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materials:zesuaium

Zesuaium

Zesuaium is an advanced artificial meta-material used in armor applications. It is produced exclusively by the Ketsurui Zaibatsu and primarily used in Star Army of Yamatai equipment.

About Zesuaium

Zesuaium (sometimes called Impervium) is super-strong, doesn't bend or break, and doesn't conduct electricity and heat. Downside? It's hard to repair damage done to a unit with Zesuaium because of its nature. Zesuaium is a nonporous gray substance which does not conduct any form of electromagnetic radiation, including heat and electricity. It neither bends nor breaks, but will remain in a solid piece. Each plate of the armor is dotted with millions of tiny connection points (consisting of a porous coating) to allow additional armor and paint to be added.

  • Producers: Ketsurui ZaibatsuONLY
  • Cost: [Expensive]
  • Armor Type: Heavy

Properties of Zesuaium

Zesuaium objects:

  • are always in a solid state (cannot be melted or vaporized)
  • are incapable of any flexibility or warping (infinite rigidity)
  • are incapable of being broken, regardless of forces exerted on them
  • cannot expand or contract due to thermal conditions
  • reflect all radiation, regardless of type*
  • are not electrically conductive

* One exception is Transparent Zesuaium which allows the visible portion of the spectrum to penetrate it.

Formation of Zesuaium

Zesuaium is cast into molds while in a plasmatic state. Once the mold is filled, Zesuaium is created from the contents. As the material itself is not entirely conjectural, but also an imaginative concept, the details of such have been left intentionally vague. None of us in the role-play are bleeding-edge physicists(and that's okay) and not knowing isn't going to hurt the roleplay.

Uses of Zesuaium

The unique properties of this material make it excellent for use in a wide range of engineering applications. Most commonly, Zesuaium is found:

  • As a coating for starship or or vehicular armor paneling
  • As a frame for military starships
  • As walls or doors where a need for extreme protection exists

Dangers of Zesuaium

Zesuaium's unique properties also make it dangerous.

  • Segments of Zesuaium propelled by explosions or gravity maintain their form and thus make effective penetrators. An example from the role-play is when Nepleslian skyscrapers lost some of their transparent Zesuaium windows, which sliced a character in half and continued into the ground without shattering.
  • Sharp Zesuaium objects stay sharp. The Yui-class series of starships featured a sharp edge which would sever a person's finger if touched even gently. Special covers for it were eventually designed and required any time the ship was docked.
  • Zesuaium objects do not have any give to them and often have significantly heavy mass, and thus colliding with one (or vice versa) can result in more severe injury than with other objects.

Destruction of Zesuaium

It is possible, but not easy, to destroy Zesuaium, using the following methods:

  • Anti-matter causes Zesuaium to erode.
  • True aether weapons, which invoke quantum potential energy, will cause Zesuaium to break down.
  • Molecular disintegrators can erode Zesuaium with continued hits, but not as quickly as anti-matter.

It is important to note that Zesuaium, once damaged, cannot be repaired; it must be replaced. For this reason, Zesuaium objects are usually constructed of a large number of interlocking structures and panels.

Zesuaium's History

Zesuaium is a unique and lasting trademark of the Star Army Role-Play. It a special artificial material whose properties are incredibly useful, although modern science cannot explain its existence. There's been debate over the material's properties, realism, and usefulness to the role-play in the past; I've written this comprehensive guide to help put those debates and questions to rest, and it is my wish that you find it useful.

It's no secret that a lot of the ideas in the setting go back a long way, even to my late childhood in the mid 1990s. Zesuaium has its origins there as well. When I was young, I wondered what it would be like if the Star Army ships were built like the ones I made of building blocks; I wanted certain components to be indestructible. Although the ships themselves could be disassembled or destroyed, the parts would be usable for the next person. This allowed for some continuity in my mind as my action figures, dressed in handmade miniatures of what would later become Star Army uniforms, struggled to build new tanks, bases, helicopters, and starships for the use of their political factions in the endless wars known for their colors (see Nepleslia's factions).

When the Star Army was created in 2000, I turned to Zesuaium (which was then known as Impervium) to make the Star Army's ships strong against the various extremely powerful enemies I found in the freeform role-play environment. In 2002, the Star Army gained its own website and community, as the landscape of the online text-based role-playing world continued to change. It underwent a name change, but its core properties remain the same. In a universe full of insecurities and one-upmanship, Zesuaium represents something you and your characters can rely on. Instead of a finite constant, it is instead infinite in its durability. Years later, while is Zesuaium no longer is vital for the original reasons, it is vital both for in-character continuity and as a valuable tool of the Game Master. Of course, there exceptions to everything, and even Zesuaium isn't totally indestructible…


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materials/zesuaium.txt · Last modified: 2023/12/20 18:20 by 127.0.0.1