Infinite regeneration trap-well
A Railean well is a hypothetical structure designed to trap humans who chose regeneration as their super-power. Typically, this is achieved by adding ε to whatever limit the trapped person can overcome.
The well posesses the following properties:
- perfectly smooth walls;
- the walls are made from a strong material that preserves their smoothness and shape;
- the width of the well slightly exceeds the height of the trappee (with their hands and feet completely extended);
- the depth of the well exceeds the trappee's height and jumping potential by a great margin;
- the well is located in a desolate place.
In practice, Railean wells are self-adjusted isolated systems that prevent any exchange of matter with the surroundings. For example, accumulation of rainfall water is prevented by means of adjusting the atmospheric pressure inside the well.
The well prevents the trappee from escaping by chewing off parts of their body and stacking them. This works by enforcing Lavoisier's conservation of mass principle.
Railean wells can tweak their gravitational field, to counteract the trappee's ability to levitate; which may emerge after after prolonged periods of meditation.
The anti-humane self-adapting design of Railean wells made them known by names such as:
- regeneration trap;
- well of degeneration;
- pit of regret;
- Railean ideal well;
- Δε well.
In scientific terms, the basic properties of Railean wells are:
- µ(wall) = 0, the friction coefficient of the walls is zero;
- the diameter is ε + height of the trappee's fully extended body;
- Uo walls, made from refined unobtanium fiber that can withstand the pressure of tectonic plates and impacts with exoplanetary bodies;
- a variable field of gravity that adds ε m/s to the well's escape velocity to counteract the trappee's attempts to get out;
- the walls absorb the entire light-spectrum, reflecting no photons.
It is speculated that these wells are self-aware, although the scientific community is quite fragmented in this matter. Some opponents of the self-awareness hypothesis state that if the well grows (in depth, in width, gravity-wise...), it only means that it is alive, but this does not imply awareness. This growth is purely spontaneous and not meant to do a disservice to the trappee.
In September 2011, a group of UTM graduates proposed that the well is manipulated by the Flying Spaghetti Monster. However, this appears to be another version of an earlier supposition, that the wells are manipulated by Aku - the shapeshifting master of darkness.
Recent research in the field of thermolexicology (the science of creating words that have a therm- prefix) revealed that there is, in fact, one way to escape such a well. The solution was briefly mentioned by Thermat on the margins of his notebook.
The scientific community is currently working on 2 major problems:
- find a way to escape Railean wells;
- determine the ultimate super-power.
Teleportation and time-travel are strong candidates, but some believe that the Railean universe contains other hypothetical structures designed to defeat such powers.
Note: a common misconception states that there is a much easier way of trapping a person with infinite regenerative capabilities - throw them beyond the event horizon of a black hole. This may seem effective at the first glance - the person will die/respawn indefinitely. However, black holes lose mass via Hawking radiation, sooner or later they evaporate, freeing the trapped person. Such traps are just a temporary solution.
2 comments
Comment from: Constantin Visitor
Comment from: gr8dude Member
That person should have chosen “redefining the world” as their super-ability; otherwise I think they’ll just have to get used to the pit of regret :-)
I haven’t heard of the book, but I added it to my list, thanks for the recommendation.
Hmm, what if the trapped person undefined the world, redefined it as the inside of the well, and decided that “escaping” was an ill-defined notion?
This story reminded me of a very cool and unusual book called “House of Leaves". Read the first few pages on Amazon, and see if you get hooked :)