Strange Matter: Screaming in the Void
Digital Approximation of the “Trusmutation” spacetime anomaly (exposure edited for visibility)
The Transmutation is a spacetime anomaly formed sometime during the Old Kind’s reign in Twila space. It became something of an obsession to the species, leading to an almost complete withdraw from their expansion efforts and subsequently their presence in the interstellar community of antiquity. For centuries they labored fruitlessly to understand this new puzzle, even erecting monuments for the cherished servants sacrificed in the name of progress until finally, the twin dissolvers were tamed. The introduction of stable foreign matters opened up new technological and biological fields for the Old Kin (notably the Antechambers, Neuro-Custodians, and the Twila themselves).
In the contemporary Ascendancy the Alchemists have fashioned themselves as the administrators of the Transmutation, although in practice the role is merely ceremonial. The Hydro-Sangyrum Corthos is the administrative body tasked with maintaining the null stores through regular harvesting of its twin arms. To most biological and machine forms the Transmutation is impossible to look at for long, the sheer brightness and darkness of it damaging the viewing apparatus and causing terror in some species. The Twila and certain advanced/void-based technology are able to avoid this fate however, with null or void based life/technology filtering the Lighten and Darken into properly viewable states.
Lighten and Darken, Null and Void
The transmutation offers four substances of import to its residents: the supercritical fluids Lighten and Darken, the liquid null, and the crystalline void lattice. Under correct conditions, Lighten and Darken can also be bonded to the periphery of a void lattice, effectively “gilding” it and causing them to behave as a solid.
For the ease of conversation, each of the four substances has a simple, realspace-matter analogue used for first-time learners. Lighten, named as such for its impossibly bright glow, is an acid-equivalent. Darken, impossibly dark as it is, is a base-equivalent. Naturally, null’s form mimics that of water, and while it’s traditionally depicted as gray it can actually imitate the appearance of Lighten or Darken (to a lesser degree) without undergoing physical or chemical changes. Finally void lattices, the last of the discovered matters, form naturally as a transparent octahedron or rhomboid, only becoming translucent under a specific heating regiment. Void has no discovered practical use in isolation, but in combination with the other matters entire worlds of possibilities are opened; current theories posit that null-based life is only possible due to the presence of aqueous void lattices.
The Dresk-Daw Split
The Dresk-Daw split dates back to the earliest days of the Cruxus Null, wherein Twila experiencing null withdrawal found their biological equilibrium disrupted. Those who found themselves lacking Lighten would become too in-focus, blurring their surroundings as they became uncannily sharp. For those lacking Darken, the opposite was the case. Those still at equilibrium would be called the Daw, and the Dresk would be exiled to calm the public’s fears of “needlefingers” preying on Twila to claim their null. These fears would culminate in Arc’hana’s attempted genocide of the entire Drellun domain, finally convincing Aesis of the need to intervene in its former colonies and cementing the Dresk-kin’s wariness of their fellow Twila. While one’s status as a Dresk or Daw can be fluid, the two emerged from the Chemical Wars as distinct races.
