muttering about it used to be better in the old days when this were all just fields...>

I don't 'get' math, but wow can it be beautiful sometimes...


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moiread View Post
I don't 'get' math, but wow can it be beautiful sometimes...
Ya think thats cool, here are some in 3-D http://www.geeks3d.com/20091116/expl...lbrot-fractal/ Now thats trippy!


"Samual_Tow - Be disappointed all you want, people. You just don't appreciate the miracles that are taking place here."

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Canine View Post
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this yet.
<cough> You're a little late

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anti_Proton View Post
Ya think thats cool, here are some in 3-D http://www.geeks3d.com/20091116/expl...lbrot-fractal/ Now thats trippy!
My link was to the home page of the Mandelbulb, with lots more background and a lot more shiny pictures.

For those wanting to play with fractals in the safetly of their own home, the old stalwart, Fractint is apparently still going. Which is worrying, as I remember faffing around with Fractint when I was at university... 19 years ago

<slouches off, having successfully made himself feel old...>

:edit:

Damn, Fractint's 32bit only on the windows version. If you're running Vista/Win7 64bit, then it's not going to work


Warning:

The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Canine View Post
Fractint's 32bit only on the windows version. If you're running Vista/Win7 64bit, then it's not going to work
Windows x64 has no problem running x86 programs.


http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fleeting Whisper View Post
Windows x64 has no problem running x86 programs.
That's as maybe, but it's bouncing off my Vista64 install and refusing to run, even in XP compatibility mode.

Other people may have more luck, but at the moment, I can't get it to run.


Warning:

The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scythus View Post
For those who don't know what the Mandelbrot Set is,
It's a day-glo pterodactyl. And also a heart-shaped box of springs and wire.


Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelenar View Post
It's a day-glo pterodactyl. And also a heart-shaped box of springs and wire.
It's not a Rorschach test.