Card Capturing Physics?

[Spiderkeg]

I want to add an element to this story that deals with the capturing and releasing of objects, whether living or non-living, inside the use of cards. I realize from the start that this is not something new. However once I can get some mechanics figured out, this will lead into a bigger portion of the story.

For now though I am trying to think of methods by which something like this might be possible, even remotely. Granted this is a long shot, but I need to give this some effort rather than jumping to the whole "because of magic" answer.

Is there some real physics involved why a simple card might be able to trap and release an object. I have looked into the ideas of transporters (Star Trek) in the sense that a conversion takes place between energy and matter. I have looked at cathode rays on how they are able to write the contents of a buffer to a screen. Mirrors are something else I've looked into as they take a 3D object and present in 2D. Steroegrams are also something I have researched.

The real challenge that I have is just the conversion process, of how someone can call an object from a card or how this process might look when performed.

Could I be thinking too much in depth with this?

[aldan]

I don't think that you are. What you said there got me thinking a wee bit (look out, everyone!!) about it. One idea would be to have those cards, if it's a tech situation, be crafted at a nanobyte level to be made to hold information, with different sections of the card holding different areas, with some holding muscle strength and dexterity and muscle memory, while other areas will hold brain info and still others would hold info about the appearance of the captured. This would then allow the person or people who have captured someone to be able to modify that person or even copy or steal memories. It would be a method of almost genetically altering the captured.

If you're going more along the magic line, it could be that the card is covered in runes, and that each of those runes are part of a magical puzzle which can be used to capture people, and also, if someone get hold of the card, they would need to solve the puzzle a different way to release them.

Two ideas you could go with there....

[Qray]

The real challenge that I have is just the conversion process, of how someone can call an object from a card or how this process might look when performed.

How detailed do you want the process to be? Could it be as simple as destroying the card (crumpling or ripping it in half.)

How big of a part of the story is it? If it's not a major part of the story, it might not be neccessary to go too far in depth with.

[Neurolanis]

This may or may not be of any help, but, what if the cards controled the gravity of the objects? If the gravitational force of objects could be manipulated by a card, how it's poisitoned on the table. I'm not sure how to explain this in scientific terms.. perhaps a small device was upon each card (a thin pattern upon its front or back), like the pattern found on the object. And so, the movement of the card reflects the movement of the object. So, non-scientifically it would seem to be about symbols. A card has a blue spade symbol, say, and so a vase with the same symbol is held in midair or released depending on the movement of the card. Or it could be, an object is held down by a force of gravity when a card is on its back (on the symbol), and when flipped over the object is released?

[who me]

great mind's think a like or at least steal there Ideas from the same place, Chronicles of amber.

my Idea's when the card is empty it looks like a mirror reflecting every thing that comes into its field, a full card that is one with some thing in goes dark, that is light can not escape it any more or reflects the object in it.

I liked Neurolanis idea with gravity, what if they work like a black hole when a card reflects a object and is activated it sucks the object into like a black hole sucks stuff into it. the difference is that the card's effect can be reversed and the object/ objects can be released.
where are they stored, in a parallel dimension, or
physics is cool every thing is made of really small molecules. there is all this space between the molecules. so the cards just reduce the object in side by removing that space, and put the object in the spaces intertwining it into its own molecules. but fun fun
the mass remains the same. so you could have this really heavy dense card that you can't move you have to much stuff in it. sort of like the Lady's hand bag.

[Neurolanis]

We're brewing some interesting ideas in here.

[aldan]

Or perhaps, to go along with the idea that who me was going with, you could require, to get the person/item out of the card, something of the same mass to replace it, and they will switch places, exactly. Therefore, if you are in a jungle and try releasing the person, perhaps it will grab the quicksand, take the mass of quicksand from the huge bunch of it, and replace it with the person/thing/creature that is in the card currently. This would mean that it would be tough on the being that was in the card....

[Spiderkeg]

Sorry for the long read, people.

My story is a mixture of both sci-fi and fantasy. While I would love to use real physics, even loosely, in some way I realize that there's just no way I can pull that off. Not unless I started introducing alternative dimensions or pocket universes, which I really do not want to tackle. So far the story exists in a linear universe which is simple and neat and does not hint at other possible realities or timelines. So with that in mind... I'll go into depth as to what I'm looking to do and what I may be forced to do.

The original concept was to have a deck of cards, like fortune telling cards, which are to be used to represent various meanings... however when used the cards will produce an effect. Much like you would see on Yu-Gi-Oh or Card Captura. I'm not looking to rip off this idea from other works, but it's a fun concept that I wanted to explore. I have a much larger purpose for this in mind, to begin with.

As stated before, this story involves both sci-fi and fantasy. I have given some thought on introducing a device, alien technology, which would pass as believable due to the content and theme of the story. I just worry that some might see this as a MacGuffin since the process won't be explained.

Essentially this device will convert and object, fully three dimensional, into a data stream. The stream is then stored on a card. Additional data is stored which denote size, density, element characteristics, etc. I will play the device off as if it was used in interstellar travel with the transportation of cargo, especially objects too heavy or too large.

The characters in my story will use the device to "compress" objects into these cards. Compressing living beings might be harder to detail and make believable. The cards can be used to call forth the object.

Now the problems I have with this idea are such:
1. Does calling an object from a card completely dispell the object? Calling the object back would require the device which is way too heavy and large to tote around.
2. Would living beings maintain awareness while compressed/trapped/imprisoned in the card? Would this be feasible? Awareness denotes the passage of time, so would the organic age while in the card?
3. Would an easier method of explaination be that, instead of compressing an object into the card, a physical holographic pattern is created and programmed into the card? This way I could claim the card merely acts like a mobile emitter (for those of you who remember) which projects a physical projection that can be interacted with. When the object is no longer needed, the hologram can be turned off. This way the card gives the impression of invoking and revoking the card's abilities.

The third option seems promising, however I have one more hurdle to overcome if I choose to take that direction. The object used to imprint upon the card, do I have it:
1. Scanned and copied to the card, causing the card to have a projection while the original object still exists?
2. Do I have the object compressed into the card to forever be used as a holographic projection from then on?

In the case of a famed magic sword, one option causes the sword to be called forth at any time and only with the card while the other option hints that the card can be used while the original is still somewhere out there in the world?

In the case of a biological lifeform, the card would have to record/maintain brain activity in order to successfully recall said organism. Yet would this cause the original to be copied or to be broken down and now confined by the very card?

In either case, it would be nice to allow the character to call forth the object from the card, but for the card to not be depleted of the object. Just like in Yu-Gi-Oh where the card invokes the representative of the card, but once that represenative is expelled, the card can be used again. I would not want the character, who has recently trapped a dragon, to have to retrap the dragon. It would seem kinda ridiculous to have the dragon run off once called. Of course I'm looking at all this in a very logical light, rather than forcing the characters/objects involved to operate how I want them to be.

Sorry for the very long read. I'm just expressing my thoughts and contemplations. Feel free to voice your own opinions or give any answers to the many questions asked. This will take me some time to work through in my head as it is. This idea will hold an important function in my story, so it's not something I want to rush through lightly.

[who me]

standard excuse when one does not wish to explain how some thing works. the cards were made by the old ones long ago, there secrets are lost and there empires dust.

hey look on the back of the card there are instructions for how they were made ( very loud thud !)
NO one knows the secrets of the old ones! basta!

[Spiderkeg]

Heh... I like your enthusiasm. I try to explain things, at least to have a good foundation from which to work on. While I'm open to the idea of the fantastical, I believe that having a deck of cards in which each card can record, replay, or release entities to be a vast project to leave to the fantastical. Though I'm not sure if science can help me either. There's just something very unbelivable about a card being the portal to a holding universe where the item is stored.

[who me]

it is not beyond the realm of my imagination. I could even imagine that each card is a portal to a entire world or universe.

hey look at these cool magic beans i got!

[aldan]

*aldan pulls out a huge electric fan, plugs it in and turns it on, pointing it in who me's direction*

Just in case...