Cabal

Cabal is a form of magically broadcasting images through linked crystal balls. Throughout much of its history, all broadcasting had to be done live as recording captured images was not possible until the invention of digital cabal near the end of the Victorious Era.

## Light Saturation

Light saturation is a phenomenon whereby each time an image displayed in one crystal ball is transmitted to another, the overall brightness of the image increases. During the Classic Era, crystal ball relay networks utilized Crystal Dark Rooms, which were magically sealed chambers outfitted with amethyst crystals and with only the bare minimum lighting required to operate the relaying crystal ball, in order to mitigate the effects of light saturation, but rural areas farther away from source crystals continued to have issues with "frosty" broadcasts up until the invention of Satellite Cabal in early Victorious Era. It should be noted that ambient brightness and the time of day can significantly impact the light saturation of broadcasts, which is why many of the original relay networks only broadcasted after dark.

## Display

Images presented through cabal can be flat, but most often are broadcasted as entire 3-dimensional scenes that can be viewed as unfolding within the confines of the displaying crystal ball. When broadcasting flat images, viewers will be able to see whatever image is being displayed as if it were facing directly towards them no matter which direction they happen to be viewing the ball from. When broadcasting full 3D scenes, the orientation of the ball and the perspective of the viewer matter as the ball will display its contents as if they were displaying the actual 3D space they are receiving. Any displayed images can be altered by a mage through transmogrify.

## Capturing

Capturing is the process by which an image is placed into the initial Source Crystal Ball. Real 3D scenes are most often captured through the use of a Capture Crystal which projects an Orb of Capture around itself and then transmits the entirety of that scene to be displayed in other crystal balls. Flat images such as those in 2D animation are captured through live projection into a crystal ball. Creative scenes such as those made by storytellers projecting the images of their mind's eye can be either 3D or 2D and are limited only to the imagination of the storyteller.

3D Capture through a Capture Crystal is the most common type of broadcast cabal networks utilized prior to the invention of digital cabal. For events such as theatrical plays and sports games, one massive capture crystal would be set in the center of the stage or stadium that could effectively project its capture orb over all potentially relevant areas. This initial capture would then be transmitted to a dark room where trained transmogrifiers would focus in on specific scenes of action before transmitting the image to other crystal balls on the relay network.

## Transmogrify

Transmogrify is the process by which images displayed on a crystal ball are altered by mages operating them. With the right set of skills, there is almost no limit to the effects that can be achieved through transmogrify. The most common transmogrify that is used is focusing the image on a smaller section of the received image to be able to better view important actions and details. There is no loss of image quality from focusing as crystal balls have an effectively infinite resolution; however, once one ball on the relay has focused on a reduced section of the total capture, subsequent balls receiving its transmogrified broadcast cannot focus themselves view any parts of the total scene that have been omitted. For this reason, some networks also broadcast "raw" transmissions that do not contain any transmogrify so that mages at home or in other networks may view the scene more freely utilizing their own powers.

### Obscurists

Obscrusists are specially trained transmogrifiers, typically either lumancers or umbmancers, who utilize their magic to censor broadcasts for the purposes of modesty and privacy. As mages may manipulate the focus of their received broadcasts at their leisure, obscurists ensure that even if they do try to allow their focus to wander where eyes were not intended, such as underneath skirts and kilts, they will be greeted with nothing but shadows or blinding lights.

## Audio

Crystal Balls do not naturally output audio of any kind, and while magic exists that can allow them to have sound, such magic is terribly mana inefficient. During its early history, all cabal was silent, and it would not be until the Conquest Era that it became common for crystal ball broadcasts to incorporate accompanying Horn of Calling Sonus Radio broadcasts as well.

## Relay Networks

Relay Networks are a series of linked crystal balls set in a way that one Source Crystal captures an original scene while relay crystal balls attuned to either the source itself or other relays closer to the source receive and transmit the scene across great distances. Mages could attune their own crystal balls to these relays to receive the signals and view the images they present.

As crystal balls came into more common use, they began to be fitted with notched, or "channeled," dials beneath them that could be rotated to easily and readily attune a crystal ball to another broadcasting network.

## Satellite Cabal

Satellite Cabal is a form of relaying crystal ball broadcasts through the use of a primary relay located in a dark room in an enclosed habitat in space innovated by the LWL following their expulsion from the planet in the year 1969. Crystal balls across the entire world can then attune with this relay directly without the use of intermediary transmitters. Satellite transmissions are significantly more efficient than similar transmissions on the surface of Aum because their signals travel mostly through the near elemental vacuum of space instead of the elementally dense atmosphere of the planet, allowing the signals to be broadcast over exponentially greater distances and at reduced exposure to light saturation.

## Digital Cabal

Digital Cabal marked the ultimate evolution of the broadcasting system and led into its obsolescence into a new era of cybernetic and holoquodic entertainment.