Heavy Weapons – World building

Within the Heavy Weapons universe, there exist anomalous events that generate impossible materials, these anomalous materials have properties that are physically impossible by known physics, how they work is unknown and generally, their appearance within a universe is a sign that the health of the reality is rapidly diminishing. Yet, these materials can have a multitude of uses to those who are able to claim them. Currently, Anom-materials are extremely rare but still well known enough to be part of most educational curriculums across the universe. Due to their rarity and potential, a lot of the below list are extremely expensive and hard-fought over regularly, should they be generated by an anomaly.

Novarium

“Heat accelerator – existence annihilator.”

Risk category: High to extreme

Novarium is a heat intensifier, a brilliant orange and white crystal that is often heavy but malleable. Novarium generates heat as its warmed, allowing for infinite energy production if carefully manipulated, but it catalyses itself and has no upper limit on the amount of heat it can generate, as a result of this, most factions will seek to attain it, but be extremely cautious around it, a Novarium meltdown is something than can liquefy an entire planet after all and that's just the beginning. Novarium comets are thankfully something of the past, but an uncontrolled Novarium mass will quite literally end the universe if given enough time.

Plasmide

“Appearances can be deceiving, do NOT touch.”

Risk category: Medium to high

Plasmide is the electrical equivalent of Novarium, a conductive mineral with a striking blue hue that can store an infinite amount of electrical energy and generates its own voltage constantly. The good news about Plasmide, its much less volatile than Novarium as the nature of its energy is much more containable, the bad news is that Plasmide is very difficult to judge, its impossible to tell if a Plasmide nodule is fresh and completely uncharged or if it contains enough voltage to vaporise half the known universe... as before though, Plasmide is very valuable as it skips the middle man and directly generates extremely useful electricity, it does tend to generate plasma arcs at high energy levels though, which needs to be considered to store it safely. Beyond that, providing it is constantly drained and maintained properly, its an invaluable asset to any growing faction.

Ubershards

“Opposites brought together, two sides of the same coin.”

Risk category: Low

Ubershards are grey/black elongated, perfectly formed crystals that are able to absorb and dissipate any impact on their “Hard” sides, no matter the magnitude, but will shatter instantly and perfectly if something scratches their soft side. Each face of the crystal alternates between soft and hard, having a black colour if hard and grey if soft. They shatter in smaller Ubershards if broken. If properly engineered, Ubershards have amazing properties for defensive products but they can be difficult to work with, considering that the soft sides are appropriately named as you can break them with a simple human finger nail... surprisingly however, despite their somewhat dull appearance, there is a hyper expensive market for Ubershard jewellery. They have no interaction with any other form of energy either, making them extremely useful for containing the above materials...

Absolite

“Eternally seeking warmth, forever frozen.”

Risk category: Extreme

Absolite is the polar opposite of Novarium, it steadily and rapidly consumes heat, bringing everything around it to absolute zero. The heat drained is lost forever, irrevocably destroyed. Needless to say, Absolite is extremely deadly, able to kill anyone not protected in seconds but thankfully its spontaneous generation is extremely rare and easy to spot. As per usual however, there is plenty of use for such a material, specifically around any industry that views heat as a waste resource and needs to get rid of it quickly. Super-conduction is also a very valuable trait that Absolite enables and thus, Absolite heat-sinks and even circuit-boards for ultra-high end computing projects (Such as super computer projects aboard dedicated scientific stations) are always in extreme demand as they can solve difficult logistical problems. An unmanned, space-based super computer station doesn't care how cold it gets...

Cosmeium

“Radioactive Inferno.”

Risk category: Medium to high

Cosmeium is an ever burning rock-like material that emits massive swaths of radiation of varying forms. It cannot ever be extinguished and its flames dance through the spectrum of viewable colours as it emits its electro-magnetic radiation. Eventually however, Cosmeium dies a spectacular death, exploding violently and ceasing all anomalous behaviour, its final goodbye is a beautiful, if dangerous multi-coloured rainbow nova. Cosmeium has two main issues that cause problems, first, you can't tell when it'll explode, it happens completely randomly and is always a threat. Second, its vast amounts of radiation are very hazardous if you're not sufficiently protected and can cause a variety of issues for ill-prepared machinery. Cosmeium is one of the most common anomalous materials to be generated and has little industrial use due to its random, sudden volatility.

Spectrilyte

“Setting impossible beauty stands constantly.”

Risk category: None to low

Spectrilyte is a beautiful crystal like mineral that glows indefinitely and flows with a multitude of different colours at all times, moving over its surface like liquid. Those who stare at Spectrilyte for too long will grow new colour receptors in their eyes, allowing them to perceive more colours of the universe and that of the Spectrilyte itself. This effect is permanent but has never been harmful physically in any form of recorded history, although some people have felt uncomfortable and unnerved to have their eye-sight altered in such a way... beyond that, it also slowly colourizes everything around it, causing deep, beautiful hues to seep into neighbouring objects, this effect is also permanent and non-damaging. It isn't difficult to find someone who is obsessed with Spectrilyte and claims its their “spirit mineral” and its not difficult to understand why, naturally its wanted for beauty purposes and is highly sort after, but one of the most rare Anom-materials generated.

Messiaryte

“Does the impossible, a gift from the heavens themselves.”

Risk category: None

Messiaryte is a material in constant demand and is thankfully, one of the common generations of anomalies. Its feather-like, brilliant white crystals always float with a grace that's impossible not to appreciate, its effect is mass and gravity based. Messiaryte is able to completely negate mass within its field of effect and change gravitational fields, both enabling them and suppressing them with some simple voltage application to the crystals. Thus, Messiaryte is the reason for artificial gravity in space and one of the most cost effective/reliable ways to enable faster than light travel. Its extremely receptive to voltage changes and reacts consistently and its anomalous field can be tweaked easily, the fields generated from this mineral are now well researched and fully understood (aside from how it does it in the first place) and thus, Messiaryte has become a staple in space construction and other ambitious projects. Its gravity and mass manipulation fields are rarely dangerous naturally and because of how well its understood, its easily transported, a rare and beloved Anom-material.

Severmeld

“All consuming death.”

Risk category: Extreme

Severmeld is a highly erratic and unstable goo-like substance that attempts to absorb and digest anything within its distance, slowly manufacturing more of itself as it does so. Severmeld is extremely difficult to destroy and can eat pretty much anything that exists naturally, with only a couple of other Anom-materials able to resist its consuming touch. Once it touches surface with a planet, unless action is taken immediately to deal with it, its incredibly likely that the entire planet is lost. Large quantities of Severmeld tend to build internal pressure, causing volatile explosions and projecting itself rapidly, the larger the amount, the higher the pressure build. A planet sized volume of Severmeld, in theory, would produce an explosion strong enough to project pea sized amounts into other solar systems... you can imagine why this would get out of hand very quickly... Thankfully, Severmeld is pretty rare to be produced by anomalies and there are a few factions keeping a close eye out for any outbreaks and as a result, the threat of Severmeld is zero at the moment....

Jankeryde

“Paradoxical beyond point. A scientific trap.”

Risk category: None to low

Jankeryde is a bizarre silver liquid material that seems to understand the intentions of living creatures around it. Any creature that attempts to do anything other than observe it, will find themselves infuriated by it, as the Jankeryde will always do the exact opposite of what the manipulator wants, without fail. Trying to outsmart the Jankeryde always fails as it seems to be one step ahead at all times, even more bizarrely however, Jankeryde will slowly melt away into nothingness if it isn't interacted with, ceasing to exist entirely if left alone. It has been a topic for debate if Jankeryde has an intelligence to it, but attempting to study it always results in inevitable frustration. Other than that, its completely harmless and often short lived, one the universes more weird creations.

Etherelk

“From death, comes life.”

Risk category: None

Etherelk is formed under horrific circumstances, usually when a massive amount of souls depart the physical realm in rapid succession I.E. mass death. But its effects are subtle and brilliant. This softly glowing, cyan crystalline mineral often grows like the antlers of a deer over the corpses of the many, marking their departure from our world. Etherelk has a profoundly positive effect on the living however, those within its influence will feel lighter, happier and will literally see health improvements due to it, good fortune seems to follow those who carry Etherelk and there are generations of families who keep small pendants to pass from parent to child to keep them safe, as a result, Etherelk has undoubtedly protected and assisted many people for potentially hundreds of generations... A wonderfully pleasant Anom-material with a passive enrichment to those around it, its existence is mostly thought of as a folk tale as part of a massive disinformation campaign from several combined factions, mostly due to several large scale executions conducted by brutish warlords who attempted to grow their own Etherelk by slaughtering unprotected populations... Etherelk isn't guaranteed to form at areas of mass death, but its the only place it can do it.

Teleshards

“Always together, even when apart.”

Risk category: None

Teleshards are long, glittering, monochrome crystals always found in pairs or sometimes more. Fiercely magnetic, separating the crystals must be done with care or they'll end up attracting one another and shattering on impact, Teleshards are brittle and will lose their anomalous effect if broken. Aside from physical movement, any effect applied to a Teleshard will always effect its twin in the exact same manner, including vibrations, heat and electrical current applied, regardless of the distance between them. Besides doubling energy applied, the instantaneous nature of the duplication gives them a variety of incredible uses, but mostly for super long distance communication, as they are extremely precise in their replication and conductive. You can be separated by several galaxies and a Teleshard will allow you to communicate with its twin in real time. Absolutely prized by all factions, Teleshards are extremely expensive and highly sort-after but several have been lost in unfortunate accidents due to their extreme attraction when in close proximity to the twin crystal... They sit mid-way between most common and most rare in terms of anomalous generation, but there can never be enough of them.

Infinitum

“The journey is the destination.”

Risk category: None to low

Infinitum is a metallic material that grows in strength every time its damaged, infinitely. Its starts off with a clay like consistency that changes to a ultra tough metal plating as its worked. Infinitums melting point rises every time its melted, it becomes more resistant as its damaged and importantly, less workable as its changed. Eventually, Infinitum reaches a point where it can no longer be refined by physical materials and is essentially unworkable, if it reaches this point in a worthless form, than its practically the universes toughest doorstop. Its also completely sterile and kills any cells or microbiology introduced to it, to the point where its painful to hold without protection. Not as valued as you'd think due to how quickly it can become useless, more so because if you forge a weapon from it that does end up breaking, the fragments are even tougher than the original weapon was... as a result, a lot of factions and Terra-corps steer clear of the stuff, with one extremely important and notable exception.

Astralyte

“A friend from beyond.”

Risk category: None to medium

Astralyte is a regenerative mineral that is typically found as frozen crystals but reverts to a liquid form once warmed to room temperature, it is usually more viscous than water and has a deep violet colour to it. Astralyte is likely the universes most potent healer, making contact with it as able to bring those near death back to a healthy status within minutes of introduction, including the regeneration of completely lost elements, although this has had some really nasty interactions with surgically grafted bionics and folks with those are warned to stay away. In comparison to Etherelk, Astralyte doesn't passively benefit people but provides an impossible degree of medical restoration, to the point where its nearly impossible to die if in-contact with it, further more, those in direct contact with Astralyte do not age whilst touching it. Thus, there have been Astralyte implants for those able to afford it, essentially completely halting their ageing and completely rejuvenating their health. The healing process does not use the material up but Astralyte can be contaminated if its brought into contact with Jankeryde, turning it into Severmeld... due to this, Astralyte is always monitored closely, although the only instance of this happening was in strict testing conditions, the very fact it can happen at all is extremely concerning.

Azurlyte

“Of all the things that shouldn't exist, this stands at the top.”

Risk category: Unclassified

Azurlyte is not known to any factions other than the Azuri and the Chosen, as its a compound produced by the Chosen from Infinitum and Astralyte, forming a material that grows in strength indefinitely and regrows itself when damaged, it is the foundation that makes up most of an Azuri's body and allows them to grow in power constantly with no upper limit. Azurlyte cannot be corrupted by Jankeryde either, removing one of Astralyte's biggest weaknesses. This material is never directly produced by Anomalies however, it can only be manufactured by the Chosen and is only used in the production of Azuri. When outside of an Azuri's body, it becomes extremely unstable, violently shaking and heating up, until it eventually explodes and annihilates itself, leaving no trace of its existence. As a result of this, severed Azuri body parts are ticking time bombs that will decimate the area when they vanish from existence and no faction has ever been able to sample this material. The secrets behind the Chosen's production methods for this incredible material are also closely guarded, not that any other faction owns enough of either of the required materials to begin testing, never-mind start any form of production.

Ohbeyde

“Impossible to resist.”

Risk category: Medium to high

Ohbeyde is a remarkably pretty crystalline arrangement, usually cyan or sapphire coloured, that grows both in thick layers across surfaces and in larger, more traditional protrusions. It grows organically and without any requirement but at a slow rate. Its anomalous effect is both in its unsubstantiated growth and its effect on living organisms within close proximity. It releases airborne seeds that can infect living people and transform them into zombified protectors, completely killing higher brain function and turning the person into a personal guard for the anomalous crystal growths. This infection process has no known cure but doesn't result in a dramatic increase in stats or strength, other than a complete halt to ageing and providing their victims with unlimited energy, allowing the enslaved victims to guard the crystals forever.

Ohbeyde would be rated higher on the risk category if it wasn't for how easily it can be disposed of and prevented from infecting others. Although Low and Civilian grade hazmat suits won't protect from the airborne infection, mid grade will, meaning pretty much all factions have the capability to prevent infection once its identified, as long as procedures are adhered to and proper care is taken. The crystals can also be destroyed with intense heat, allowing relatively low cost neutralisation. Large scale Ohbeyde infestations can be rather intense but there are a lot of soldiers who relish the challenge to gun down crystalline zombies and burn out the anomalous infection. Ohbeyde is relatively common in terms of random generation, although it should be stated that these events are still incredibly rare.

Kinargus orbs

“A glitch in the system.”

Risk category: High

Kinargus orbs, sometimes called Storm Orbs, are spherical amber looking artefacts that cause extreme kinetic distortion in anything that makes contact with them. They float naturally and are usually found in the centre of randomly generated hurricanes and storms. Anything that makes contact with a Kinargus orb will be subject to massive bursts of chaotic kinetic energy, hurling it around with vicious force. If a living creature touches one, they'll usually be torn to pieces in seconds, as the forces coursing through their body will rip them limb from limb as they slam into walls and whip through the air. The effect does wear off after a few minutes but most people are long dead before that point. Due to their contact effect, they are extremely dangerous, as touching the walls or floor of a containment cell will end up tearing the entire complex apart in mere seconds, there have been successful storage attempts however, in vacuum sealed chambers as even the air around them is kinetically charged. They can be destroyed with enough explosives, however, the resulting singularity that occurs afterwards is akin to a black-hole opening up in your front yard, as a result, they're mostly just locked up and left to collect metaphorical dust.

Voltynite

“Violent and unpredictable.”

Risk category: High

Voltynite is another “Energy generation” anomaly that starts off as a dense black liquid at cold temperatures and solidifies at higher ones into perfectly formed, sharply shaped, obelisk like entities that grow in sporadic, sudden ways. It will periodically unleash massive blasts of energy in various different forms around it. These can be heat blasts, plasma surges, physical shock-waves and radiation novas. The larger a Voltynite Obelisk is, the more powerful and more frequent its disruptive behaviour becomes. Small amounts of Voltynite has been used for energy generation, but their unpredictable nature makes them exceptionally difficult to work with and as a result, only the truly desperate or deranged will seek it out for their own purposes. Although highly dangerous to be local to, Voltynite can be neutralised by physical destruction, ceasing anomalous behaviour entirely once damaged enough, although its tough, most factions will have access to sufficiently powerful arms to destroy it.

Anchor stones

“Portable wormholes”

Risk category: Low

Anchor stones are generated in grape-vine like arrangements, each one resembling a chalky white, eye-like orb. Each one can be plucked and used individually but before so, it must attuned to an area, which is easy enough to do, only requiring some voltage applied directly to the stone. Once attuned to an area, the Anchor stone must be shattered to enable its anomalous effect, doing so causes a small wormhole to open at the shatter location which directly links to the attuned location, allowing instantaneous – if uncomfortable – travel between the two destinations. The larger the stone, the larger the wormhole and longer it lasts. Most will only last a few hours but some have lasted up to a week. The only danger they possess is if multiple attuned stones shatter in the same place, as the overlapping wormholes become extremely unstable and will kill anyone who attempts to pass through. This never really happens though as the stones are always separated once they've been attuned. As a result of this, a bunch of Anchor stones are worth a nearly uncountable amount, corps and empires like will fight bitterly to secure them and for good reason, some of the most important and privileged figures in the various factions will carry an anchor stone as a form of escape, with a sizeable garrison waiting on the other end, in case the would-be attackers attempts to follow.

Abhorricite

“You will answer.”

Risk category: Extreme

A highly disturbing and extremely dangerous material, Abhorricite is known for its “Abhorricite abductions”which anomaly control agencies are always on the watch for. This insidious material takes the form of a large metallic, reflective set of crystals, which protrude from the ground at a 45 degree angle and are always half buried, strangely enough, the “buried” portion of the body can never be found, digging under the node reveals nothing. Along its mirror-like crystals, its surface seems to move, making shapes akin to screaming faces frequently, to the extent that from a distance, it takes the appearance of a horrifying, multi-faced, reflective monster.

Within its local area of effect, Abhorricite will quickly drain and kill anything living, directly depleting soul energy at a steady pace, when it does kill someone in this manner, it grows in size but this is the only way that it can do so. Those killed by this material will leave no trace behind as their form crumbles away, feeding the dreaded thing further.

This wouldn't be so bad as the local area of effect is usually only a few hundred meters at most, but it has one further, terrifying effect. Abhorricite seems to call to people well beyond its local area, crafting a story deep within a persons mind why they must come to the location of the node. These stories are perfectly crafted and tailored to each person targeted, they know exactly where they must go and will have convincing reasons to do so, the effect of the targeted attack is so powerful that, for example: the person will refer to emails that don't exist, be able to name numerous non-existing individuals and companies and recite full blown conversations with them, all of which will be in aid of getting the person to travel to the Abhorricite node. How it selects it victims is unknown but it has extreme range, able to target people multiple solar systems away, it does however give its victims a deadline, usually 6 weeks, if the victim does not make it to the location within that time frame, the effect ceases immediately, during this time-frame however, it will be almost impossible to convince the victim not to go.

Be on the look-out for anyone who seemingly needs to travel to an extremely precise destination that doesn't seem correct. There was a mother in an Orion Industries city who was convinced she needed to travel to a nearby uninhabited moon to arrange nursery cover for her son for example. She was detained by Orion Security officials and held in captivity for 6 weeks until she no longer desired to travel there.

Abhorricite seems to be able to teleport once its consumed enough souls but the teleportation is random and only happens after its consumed approximately 1000 people or animals. It will teleport every time it reaches this number, anchoring itself in the ground in a new location. It is able to be destroyed by sustained physical damage but it has limited regeneration capabilities and will not cease anomalous activity unless completely destroyed.

Shadowmire

“Watch it closely.”

Risk category: Medium

A dark purple, translucent series of crystals with extremely sharp edges and points. Shadowmire flickers in and out of sight constantly and is completely undetectable to machinery, it must be observed by a living person to be confirmed. Shadowmire crystals repel one another and will violently repulse each-other with considerable force should they be brought too close. Its points and edges are tremendously sharp and will cut through most known materials with ease. Slipping, falling or walking into Shadowmire will eviscerate the individual unlucky enough to do so. A combination of Shadowmire being invisible for short lengths of time, completely undetectable by non-organic sources and its incredible sharpness make it dangerous to handle or harvest. There have been instances of workmen cutting their own heads off by accident by walking into invisible blades and crystals. It is incredibly tough however and can be made into excellent weapons if handled and refined properly, but care must always be taken near it due to their repelling nature. Occasionally, when unobserved, Shadowmire will duplicate, so most factions will keep a careful watch on their Shadowmire stock. You can imagine how dangerous it would be if a Shadowmire crystal duplicated and repelled one another...

Due to the above, Shadowmire is often found in sparse clusters, with crystals deeply embedded in walls and ceilings, repelled and flung away by their duplications, but the result of this is a network of razor sharp, flickering, invisible crystals that can slice off a limb in the blink of an eye.. one wrong step harvesting Shadowmire and you're dead.

 

Apollyon Core

“Anti-life, born with a singular purpose.”

Risk category: Extreme

One of the more complex anomalous creations, Apollyon Cores are small, bright red spheres approximately the size of a marble. The core will produce wood-like growths immediately upon birth and will form a sapling, as it continues to grow, it matures into a tree and eventually expands into a Apollyon sphere, it grows this wood without requirement and slowly expands itself as one might expect of a traditional tree at first, its branches and body have a very dry oak-like appearance, no foliage and a twisting, knotted and almost demonic air to its creeping architecture. Initially, Apollyon saplings pose little threat as it grows upwards, thickening its trunk and primary branches, although extremely tough, the wood is able to be damaged by conventional means and this is by far the best time to deal with it. Once it reaches maturity however, the Apollyon Core forms the first of its head sized crimson orbs that hangs from one of its branches, akin to a fruit. The formation of this fruit-like artefact signals the next stage of the Apollyon Cores progression, it is hypothesized that the orbs have an intelligence to them and actively watch the area around the tree for aggressors and opportunities to reproduce.

When threatened or when it sees an opportunity, the Apollyon Core will sever one of its own branches, which will shatter into perfectly formed splinters and stakes, these spines will hurl themselves directly at living creatures/threats with tremendous force and lethal accuracy, the older/larger the tree, the more dangerous its spines are. In the event of a miss, these spines will cease anomalous activity, but in the event of a successful hit on a living creature, they will begin to grow a brand-new Apollyon Core, irrespective of if the target is alive or dead. The wood will extraordinarily quickly through living flesh, sapping the person dead within minutes unless dealt it and will start a new life cycle immediately.

As the tree continues to grow, its rate of growth increases and it will sprout more “Fruit” to accelerate its growth further, the larger formations are able to regrow massive branches severed for weaponization in a matter of minutes and will send flurries of giant stakes hurtling miles through the air to spread their roots further. They will become more aggressive with larger size, seeking to reproduce and will actively assault any living creatures in range with their spine hails. Apollyon Cores can only reproduce by taking over the bodies of living creatures, as their growth steals the souls of those they kill with their spines, trapping the persons soul within the Apollyon Core.

There is no upper limit on the size of these Apollyon trees and they will continue to grow and wrap around themselves, eventually forming planet-sized masses that will fling spines at other space born objects to continue their spread. Should there be more than one Apollyon core within the mass, all but one will eventually be launched out as a sapling to find new territory to control. There have been reports of planets pulled out of orbit by massive networks of Apollyon Wood that spreads millions of miles between planets, linking them in what appears to be a gnarled, twisted network of “dead” wood, punctuated by crimson “fruit-like” orbs that hang freely from its horrifying network of entangled branches.

Because of their extreme danger to life, Apollyon Cores and trees are always dealt wit by overwhelming force, because in the event the attack fails, the result could be hundreds of new Apollyon Cores.