Common Core:Plasma

This page is a part of the Common Core lore project. Common Core is /tg/station's open source lore project.

Often described as the "miracle material" of the modern day, plasma is arguably the most important discovery a civilisation can make on their road to the stars- and upon which empires are built and fall.

Purple Gold

Plasma was originally discovered by humanity in the Amenthes sector on Mars, from which it draws its scientific name- Amenthium. Much of the human supply of plasma still comes from the vast mines of Mars, although this struggles to produce quantities high enough to keep up with demand. To this end, much of the Bluespace Era has been characterised by the pursuit of plasma beyond the Sol System, and in stretching the supplies available to humanity by cleverly applying its chemical properties.

Significant quantities have since been discovered across human space, although none have been as large as the most recent finds across the Spinward Sector, which is, for unknown reasons, particularly rich in plasma. Extraction of plasma is hampered by economic viability- solid ores are the most preferred form of natural plasma due to ease of extraction, followed by gaseous and liquid deposits. Other more strange sources also exist, such as extraction of plasma rich swamps, as was attempted in the Hawkings-Eta field, but these methods are typically economically non-viable, delivering a poor yield with high costs.

Plasma's Role in the Bluespace Age

As bronze was to the ancient world, or coal was to the industrial revolution, plasma is to modern science. It presents a number of useful applications directly, such as being an incredible source of chemical energy- giving it an application as starship fuel, primarily by the catalytic method for peak efficiency- or its capability for easy alloying, allowing the production of strong yet workable materials such as plastitanium or plasteel, which have seen extensive use in astroengineering. But it is a secondary function of plasma that makes it so important to the modern day- its use in the production of artificial bluespace crystals, which are key to making technology such as subspace communications or faster-than-light travel possible. It is for this reason that access to the resource essentially gates technological development- proven by numerous precursor sites which show the use of bluespace technology in their own FTL engines, or by the current galactic situation, where lizardkind finds itself with poor access to plasma, and therefore technologically stunted when compared with their more plasma-flush human neighbours.