If they stop experiencing seasons, what season would it feel like all the time?

Do they not expect eventual diminishing per capita capacity to provide resources to support people with?

They don't know what the Amentan experience of seasons is like, so. They can't really comment. Could she elaborate on why this is particularly important?

Well, they have magic, so conservation of entropy is no longer true. If there's too little space, they can just build more orbitals. And advances on making magic and technology better and more efficient keep coming. (Rauha wants to explain the Kuliapu Hierarchy but Nenad stops him. The focus is on getting the giant crystal!! Don't say anything that will compromise this.)

Well, Amentans already have a way to experience spring all the time (they can move somewhere without seasons, like the equator, poles, or moons), and this is widely unpopular.

The Amentans are all so fucking delighted to hear about the building orbitals option! That sounds great! They might be having a little impromptu party about that right here and now!

Why is experiencing spring all the time widely unpopular?

They're glad they're happy? But like, the orbital habitats wouldn't have seasons. Asteralians don't care that much about having seasons.

Well, the problem with springing all the time is mostly that you can't have a baby all the time. Even if you can afford a few credits that's not enough to have a baby until menopause.

Huh. Asteralians do not experience the desire to have babies that strongly. What does it feel like to spring? They can transmit other qualia through the telepathy: Rauha demonstrates by sharing a memory of his first EVA. 

...do they want an example of a normal spring or a bad one.

Both, but start with the normal spring please.

Mekapi thinks she has pretty normal springs. Maybe on the gentle end of normal. It's like so -

Hm. He doesn't think he's felt anything like that but he thinks some Asteralians might? People vary in how much they want children and Rauha is lower-middle, he thinks. For Asteralians.

What is the bad spring like. If someone is experiencing a bad spring right now they can volunteer to share their experience.

Nobody with a cripplingly bad spring has been assigned here, because: it's spring.

This guy, though, has been menopausal for ten years and he used to have pretty wretched ones. Aaaaare the aliens sure about this.

They want to try! Rauha has experienced looking at Bad Memories before.

Okay. Here's this guy's bad springs from when he still had those.

ugh oof ouch ough

That's so sad! That Amentans have to experience that! Asteralians do not experience that at all. Perhaps there's a way to use water or wind magic to relieve people who are suffering from that.

(Nenad is getting Very Annoyed that this is Not about the Very Large Crystal and can they please get on with the presentation of the magics so they can make the deal to get one already. Hurry up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Would the Amentans appreciate an explanation of water and wind magic now.

Please! Magic is so incredibly exciting!

Okay!

The Lore of Waters and Life, as the name suggests, operates on biology. It can diagnose and treat diseases and also effect changes in biology. Staves and wands of living wood are used for it, and this magic can also be infused into solutions, typically called 'elixirs', which can have effects when administered (some topical or intravenous or by mouth).

Water magic can be used for manipulating the biology of plants and animals too. They use it for hydroponic farming, ornamental plants, and artificial meat.

It can also be used cosmetically or to effect gross changes in one's biology.

Regrettably, they don't have any live samples of water magic to show — their staves would need adjustment and calibration to work on Amentans, though they are quite sure that it's possible, because it works on a wide variety of different biologies. And most of their elixirs were either destroyed or are reserved for their own use in the case of injury. They show before and after pictures of how it's used cosmetically, though. It can do things as simple as hair growth or pigment change, all the way to sex or species change. These pictures are of other species who live back home who are not Asteralians.

They can export all of these things when they're calibrated for Amentans! Do they want to start posting speculative auctions, for a loose idea?

Yes, if that doesn't commit them. (The ship has few water magineers since that isn't what the ship is about.)

Also, can they receive samples of Amentan foodstuffs so they can see whether they can eat food here. They will offer several different MREs in exchange.

It would be polite to give the winning bidders of any given auction the first opportunity to buy under whatever scheme they settle on and it would also incentivize more accurate bids. They could then use this information to take out a loan, if they would like to finance their gigantic crystal in that way instead of trying to scrape together trade goods off what's on the ship.

Here are some Amentan food samples!

They're interested but they're going to defer to making a decision on the auctions until later today.

A few people are going to come out holding long woody plants with protuberances and braids and flat parts that clearly mark them out as being artificially shaped. They have leaves growing on some parts. The plants are capped at the bottom by what look like plastic spheres. They wave the food samples across some of the plants and wave some of the plants across the food samples.

They say that the food samples are good for them to eat. They may want to purchase food in the future, in that case, or perhaps Amentan crop seeds.

The last magic is the Lore of Wind and Whispers. This magic deals with thought and communication.

Wind magic is how they are able to do telepathy!

Unlike the other types of magic, it is possible to practice this magic without any equipment (though some effects still require it). Such people are called psions. Priests are psions though they obtain this magic as instinct from blessings from the Hierophant rather than through deliberate cultivation. Regrettably, because Amentans cannot channel orgone, they cannot become psions, though they could still use wind magic artifacts with orgone batteries.

Psions do psychotherapy and lie detection via mindreading, and this is also what they plan to do before they sign any agreements.

Psions are also capable of telekinesis, with loads depending on their strength and number (a team could conceivably lift a house). Rauha has very weak telekinesis but he can make this stone float!

Wind magic can also effect thought, emotion, and personality changes and they use it for stuff like rehabilitating prisoners, media that becalms or puts one to sleep, et cetera. They think it might be possible to use this to alleviate bad springs. Water magic might also work for that but much of their water magic infrastructure was broken.

Wind magic can be used for long ranged instantaneous (faster than light) communication, using crystals. It's what they use in space rather than radio, because light lag is very inconvenient. The latency is so low you can play action games with someone on the other side of the star system!