Emotional amplifier

Emotional amplifiers were devices capable of detecting emotions and amplifying them over distances. Owen Harper compared them to mobile phones which transmitted emotions rather than sounds.

Design
The amplifiers were pastel coloured metallic objects, the size of paperback books. No two were identical, but they were all alike. One was ovoid in shape, some were long and thin, some were short and squat and some looked like globules all massed together. Their surfaces were blistered, but as part of the design and not the result of extreme heat or cold. They were criss-crossed with raised ribbons of metal, which broadened out at random intervals to encircle two buttons. At the broad end, they had three irregular holes. The narrower end of the amplifiers was different in texture, like ceramic, but the same pastel colour. They varied in colour, from deep-lavender, to aquamarine, to rose. When turned on, it pulsed a colour of light which depended on the emotion it detected. For lust it pulsed amber and for anger it pulsed crimson.

The colour and curvature reminded Toshiko of Japanese art, with the surface incised with pattern like formal calligraphy. The colour reminded her of Hokusai etchings.

The inner circuitry produced an emotional amplification effect, capable of transmitting emotions including hunger, aggression, lust and anger. It contained a picture within the circuitry of a face, although this was merely incidental to the primary function. There were also symbols incised into the circuitry. (PROSE: Slow Decay)

Origin
It was theorised by Owen Harper that they might be used by an alien race which communicated via a short-range empathic sense. The amplifiers were built with artistry and care. To this species, art was more important than power conservation.

The face within the circuitry was differently proportioned to that of a human, more closely resembling a hammerhead shark. It had two eyes placed at the extremes of the head with a slit in the middle of the face. (PROSE: Slow Decay)

History
One was found in 1910. It was later transferred to a different box in the Torchwood Archive when similar devices were found in South Wales.

Torchwood bought five as a job lot at an auction in South Wales in 1948. It was unknown from where they originally came. One even made it as far away as London, where it was archived by Torchwood One.

In 1953, two were discovered in an alien life-craft ejected from a crashing spaceship, found in an archaeological dig at an Iron Age site near Mynach Hengoed.

They were all archived together, based on their similar appearance, in 1955 by Jack Harkness.

In the mid 2000s, an amplifier was found on the body of Craig Sutherland after the deaths of five students at a nightclub off St Mary Street. (PROSE: Slow Decay)