Hortistruction

 

Key Skill: Profession(farmer)


HORT 101: Intro to Hortistruction
Grade: Baccalaureate
Prerequisite: None
Target: 1 cubic foot of organic material or solid planetary metal
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle allows the creation of what Is known as agrotecture. While preparing this principle you must make a Profession(farmer) check. Agrotecture is functionally the same as biostructure, though there are several key differences. Agrotecture is a plant, not an aberration. In addition to needing to breath agrotecture needs to drink and will eventually die of thirst if not provided with 1/4 gallon of water for every cubic foot of volume. A discreet mass of agrotecure is known as a ‘plant’. Agrotecture produces 1d4 tear drop shaped food pellets known as 'fruit' per square foot of surface area once every 24-Profession(farmer) check hours (minimum 1 hour). The time between one fruit production and the next is called 'recharge' only time spent in the presence of the energy source counts as recharge. These pellets, though small, count as a full and nutritionally complete meal for a medium sized creature.

In order to maintain its fast healing and fruit production agrotecture must be exposed to a source of energy (visible light by default though it can be changed) agrotecture is opaque to its energy source in addition to whatever other optical properties it had to begin with. While not exposed the agrotecture takes no penalty but doesn’t have fast healing and fruiting is suspended. This effect is not equivalent to that of an arcanodynamic transformer, no net is produced and ebbs are not produced. This doesn’t cause an area of effect dampening of the energy source.

Agrotecture can be made in such a way that the processes it preforms can be polarized. In this case the functional side is referred to as 'apical' and the opposite is called 'basal'. Any other sides are 'lateral'. Apical and basal are determined independently for each function (fruiting, energy absorption, water absorption, breathing). Polarized agrotecture is water and air tight. Polarization can be added or removed using this principle as long as you meet or exceed the original Profession(farmer) check made to create the agrotecture.

Agrotecture must have a surface area of at least 1 square foot/cubic foot of volume exposed to its energy source in order to benefit from the effects of the energy source. An agrotecture plant is treated as having a circulatory system for the purposes of transferring water, energy, and “life force” evenly throughout the mass and is susceptible to critical hits.


A note on biostructure/agrotecture hybrids
These are possible and encouraged. The resulting hybrid mass has the worst individual statistics and needs to both breath and drink. That said it only needs to drink as much as a pure agrotecture mass of volume equal to the contributing agrotecture and the entire mass benefits from fast healing regardless of an energy source. Such hybrids have a sharp line of demarcation between the two types of life.

Noncontiguous regions either biostructure or agrotecture can be created in this way. Such regions can have independent statistics as if they were truly separate pieces.

A chassis produced from a hybrid mass gains the ability to take 'Mixatrophe' as its diet. A mass more than 50% agrotecture cannot be made into a chassis while a chassis less than 20% agrotecture doesn’t benefit from mixatrophe. When determining how much food a mixotrophic chassis needs its food requirement should be divided into 24ths. For every full hour the chassis spends exposed to its energy source per day subtract 1/24.

A chassis with agrotecture parts will grow fruit from them as normal for the agrotecture in question. If the chassis is prepared with Eccentric Genetics these fruit can be used for reproduction.

HORT 147: Unorthodox Beltian Bodies [Specialist]
Grade: Baccalaureate
Prerequisite: Profession(farmer) 4 ranks
Target: 1 square foot of agrotecture surface
Preparation Time: 1 hour

With this principle it is possible to make agrotecture produce fruit made of the material the agrotecture itself was made from rather than the generic "food" material. The fruit produced in this way is homogenized, potentially leading to disgusting or unsettling results if the base material was organic, homogenized corpse is not for the faint hearted. Each such fruit is 1/10 of a pound. Planetary metals take twice as long to grow (24-Profession(farmer) minimum of 1 hours) X 2. This change can be carried over to a chassis.


HORT 235: Polar Polarization
Grade:Magisterial
Prerequisite: HORT 101, Profession(farmer) 8 ranks
Target: 1 cubic foot of agrotecture
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle expands upon the polarizing effects out lined in 101. Now temperature tolerance and hardness can be polarized.

The hardness apical side has half the maximum hardness of the mass (rounded down) and the basal side has the difference added to its hardness. Halfway through the thickness it switches from one hardness to the other, there is no gradient. A side that is basal for hardness cannot also be apical for any other property except energy absorption.

The temperature tolerance for the apical side stretches an additional 100 degrees Celsius. However, the temperature range must overlap the range of the basal side completely.

In addition to being water and air tight agrotecture modified with this principle is temperature tight.

This principle also allows for the creation of ‘substructures’ which are specialized units of agrotecture that are treated independently for the purpose of polarization. A substructure can be apical or basal for a given characteristic. The remainder of the mass is considered to be the opposing side unless specifically made otherwise. It is possible to make a substructure of any size and to make multiple identical copies of a substructure on the same mass.

HORT 289: Unusual Energetics [Specialist]
Grade: Magisterial
Prerequisite: HORT 101, Profession(farmer) 8 ranks
Target: 1 agrotecture plant
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle allows you to change the energy source of your agrotecture. By making a Profession(farmer) check that meets or exceeds the original you can modify the energy source to one of the following.

Light: Visible light is the default. Agrotecture that uses this source is green.

Radiomantic energy: Agrotecture that uses this source is black. A chassis made of 20% or more white agrotecture is immune to the negative levels of radiomantic energy. Hell fire damage and ordinary negative levels work just fine though.

Thermal energy: Agrotecture that uses this energy is red. This agrotecture is cool to the touch and must be exposed to temperatures of at least 50 degrees Celsius. If the energy absorption surface is below this temperature energy is not absorbed.

Fluid flow: This is an odd one in that it must be polarized to work. This agrotecture is blue and fluid must be kept flowing over the apical surface for it to work. This fluid must be either a liquid of viscosity greater than or equal to water or wind of at least 10 MPH.


HORT 317: Expanding Topiary
Grade: Doctorate
Prerequisite:Any 3 HORT principles, Profession(farmer) 15 ranks
Target 1 agrotecture plant
Preparation Time: 1 hour
As part of preparing this principle you must make a Profession(farmer) check which must equal or exceed the original check made to prepare the mass of agrotecture you are operating on. A mass of agrotecture that has this principal prepared on it can be either “on” or “off”. “On” agrotecture benefits from the properties listed below while “off” agrotecture doesn’t.

For every 73-Profession(farmer) check minimum 12 hours a hortistruction construct is exposed to its energy source (and water of course) it grows by an additional cubic foot. This growth can be in the form of a simple expansion of its form (any cavities expand as well) or the duplication of a substructure (which will start off miniaturized if it would require more than 1 cubic foot). Agrotecture expanding in this way will not produce fruit until it stops expanding. A maximum growth size, in cubic feet, must be programed in when this principle is prepared and cannot exceed twice the Profession(farmer) check made when this principle was prepared.

Sections of the construct that are removed entirely can be regrown by a structure that has this principle active at the same rate as agrotecture would otherwise be added. Regeneration of missing parts takes precedence over growth. Entire substructures can be regenerated this way.

A substructure or other mass of agrotecture removed from an on structure that is at least 1 cubic foot in volume is called a ‘cutting’. A cutting that can both absorb water and can absorb energy can grow into a complete copy of the original structure if given time as noted above.

Similarly, substructures called ’stolons can be created. Stolons can extend a number of feet up to the check made when this principle is prepared. When the stolon reaches its maximum extent it buds into a full copy of the parent plant as it existed when turned “on”. This copy does not count against the size limit for the plant and only half of the stolon does. The copy counts a separate plant for the purposes of maximum size but the same plant for the purposes of water and energy absorption. In the event that a stolon is severed the copy becomes an independent plant.

If you know Unorthodox Beltian Bodies an on structure can produce fruit that are made of living (and unspecialized) agrostructure which will then grow into copies of the parent if provided with the right conditions.
The programed methods of expansion can be quite complex including contingencies such as the order of production for substructures produced by a stolon, reproductive fruit, or cutting or instructions to grow to less than maximum size be for beginning fruiting and then to produce additional substructures as needed afterwards.

HORT 317: Insubstantial Sustenance [Specialist]
Grade: Doctorate
Prerequisite:Any 4 HORT principles, Profession(farmer) 15 ranks
Target 1 agrotecture plant
Preparation Time: 1 hour
This principle adds three new possible energy sources to draw from. Thought, Puissance, and arcane magic.
Thought: Mental energy is produced be creatures with an int of 3 or more. Mental energy naturally leaks from the minds of intelligent creatures in small amounts, this is what allows mind sight, detect thoughts, and the like to function. This agrotecture is opaque to thoughts and psionic powers. Psionic power that tries to pass through though absorbing agrotecture (originating on one side and attempting to effect the other) must first destroy the intervening agrotecture. Psionic powers that deal no damage are blocked. This agrotecture is purple.

Puissance: Agrotecture that absorbs puissance is the bane of circuits. A puissance absorbing piece of agrotecture that sits between two components linked by a circuit absorbs the puissance that flows between them. This is different than other types of energy absorption in the scale of it, while other types take at least an hour to produce fruit and twelve to produce a cubic foot of agrotecture ebb fed agrotecture measures its needs in ebbs. Every ebb absorbed is equal to one hour spent in the presence of another energy source. This means that a recharge of 1 requires one ebb to produce a fruit and a structure that would grow one foot every 12 hours grows every time it receives 12 ebbs. This agrotecture is white.

Arcane magic : Magic is all around us all the time. If it wasn’t arcane casters couldn’t function. This agrotecture is considered to be in the presence of its energy source unless it is in an antimagic field, on a plane with no magic, or otherwise prevented from accessing magic. Similar to psionic powered agrotecture any arcane spell trying to cross this agrotecture is blocked unless it can do enough damage to destroy the agrotecture. This agrotecture is gray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discoveries

 

 

 

Hortistruction Discoveries

• Exponential Growth: Instead of growing by 1 cubic foot no matter what plants you make with expanding topiary grow 1 cubic foot for every 3 square feet of energy absorption area already present minimum 1 each time it grows.

• Simultaneous Synthesis: It is now possible to have plants you make process more than one type of energy. Each separate type of energy must be absorbed by a different substructure and only 2 kinds of energy can be processed by a given plant.

 

 

 

Feats

 

 

Botanical Biollurgy, Biollurical Botany [Gramarie]
Prerequisite: Specialization in Biollurgy or Hortistruction, BIOY 101, HORT 101, Int 13
Benefit: You treat agrotecture and biostructure as the same thing for most purposes. For example Blacksmithing for Biolurgests now works on agrotecture and biostructure can be polarized. Discoveries such as Volcanic Ventilation and Real Steal can also be applied to agrotecture. This feat allows you to make full agrotecture chassis. Such chassis recover 2/24’s of hunger in the presence of their energy source.