The Marvel of Plasm
The origin and background of modern fuel has long been a subject relegated to vague folklore and occult practice, ill understood by the masses. Hardly a surprising revelation, considering the rampant superstition and deplorable educational circumstance of the lower classes. To truly understand the topic, one must rely fully on the superior empirical methods of the modern natural philosopher.
We now know that the fuel properly known as Plasm is the liquid distillate of specific energetic reactions that occur throughout the Ether. The substance draws essence from a number of potential sources, each with its own properties cataloged by experiment. You may consider the diversity of these byproducts of life energy, from the glowing cerulean Electroplasm commonly seen coursing in an aetheric battery, to the opaque and viscous residue which accretes to the hulls of Leviathan Hunter ships.
Plasm is compressed life energy. Where there is energy, it may be put to work. The energy of Plasm is like any other—harnessed fully by the wit and Science of humankind with the proper application of aetheric frequency modulation techniques and trigonometric mathematics. The quality of the various Plasms which result from the disparate processing techniques at large in the modern usage is often uneven, burning at different rates or with different amounts of “static” within (as Professor Gallo calls it) the “Ghost Field.” Static is, at best, distressing to the psyche of those in close proximity, and, at worst, a general safety hazard due to manifestations and emanations. Often they take the form of simple “spirit-echoes,”
but some believe in entities of a darker nature which supposedly evidence an otherworldly intelligence and will. To call the manifestations “demonic” is to entertain the fantasies of ages past. As a woman of Science I reject such absurd notions.
Thankfully, the technicians of the Noble houses of Duskwall have perfected the distillation of raw Plasm from leviathan blood so that it burns bright, clear, and steady. Thus, as we all know, it is this exquisite Plasm which is most highly prized throughout the Imperium—to power the convenience of our electrick lights, the trains which connect our cities, and, of course, the great Lightning Towers that safeguard our lives. Doskvolian Plasm is the foundation for the glories of the Modern World.
Condensation Stage: Fuel for Plasm
The key insight to grasp in considering Plasm is this: it is distilled from materials that have already condensed life force into themselves. Whether using the leviathan blood—so full of life that even separated from its host it remains undying—or electroplasm, a force of life so enduring it survives death itself, the process requires saturated materials to distill. Some formulae can find saturated materials elsewhere, like in the moss and scum of a slaughterhouse or other such places, flourishing where death prevails.
Centuries of experimentation provided the foundational insights in alchemical form, or cloaked in the laughable superstitions of necromancy or astrology. Based on the principles that could be gleaned from those unfortunately-biased ancient works, modern Science has developed an industrial, mechanical, and chemical infusion process that can turn toxic materials into fuel.
Perhaps the most toxic material of all is the still-living leviathan blood. It is a thick, black, iridescent, oily substance harvested from the monsters of the deep. They drink the Ether and condense its energy to impossible levels of life force. Attempting to solve the mystery of vibrant blood laid the foundation for work with Plasm. The Leviathans consume and befoul the life energy of their world, condensing it in service of their baleful and abhorrent wills.
Electroplasmic energy forms at the edges where an individual life force experiences friction with the Ether. Wispy and vague, it glows, appearing much like mist, reacting to etheric currents and provoking fanciful speculation in the fevered minds of artists and the superstitious. In times past, this residue would evaporate into the background energy of the world upon the destruction of a life force. Now that the Ether is at high tide, as it were, that energy cannot disperse and sometimes condenses further to become almost palpable. This residual energy can sometimes ape the form and feeling of the deceased.
Condensation Stage: Refining
Leviathan blood retains life impossibly well after separation from a leviathan, but remedying its liveliness is at the heart of the refining process. Special tanks can be prepared with careful application of, I’m sorry to say, rather secret trade techniques— then the living blood can be inserted and doused with various chemical formulations that eat away at the unnatural vitality therein. As the still-living blood defends itself, it draws in Etheric energies, concentrating them further as the tank siphons the intense byproducts to safe storage. Over time, the blood shrinks and loses all coherence, becoming leather and slag. These processing centers find that relocation is a necessary inconvenience, because of the
horrible echoes in the Ether that result from this harvesting.
Electroplasm is vulnerable to forms of dimensional compression, so just as water vapor condenses to droplets of liquid, these ephemeral wisps of energy become glowing liquid Plasm.
In summary, Plasm is a refinement of condensed and distilled life (from any material saturated with life energy). Let us take a moment to relish the efficiency and orderly progression of the technology that allows life to continue to serve even when it shifts from a traditional form to a more pure energy. We look to a bright future, secure in the knowledge that we enter it with all the various devices and ingenuities needed to re-purpose life’s wreckage to serve as industry’s foundation.
