DARK AETHER OVERVIEW

This book came about as an attempt to explain the mysteries of the universe where science, religion, and magic intersect.  Creating something altogether brand new for the Gravity Age multiverse not seen before in other roleplaying games. 

Everyday there are new break throughs in modern science dealing with string theory, dark matter, dark energy, quantum theory and the uncertainty principle.  One common denominator shared with all these theories is their dependence on subatomic particles.  One of those particles is commonly referred to as the “God Particle”.  Have we found it?  Maybe or maybe not?  The purpose of this book isn’t to present a scientific journal, it’s to ask the question, what if the god particle exists and if it does could it bring science, religion, and magic together?

In the Gravity Age campaign setting, the god particle exists and its quintessential to the makeup of dark aether.  Dark aether draws on many of the aforementioned theories but also allows for a bit of poetic license on how its applied to game mechanics.  Our objective is believable science fiction with a fantasy potential.  After all, throughout history technology has often been mistaken for magic by members of less advanced societies. 

DARK AETHER

Dark Aether is neither matter nor energy yet it makes up 95.1% of the universe’s total mass-energy content.   Dark aether is non-baryonic, and it doesn’t interact with subatomic or atomic particles, nor does it interact with the observable electromagnetic radiation.  It is invisible, but it does interact with gravity and dark energy.  Confused?

A simple definition of dark aether is that it consists non-baryonic dark matter.  A more complex definition follows. Baryons are composite subatomic particles (protons and neutrons) responsible for most the visible mass in the universe.  Only 20% of the universe’s mass is visible.  The other 80% of its mass is composed of non-baryonic akasha particles.  Each akasha particle weighs about 1/3 the weight of a neutron.  These particles do not interact with any known forms of radiation, do not contribute to the formation of elements, and do not aggregate into larger more dense objects.  Since they don’t interact with each other, or baryonic matter so they go largely unnoticed.

From a historical perspective, aether and akasha have both been referred to as the “fifth element” by the ancients across many worlds.  It’s believed the fifth element is the first element, the celestial element, which is why it cannot be perceived by mere mortals.   However, within each ancient society there were a few members capable of manipulating this celestial element to perform supernatural feats.  These feats were often perceived as magic to the masses.  The celestial element has even been compared to life itself.

It wasn’t until the invention of hyper-space that scientists were finally able to connect the dots between aether, dark matter, akasha particles, and the celestial element.  To accurately calculate a hyper-space jump, the navigator must be aware of both visible matter and dark matter.  When the dark aether substrate was initially mapped there were more than a few surprises.  Since dark aether interacts with gravity one would expect to see its highest density near objects with the largest gravity wells, but this was not the case.  Dark aether was at its lowest density near super massive black holes.  Scientist responsible for mapping dark aether found the highest densities were associated with the presence of life.  Star systems with the highest bio density tend to have the highest density of dark aether.

DARK ENERGY

Dark energy is a repulsive energy which is constant across the universe.  Although it is often thought of as the inverse of gravity, dark energy doesn’t get stronger or weaker in the presence of mass.  Dark energy allows an object to accelerate away from another object in the void when its force is greater than gravity.    

DARK MATTER

In the Gravity Age universe, dark matter is baryonic matter created from non-baryonic dark aether.  Dark matter is essential to forming dark protons and neutrons which allows it to have mass and take up space.  Most baryonic elements have dark matter equivalents and will naturally aggregate into larger objects.  One peculiar property of dark matter is its ability to absorb observable electromagnetic radiation.  Despite having mass and density, devices and senses which rely on observable electromagnetic radiation will only observe a void or complete absence of such radiation.  Any object composed of dark matter is pitch black and appears to absorb light. 

ARTIFICIAL DARK MATTER

Artificial dark matter is often wreathed in a faint blue or red flames, although these flames produce neither heat nor cold.  Careful observation of the flames reveals they are drawing energy inward rather than releasing energy, similar to watching a recording of a camp fire in reverse.  Artificial dark matter is created by disrupting dark energy’s influence on dark aether.  Strengthening or weakening the dark energy constant causes akasha particles to take on baryonic properties.  Once akasha particles are converted to artificial dark matter it can be manipulated like normal matter.  It only takes a slight variation in dark energy to induce this transformation from dark aether to dark matter.  Very few creatures and even fewer technologies are capable of such influence. 

PERMANENT DARK MATTER

Permanent dark matter is a scientific anomaly.  Dark matter shouldn’t exist since dark energy is a constant, but it does in some remote locations of the universe.  Under normal conditions a wave of normal baryonic matter will be spontaneously created when the forces of gravity and dark energy hit equilibrium in a high-density field of dark aether.  While the universe was in its infancy, unknown conditions spawned two or three waves of dark matter.  Its widely believed that the conditions necessary to create permanent dark matter no longer exist.

DARK AETHER VS. PSIONICS

Both psionics and influencing dark aether rely on the ability to manipulate akasha particles. Psionically aware creatures manifest powers by channeling inner strength and bend the akasha particles to their will.  An archon’s approach is different and indirect.  Archons influence akasha particles by causing minor variations in dark energy within a dark aether sub straight.    Doing so allows an archon to spontaneously create matter or even life.

AKASHIC RECORD

Composed of dark aether, the Akashic Records are a compendium of all events, thoughts, words, emotions, and intent to have ever occurred in the past, present, or future.  This information is encoded across the multiverse so that there can only be one past, one present, and one future.  The Akashic Record is the truth of the multiverse and cannot be changed by reality altering events.