Hm, I found this interesting piece whilst seeking some paradoxes. I have to mull over it further before I could make it anything, but I think its quite interesting:
"One can concede to Zeno that at each instant the arrow does not move. But it doesn't follow that the arrow does not move at all. The concept of motion can simply be understood as "occupying different points of space at different points in time." That the arrow is motionless at each instant is beside the point. In fact, since motion requires time, it does not make sense for there to be motion at timeless instants."
This whole paragraph presents an interesting thought, in that the concept of time is the only thing that defines motion and mobility, which i suppose makes sense when you think about it, but I never really THOUGHT about it before in that way.
SO!
In what way could I harness this phrase into something fantasy-like?
The first thing that popped into mind was Captainpenguins Dhampire setting. This could be made into a riddle, and when a Dhampire truly understands the concept of Time bieng motion, the Dhampire would be able to grasp that 'time' and 'motion', thus both allowing him to move at much faster speeds, and also perhaps to look a small amount into the future, thus increasing reflexes.
Then, of course, I thought how I could make an item out of this:
What about a crossbow or bow, imbued by someone who understands the time/motion concept, which would enchant any arrow or bolt placed upon it to be outside the borders of time. Thus the moment an arrow is fired, it is instantly jutted into whatever it is aimed at.
The thought behind this bieng: the enchantment pulls the arrow out of its restriction of motion, and instantly places it at the end of its path, by negating the time that it requires. Now, the arrow would still have to be aimed correctly, because though it removes time from it, it doesnt change where it would be, so:
the archer fires the arrow, and instantly, the arrow is imbedded, humming softly. But the arrow is not where he aimed it to be! Its a good ten inches to the left! A second later, the archer feels a breeze as the wind changes.See what im getting at? The enchantment basically pulls the arrow out of the future into the present, but it can still be effected by things OF the future, as it would have been had it taken its normal few seconds of flight.
Basically what we have in this, is a primitive sniper rifle - as in it is instant hit. But it is also inaccurate.
Anyway - i think i'd best mull over this some more
Please post your own thoughts and ideas.
