Device Power:
I'm guessing it also depends on the Device type itself. Storage Devices I would guess take very little energy to use, since they provide the mage no actual support of any sort. They have no AI (exception:
Durandal) other than basic spell function, and so probably just serve as a conduit for spell focus, or something.
Armed Devices would be next up, though to me it seems that they would only use power when active. IIRC, Armed Devices don't speak while in passive mode, only in active. Intelligent Devices, obviously, would take the most power, as even in a passive state, they have fully functioning AI and still allow the mage to cast spells.
(Note: For those of you who might not know,
Wireless Energy Transfer is possible.)
Which suddenly brings up another point: Is there really a purpose to Storage Devices? I mean, we see Nanoha cast
Divine Shooter without the use of
Raising Heart in the first episode of A's, and in the series prior Fate is able to summon her cape without the help of
Bardiche. The anime, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), implies that a Device is required to focus mana for attack. Now, with an Intelligent Device (I'm ignoring the fact that Nanoha and Fate are uber-powerful for this demonstration), there's a good chance they help passively (or actively in
Mach Caliber's case), by making adjustment's to a mage's spell before casting it.
This goes back to the previous argument of ergonomics. The reason Nanoha doesn't need them is because
Raising Heart is not only an Intelligent Device, but probably an
advanced Intelligent Device. My reasoning is this (a good bit of this is subjective, so feel free to toss it out the window): Throughout the first two seasons, Nanoha relies on
Raising Heart to do a lot for her, including spell casting using the Device as a focus, flight, and adjusting spells like
Divine Shooter for her (this last bit is definitely debatable, but I'm guessing the first time Nanoha cast the spell RH did a lot of the homing work).
By A's, this has lessened to a degree, and we see Nanoha cast
Divine Shooter on her own, with no AI support of any sort (unless you count RH serving as a counting tool
). By StrikerS, she casts
Crossfire Shoot and
Divine Buster without RH's help (which is now doubling as a PDA of sorts).
My point is this: Mages, once they've learned magic to a certain point, can cast spells without the need for a Device to support them. Storage Devices have no ability to support the mage. So what's the need for a Storage Device to exist? Does not having one somehow increase the amount of mana needed for a spell? Do they serve as a focus of sorts?
...then again, it's highly likely I'm completely downplaying the need for a Storage Device.
Pseudomatter:
...well okay I didn't think about them being one and the same. But I don't think Devices are ever stated as having a limited amount of matter at their disposal. Really, IMO, it would depend on how much energy a mage can pump into the Device to force it to summon parts. A Device can regenerate itself so long as the mage wielding as power to provide it.
It's the same concept behind a Barrier Jacket/Knight Armor. A mage can use it to protect him/herself so long as there's energy to burn.
Barrier Spell:
I think we can all agree that was only the most useless spell to exist. Like TK said, it's only purpose was so there wouldn't be any civilians running around.
Actually, it might be even simpler: They use the
Barrier spell because 7arcs didn't want to animate people flipping out (if you'll notice in StrikerS, any surprise by the Gadget Drones has a conspicuous lack of people other than the main characters).
And I disagree with the reasoning for using Barrier spells on Mid. To paraphrase TK on the OC thread about 300 pages ago: There simply aren't that many people who can do magic.
Okay nevermind I found the post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
I still find the idea of 90% of a population being able to be mages of any rank to be very unlikely.
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But then, since we
hardly see any civilians, this is a hard thing to judge.