The Mechanics of a Mundane Explosion
What is an Explosion
And Why Does it Explode?
Creating the Conditions for an Explosion
Type
Natural
Explosions, defined as a rapid conical or radial expansion of Amastya (especially of a damaging physical variant), are a familiar thing to mages, infixors, and gunslingers alike, but how exactly do they do what they do? In simple terms, an explosion is just Amastya moving away from a singular point, usually because it was or quickly becomes too dense to maintain a compressed shape. This is not always the case - some explosions are caused by the Intention of a mage directing them; these are magical explosions, which we will not be discussing here. In a mundane explosion, especially active variants, like Primal, Motion, Consequence, Entropy, and unbound Body explode easily, while inactive variants like Bonds, Stability, Preservation, and bound Body require much greater densities to explode - if they do at all.
But why do some variants of Amastya avoid density? After all, Motion seeks itself out; it tries to be as dense as it can! This is not entirely true; Motion seeks out burning Motion. Explosions have to do with containing Amastya, with restricting it; when Motion is left without restriction, it does not all cluster together into one massive Motion orb, leaving the rest of the world frozen. Instead, it swirls together for a brief time, occasionally becoming dense enough to trigger a storm, and then disperses when whatever called it there stops burning Motion or as other Motion pulls it away.
When Motion is dense enough to trigger an explosion, it is also dense enough to become lightning, which always happens first if it is able. When it is unable, generally because there is no Motion line for it to follow (conditions that a container creates quite handily), then it cannot be burnt, and therefore it starts to seek the nearest source of Motion that is burning, causing it to strain against whatever is keeping it in place. In a neutral environment, it will strain in all directions at once, as Motion is being burnt constantly in any given direction. However, in a situation with one definitive, nearby source of burning Motion, it will strain in that specific direction.
Eventually, strain causes whatever is containing the Motion to fail, breaking and allowing to Motion to once again seek out its rightful place. This creates an explosion of Motion. The same logic can be applied to all forms of explosions. In essence, preventing a variant from doing what it is supposed to do causes it to strain against those restrictions; Consequence may call Entropy, Primal may release force in a wave or heat its container until it is consumed, and Entropy would simply break its container.
Generally speaking, it is quite difficult to create an explosion by mundane means. The simplest method would be by creating and fueling a fire in an enclosed space. Eventually, enough Primal heat and Motion would be released by the fuel to rupture the container around them, but you would need a very size-effective fuel to generate enough Amastya in a small enough space to cause an explosion - volcanic firegrass, for instance. Alternatively, some alchemical concoctions work well, since Consequence can call many types of Amastya directly from the Rings, bypassing any surrounding containers. However, most methods only create enough strain to break the container, and any damage to things surrounding that container is minimal.
Enter seaspark. Seaspark is a lilac-colored powder packed so densely with Primal heat (or cold) and force that one would think it would explode at the slightest suggestion, and indeed! The substance can be coaxed into releasing its Amastya in many different ways; it is only barely held in check by the dust's Stability. Seaspark is so volatile that contact with heat, cold, or excessive Motion (even the Motion present in water!) causes it to release its Amastya. Even simply throwing a handful of seaspark is enough, effectively creates a spray of fire or ice (depending on the type of seaspark).
Seaspark revolutionized the ability to create an explosion. Pack the powder into a container, then supply it with a triggering variant and watch the fireworks. Because of it, clever infixors were able to create firearms that use only a single sapphire and never require recharging.
