The Spell

Item from dark-forest by

Luo Ji's broadcast: a string of star coordinates fired at the Sun and amplified to the galaxy — proven by the destruction of 187J3X1 to be a death sentence for whatever it names.

The spell is the practical proof of the dark forest theory. Luo Ji selects an unremarkable star, 187J3X1, fifty light-years out, and broadcasts its coordinates. After Trisolaris's surveillance refused to take the gesture seriously, the photoid arrived. The same procedure, applied to the Trisolaran sun, would cost humanity's Sun in turn — which is why the spell, once cast, becomes deterrence rather than weapon.

Appearance

Not an object but a transmission — a sequence of celestial coordinates broadcast from a low-power radio array, bounced through the Sun's fusion-amplifier, and projected on a galaxy-wide spherical wavefront. On Earth it is a paragraph of numbers in a sealed envelope.

Also known as: the Curse, the Coordinate Broadcast

What They Know

• Uses the Sun as a relay amplifier — a technique published by Ye Wenjie's late father in obscure journals.
• Confirmation of the spell's effect required 187J3X1's photoid strike, observed in Year 197 of the Crisis.
• Casting the spell on Trisolaris would also expose the Solar System; this is the design feature that makes it deterrence.

Connections

• created_by — luo_ji
• rivals — droplet

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