Nanomites
A new discovery is made
We had come to Pachuco City seeking an audience with Alakai, known throughout the Pachuco Coast as the inventor of a new alchemical method...
After agreeing to show us his secrets, Alakai placed a tall glass jar on the table. He tapped it against the surface and we saw the contents shuffle. The bottom of the jar was scattered with what looked like dozens of iron filings. "They look like metal, but they're not. Mostly carbon." Setting the jar down, the Alchemist produced a short metal rod wound with copper wire and attached to a woven cord. At the other end of the cord we saw a black metal box with a round knob. Holding the rod next to the jar, Alakai turned the knob with his free hand. A low hum began emanating from the box. In a few moments the filings within the jar began to move like tiny insects and started crawling up the glass with unseen limbs. Alakai pointed at the jar with a look of reverential wonderment. "So you see, I am but a humble servant of the Craft. These little ones are the true Alchemists. Let me show you."
Nanomites are tiny molecular machines composed of microscopic biological components. They originate from an unknown location within the Deep of the Forbidden Zone. Alakai of Texidium, a Pachuco Story Keeper who has researched the Nanomites for decades, believes that somewhere in the Deep Zone there is an ancient factory of the Ur-Zen or Or-Ad (or even the Precursors) that has been producing these diminutive machines for centuries. After years of gathering Nanomites from the Zone and observing them, Alakai discovered that the machines are able to recognize and manipulate physical matter on an elemental level. Moreover, through rigorous experimentation on the practical applications of Nanomite behaviour, Alakai has invented a coded language of bio-electrical signals that can be used to send commands to the Nanomites and prompt them to produce deliberate alchemical effects.
Properties
Material Characteristics
Nanomites are about half a centimeter long and about as wide as the lead of a pencil. They are grey in colour but appear black from a distance. They bear no apparent discernible markings or features when observed with the naked eye, but when nanomites are viewed under a magnifying lens very fine rounded protrusions are visible on the surfaces of each machine.
Physical & Chemical Properties
The nanomites have carbon frames and are composed of photo-sensitive and bio-reactive organic components. These component compounds require electrical impulses to sustain operation and lack independent means of generating current to sustain their function. When their individual charges have expired, the nanomites deactivate and enter a state of dormancy. Once they enter a dormant state their organic components decompose quite rapidly. The carbon husks that remain cannot be reactivated and resemble tiny black tree needles.
An active nanomite can function for a three weeks without being recharged and unless given instructions it will wander independently through any terrain in search of a power source. When a nanomite is exposed to an electrical current it will move towards the source of the current and seek to absorb it. When this happens the nanomite enters a state of readiness in which it is prepared to receive coded instructions and begin transfiguration sequencing.
Geology & Geography
According to Alakai, active Nanomites can only be found in the Deep Zone. His own colony of nanomites was gathered over a period of many years at an Ur-Zen shrine about a week's journey west out of the City of Two Suns. The specimens recovered from the shrine were all near the point of dormancy, which indicates that the shrine lies at the extreme limit of nanomite operational range from the origin point of the machines.
Origin & Source
The precise origin point of the nanomites is unknown. Alakai's field research indicates that the population of active nanomites has not fluctuated in the past twenty years, leading him to believe the origin is still actively creating new machines.
Life & Expiration
Nanomites can sustain activity for three weeks before requiring recharge. Once their charges are depleted, their biological structures decompose and permanently cease to function.
History & Usage
History
As far as anyone can tell, the nanomites have been wandering the Forbidden Zone for hundreds of years. They have been mistaken for tiny animals by generations of travelers. Older travel chronicles and traditional Zone rangers have referred to them as "steel bugs" and "pin bugs." They have never played a significant role in recorded human history and the purpose for their creation is long forgotten.
Discovery
Alakai of Texidium is the first person known to have discovered how to control and use nanomite technology. He made the critical breakthrough in the summer of 999 PCE.
Everyday use
Nanomites are now used by Alakai and his apprentices to transfigure matter into alternate compositions. These potions and tinctures are crafted in order to produce miraculous effects involving the manipulation of biomatter to overcome conventional limits of nature. For example, the Alchemists of Pachuco can condition nanomites to produce potions that spontaneously accelerate healing, alter physical performance, generate energy effects, and other such marvels.
Cultural Significance and Usage
Common Pachucese have made Alakai the Alchemist the toast of Pachuco City. Knowing nothing of nanomites or the technological nature of Alakai's process, the people of the city believe the Alchemist has mastered genuine metaphysical transmutation. Some believe only Alakai's power can save the city from the Vril Invasion.
Refinement
When nanomites are primed for sequencing they may be be treated with chemical signatures that activate their transmutative properties. The compounds used in this process vary depending upon the desired results, but all known formulas conform to a system governed by three elemental principles:
Sulfur: The element of sulfur signifies fire and air, the elements associated with the soul. This principle is used for creating formulas that influence mental faculties, sensation, and emotion.
Salt: The element of salt refers to any neutral ionic salt compound and signifies water and earth, the elements associated with the body and material things. This principle is used for creating formulas that manipulate physical matter.
Atacand: sodium chromate (yellow)
Metado: potassium dichromate (orange)
Eslon: cobalt nitrate (red)
Kadan: copper sulfate (blue)
Occen: potassium permanganate (violet)
Talwun: nickel chloride (green)
Nuban: sodium chloride (white)
Mercury: The element of mercury signifies water and air, a mixture of body and soul elements, which makes mercury the principle of spirit, the bridge between body and soul. This principle represents change and transformation and is crucial in processing nanomite transmutation commands.
Type
Biomaterial
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