Plug Circuit

Plug Circuits are component parts of Magitech artifacts, devised during the Shogunate Era to fill the role of the Perpetual Restoration Engine, which had become impossible to manufacture. They see use in many complex artifacts, particularly power armours and vehicles, and the replacement of their Liquid Gemstone Plug Diodes has been a typical procedure of artifact maintenance for thaumaturge-technicians throughout the Shogunate Era and the Age of Sorrows.

The purpose of a plug circuit is to balance and cleanse the essence flowing through an artifact, ensuring it is properly directed by essence circuitry and magical wiring so that it passes through the appropriate plug diodes, which are small quantities of Liquid Gemstone suspended in Omphalic Glass or Quartz Vials with caps of the magical materials. Essence that has become suffused with Fire, running too hot, can be passed through Air to cool it and prevent overheating. Essence inundated in Water, risking rust and warping, can be stabilized with Earth. As each variation of essence must be balanced with a different type of liquid gem, each artifact will require a different arrangement of plug diodes, assembled in a Plug Diode Array which can interface with the essence circuitry that directs essence where it must go.

Alas for the magitechnician, Plug Diodes are far from imperishable, and as essence passes through them they wear down, eventually burning out, the vial cracking or the liquid within turning to inert sand. The technician must access the plug circuit to remove such dead diodes from the array, replacing them with new ones. Strenuous use (flight, combat, or other essence-intensive activities) force more essence through the diodes, and cause more burnout... if the plugs go too long without replacement, the artifact may begin to suffer system failures as its internal essence flows find other ways to balance themselves.