I completely agree with this assessment. The standing flows were like our electricity, only they powered things OP-wise.
Remember that lightbulb terangreal that worked when you held it? Well, the standing flows made sure that they lit up all the time.
I think it was like our electrical power grid, except instead of power plants they must have had a ter'angreal infrastructure that was destroyed during the War of Power or during the Breaking. Now, only those that can generate the OP themselves (channelers) can make these ter'angreal work. I am guessing that the flows were not "plug-in" but wireless, but who knows.
Remember that lightbulb terangreal that worked when you held it? Well, the standing flows made sure that they lit up all the time.
In CoT chapter 21 A Mark, Alviarin is using a red rod ter'angreal to summon Mesaaana. She is about to use the OP to activate it and thinks:
"That would not have been necessary in the Age of Legends, but something called the "standing flows" no longer existed. A World where almost any ter'angreal could be used by people unable to channel seemed beyond comprehension. Why had it been allowed?"
I don't remember reading this on previous rereads of the books, and I haven't found anything about it in any theories (of course that doesn't mean it isn't there).
So, I was wondering if anyone knows what standing flows were that allowed non-channelers to use ter'angreals in the AoL. Flows would equate weaves, I would think; so were there just OP weaves available in the air or somewhere for others to use? And why do they no longer exist?
Any thoughts?
"That would not have been necessary in the Age of Legends, but something called the "standing flows" no longer existed. A World where almost any ter'angreal could be used by people unable to channel seemed beyond comprehension. Why had it been allowed?"
I don't remember reading this on previous rereads of the books, and I haven't found anything about it in any theories (of course that doesn't mean it isn't there).
So, I was wondering if anyone knows what standing flows were that allowed non-channelers to use ter'angreals in the AoL. Flows would equate weaves, I would think; so were there just OP weaves available in the air or somewhere for others to use? And why do they no longer exist?
Any thoughts?
I think it was like our electrical power grid, except instead of power plants they must have had a ter'angreal infrastructure that was destroyed during the War of Power or during the Breaking. Now, only those that can generate the OP themselves (channelers) can make these ter'angreal work. I am guessing that the flows were not "plug-in" but wireless, but who knows.
What are "standing flows"?
- 03/06/2010 03:23:59 PM
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Re: What are "standing flows"?
- 03/06/2010 08:29:09 PM
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I also think of them as energy units that were not connected to/stored in physical batteries.
- 03/06/2010 09:46:13 PM
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Re: I also think of them as energy units that were not connected to/stored in physical batteries.
- 04/06/2010 06:02:41 PM
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Re: I also think of them as energy units that were not connected to/stored in physical batteries.
- 04/06/2010 08:06:35 PM
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