[[ Completely out of date. Ignore. ]]
Name: Kratesis
Age: Unknown.
Monikers: The Godslayer
Rank/Title:
Height: 5'10
Weight: 155lbs
Hair: Platinum/Crimson
Eyes: Violet
Transportation: Teleportation
Weapons: The First Sword, SLAKE
Powers:
Fighting Style:
Alignment:
Group Affiliation:
Short Bio:
The Mutant Vector
A variety of complex mutations inside her quadruple helix DNA are the source of her mutant abilities and powers. No one is entirely sure what her original mutation was, as she has been modifying and altering her DNA for thousands and thousands of years now.
This relentless quest for physical perfection has inspired, or perhaps driven Kratesis to modify her genome many times as the years rolled onward. Immune to fear she took monstrous, yet calculated risks in search of perfection.
The result is something both marvelous and terrible to behold. Her physical combination of quickness, strength and endurance are something more than the sum of their parts. Synergistic, each element supported by the others.
Neutrino Nervous Tissue: Her brain, spinal cord and nerves are neither conventional electronics nor biological growth. It is something else, something more. There are those who say this was her original mutant power, born with nervous tissues composed of neutrino particles linked through supersymmetry. In effect this is a quantum computer of unimaginable complexity.
There are several interesting effects. As neutrinos do not carry electric charge they are unaffected by the electromagnetic force. Only weak-subatomic force and gravity interact with neutrinos. This renders her completely immune to EMP effects, as well as various other exotic energies.
These particles exhibit quantum superposition, in other words they exist in all possible states at the same time. In effect each single particle can do more then one thing at a time. In the case of Kratesis this manifests itself in multiple 'states'. Each state is awesomely powerful, and when a full state is devoted to a single task the impossible is made possible.
A good way to think of these states is like a stack of paper. Each sheet can preform a different task, as if she had hundreds of brains rather than just one.
Her 'thoughts' are unimaginably complex matrices of quantum formulation. More then one unfortunate telepath has been overloaded by the literally lethal amount of data contained inside her brain.
Aside from the ability to process vast amounts of data at once, divide her mind into multiple 'states', and record anything with perfect clarity her neutrino tissues grant her some other interesting abilities.
Precognition: This neutrino nervous system has one single entire 'state' devoted to the process of predicting the future. Even her mental power would be insufficient for the task were it not for her cosmic membrane awareness. That near perfect awareness of the position and velocity of every particle within that membrane gives her the data she needs.
Fed into a massively complex formula, known as the fractal formula for its ever growing complexity, the 'neutrino state' calculates the future interactions of each and every item fed to it. Many effects are possible, however due to the immense complexity of the process Kratesis judges it best to do one thing well rather than several poorly. As such it is devoted purely to combat oriented effects.
It calculates very nearly every possible future. Like a tree with thousand of branches, and each branch with millions of twigs these futures grow to a complexity nearing infinity. While she cannot predict every possible event, she is more then capable of predicting the vast majority of likely outcomes and calculating most fights from start to finish.
Echolocation: By tasking one entire 'state' of her nervous system to interpret the auditory signals her enhanced ears detect, and the vibration her keen sense of touch detects she can create a complete sonar map of an entire area.
Her mind uses this to make a internal 3D replica of every object in range. More than just allowing her to sense attacks from behind the level of detail is so great she can tell the heart rate, muscular tension, and blood pressure of a person. This degree of accuracy creates an internal model so exact she is capable of firing projectiles at foes outside of her line of sight, and maintaining flawless spatial awareness at all times.
Instantaneous Reflexes: Because her entire nervous system, and not only her brain tissues, are neutrino there is literally no delay in the transmitting of commands to her body. These are not merely faster than light reflexes, they are instant. Infinity quick, she has been demonstrated to react faster than speedsters who move at hundreds or even thousands of times light speed. Speed, no matter how great, involves a delay. Her neutrino nervous system has none what so ever. To think of an action and preform it are one and the same.
Sight: Kratesis's cold violet eyes are a marvel of technology. One of the more nuanced and complex parts of her body the eyes were designed originally to function in interdimensional combat, as her normal eyes were incapable of sorting through the myriad of radiation and energies at the distances required.
The 'lenses' of her eyes are replaced by a very carefully grown Zythium Crystals. These serve to focus and enhance every type of incoming energy, radiation, and other process. Although quite complex in theory the lenses are simple in practice and the exceptionally durable crystals are able to survive extreme pressures and stresses.
Inside the eye the 'rods and cones' are replaced with nano-scaled living zythium dots. These are microscopic in size generally composed of only a small number of molecules. The energies that are enhanced and focused by the crystal lens strikes these nano-dots, and the energy is converted to Nth energy.
These microscopic energy conversions are recorded by the neutrino nerves connected to the back of the zythium dots, and interpreted. As such Kratesis is capable of 'seeing' any type of energy, radiation, or other process. She can see in complete darkness by using the cosmic radiation left over from the big bang. She can see through solid objects such as lead, by witnessing the microscopic energy particles that manage to pass through, although this is often incomplete and fuzzy.
Hearing: The walls of her ears are replaced by a layer of inert zythium one molecule thick. This layer reflects vibrations away at twice their original power each time they contact the side of her ears. A single sound wave may reflect dozens of times and grow exponentially louder.
Along the ear walls are tiny nano-fibers of living zythium. They absorb this amplified sound and transform it to Nth energy. This process is recorded by the bundles of neutrino nerves the run around the ear canal.
This process is staggeringly efficient. Kratesis is capable of locating an ant by the microscopic vibrations of its legs against the ground. The heartbeat of a human a hundred yards away sounds like a bomb exploding. It is this level of exactness that allows her to track enemies by sound alone, and gives her the depth of sensory perception needed to utilize her sonar hearing.
Scent: She is able to recognize people and objects solely by scent. She can also track a target by scent, even if the scent has been greatly eroded by time and weather factors, with an extraordinary degree of success. She can also detect lies due to chemical changes within a person's scent. She is capable of memorizing the chemical structure of anything simply by smelling it
Zythim Bones: When she first absorbed the Zythim it bonded with her bones. At first this was a simple covering, a durable coating. However as time went on the mutant bones and mutant metal grew together. Today they are one and the same, giving her bones of pure Zythim.
Corcital Bone: The external, or outermost part of the bones are standard living metal Zythim (LMZ). When exposed her bones appear a metallic white/silver in coloration due to the higher biological content of the metal. Exceptionally hard, light and durable they will flex rather than break, and as they are hollow they have exceptional resistance to impact damage.
Trabecular: The internal portion of the bone, the elements that fill the hollow external portions of her bones. These are filled with millions of microscopic Euhedral crystals suspended inside a thick bio-gel. These vibrate on a very specific quantum frequency, and bring her entire body and energies into a single harmonic.
The primary effect is to store her tremendous reserves of Nth energy. The standard Zythim absorbs incoming energies, and converts those energies to Nth. This Nth energy is harmonized with her quantum state by the vibrations of the Euhedral in her bones. Where most beings are powered by a variaty of psychic, chi, and biological energies Kratesis is instead driven by one single highly focused energy.
It is this harmony of energy states that enables her Quantum Sorcery, and allows her to wield Inert Zythium.
Nano-Tube Muscles: Rather than the typical muscle fibers of humans or other mutants Kratesis has grown nano-tube muscles out of living zythium. These are capable of enduring massive amounts of pressure without damage, allowing them to contract and expand at great pressures.
Force: They can safely endure twenty five tons of pressure, as such this is her most common level of strength. She can however enhance this by dipping into her Nth energy reserves to power her muscles to greater effort. This increases her strength significantly but also comes at the risk of great tissue damage and cost of energy.
Acceleration: The greatest advantage of nano-tube muscles over biological muscles is the rate of contraction. Where a normal muscle might take a moment to contract, even in a speedster, Kratesis's muscles contract at unreal speeds.
She is capable of moving at roughly mach four while running in a straight line, due to the great force her legs can exert compared with her bodies mass. In combat however she is seems exponentially quicker, thanks to the lower mass of her limbs compared to her body, her martial skills and a internal muscular structure designed for combat quickness.
Precision: Kratesis's is so precise she her movements can be measured in molecular scales. This degree of accuracy is such that she thinks not in terms of what specific cells she will destroy, rather then what part of the body she will strike.
Her agility is equally, if not more, impressive thanks to the combined effects of her speed and precision. Bolts of lightning, hyper-sonic rail-guns, near speed of light blitzes, all have been evaded by the mutant crusader. Her avian grace is so extreme that she routinely accomplishes the impossible in a few hyper-efficient motions.
Synergy: The sum of these abilities is greater than the whole of their parts. When utilizing the trinity of effects together Kratesis has accomplished feats of terrifying proportion. Capable of hurting, even killing, foes who should be more durable then her strength would suggest, and evading much quicker fighters much of her legacy has been built upon these basic physical abilities.
Zythium Cell Cytoskeletons: After the living metal Zythium bonded with her body it interacted with her complex DNA to literally become part of her at the most basic level. One of the things it altered was her Cytoskeletons. A cytoskeleton is the 'frame' or 'skeleton' of a cell. It gives the cell its shape and form, preventing it from simply collapsing or the internal portions of the cell from becoming inter-tangled with one another.
One strange side effect of these cells, once noticed by one of the masterful Imperos, is the absorbing of nearly all naturally produced energies. Her body has virtually no electromagnetic field, it emits very little heat, she has almost no magical aura, and her chi is nearly entirely absent. Her mutant body absorbs the majority of these energies to produce its natural Nth energy reserves.
As a being of considerable power her body produces massive amounts of electromagnetism magical energy, heat, chi, and other energies of biological origin. These are all converted into Nth energy almost instantly, providing her with her tremendous reserves of Nth. Because all of her bodies energies act toward the same end, this Nth is generated with staggering speed and exists in truly godlike quantities.
Durability: Each cell inside her body is reinforced by living metal. Any impact with her body finds a great deal of its kinetic force absorbed and converted into Nth energies.
The same is true of energy effects, such as electricity, magic, thermal chi, or even cosmic energies. Although they can and sometimes do inflict serious damage they always experience a great deal of their effect being absorbed into her cells. Kratesis vibrates her cellular structure on different frequencies to optimize this process, and can 'program' her cells to preform better against certain types of energies. Usually as a fight goes on she finds herself more and more attuned to the energy and thus absorbs more and more of it, taking less and less damage as the process becomes more efficient.
The downside to this is sometimes this calibration is in error or surprised. When that happens an effect may be amplified or altered. As such there are times when Kratesis takes far more damage then one would expect from an attack.
Resistance: These cell skeletons absorb energy, and energy is another way to say change. This grants her an paradoxical resistance to effects such as reality warping, telekinesis, or other means of influencing the behavior of her body. A large effect necessitates a great deal of energy, and this is absorbed easily by her zythium crytoskeleton inside her cells. However a small or subtle effect has far less of its energy absorbed due to the properties of living zythium.
As such she is almost entirely immune to powerful reality warping, such as deletion from existence, or major alterations to her body. A powerful telekinetic force often does little but push her around. Magical spells to influence some aspect of her body or mind generally find to much of their force absorbed to be effective.
However smaller, more subtle forces find much more success. For example an attempt to telekineticly throw her through a wall would experience little loss of force. However an attempt to rip her limb from limb would likely find most of its energies absorbed.
Regeneration: Much like her body zythium is alive and under the control of her mind. Her monstrous stores of Nth energy allow her to generate massive degrees of work. Such as cellular replication. As such she can 'grow' back damaged parts of her body simply by expending a portion of her energy stores. The greater the damage the more energy is required. The faster she wishes to regrow a portion of her body the more energy is required.
At times she elects to conserve her energy, either because of some great need later, because it is tied up in another project, or because her reserves are growing depleted. In these cases she will generally just ignore damage, or only heal specific portions of her body.
Other times she feels the need to keep her body in optimum condition, perhaps due to dire need, or a massive surplus of energy. In these cases she will regenerate massive wounds in mere moments. This can be quite extreme, having once regenerated the entire lower half of her body in the time it took to complete a flip, although this required a massive amount of energy even by her standards.
Typically her healing falls somewhere in the middle. A stead, energy efficient pace that keeps her body functioning without wasting her reserves.
The Quadratic Knight
The exact details of Kratesis's history is unknown. What is generally assumed is that she comes from a distant future. A time of great technological advancement, but where mutants are in bondage, slaves to their human masters.
There are other stories of course, but one thing is for certain. Kratesis possesses immensely advanced technology.
The great majority of her equipment is Zythim, powered by Nth energies. The 'living metal' is incorporated into every level of her body, and her body is adapted to run off of Nth energies whose quantum harmonic is equalized with her own.
SLAKE: One of the founding principles of reality is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. This is true for all of reality. With one exception.
SLAKE
Quite simply SLAKE completely annihilates any energy or matter it comes into contact with. The type or amount is irrelevant. Everything down to the very quarks which make up the atoms, and the fundamental forces that hold them together. Gone.
Even 'Concepts' or 'Abstracts' can be destroyed.
It does not 'cut through' so much as it 'completely destroys'. The hardness or durability of an object are irreverent. From adamantium, to vibranium, to materials vastly harder SLAKE annihilates them just the same as it does sand or dirt.
Because of its all annihilating properties its immune to all types of magic, psionics, reality warping, or cosmic power. The forces that would affect the blade are instead removed from existence.
Known among the ancients as the 'All Slayer' it was sealed away for all eternity in universe designed to imprison it forever. One whole universe crushed down a single point in space and time, within which SLAKE was eternally trapped.
In her travels through the multiverse Kratesis heard tale of the sword, and heard of its supposedly impenetrable prison. Devising a plan took decades, enacting it over a century. Yet in the end she was successful. When all was said and done the prison universe was destroyed, and SLAKE bound to Kratesis by cosmic occult means unknown to any but her.
Yet the guardians of reality, known as the Tetramrammaton, could not let this crime stand. For by destroying energy and matter SLAKE's very existence imbalances the multiverse. Several of their greatest departed to search for Kratesis. The search lasted four and a half centuries.
In the end the forces of the Tetragrammaton caught up with Kratesis at the edge of the universe. The Knight of Infinity, the Unknown Abstract, and the ETON all faced Kratesis in that vast grey void where all matter has long disintegrated into cosmic dust, and the edge of the universe dies to inevitable entropy.
The Kinght of Infinity was a being of infinite power. Infinite power, true infinity was his to command. He had never once tasted of defeat nor even entertained the possibility. Perhaps his arrogance was his undoing, perhaps he felt know being could match his power nor truly threaten him. In a display of impossible skill, and precognitive foresight Kratesis took his head with SLAKE, and slew Infinity.
Unknown Abstract is now known as such for Unknown Abstract was once known. Once a concept that existed in all beings minds, an ideal, such as love, death. A universal. Yet SLAKE took him also. Now know know his name, or his meaning. The very idea, the very concept was erased from all time before or after.
ETON alone survived. Now known as the Crippled God, for SLAKE took something that has never been spoken off before or since. ETON now dwells alone, alone in a universe all his own. He licks his wounds, he plots, he plans and he waits. For what none can say.
Inert Zythium Shield: One of her least flamboyant yet perhaps most useful tools. A simple round shield attached to her left arm, with the grip serving double duty as the grip for her bow. Aerodynamic, it is an excellent throwing tool.
Composed of a single inert zythium macromolecule the shield is virtually indestructible. Completely immune to all energies, it reflects them away from itself at twice the force they arrived with. This includes reality warping energies, rendering it invulnerable to reality warping effects.
The quantum state of zythium allows the shield to deflect even intangible effects, or effects that target its wielder through seemingly incorporeal connections.
A simple tool, yet a powerful one. Often Kratesis uses its kinnetic energy reflecting ability to deliver strikes of staggering power, for each blow strikes with twice the force originally put into it. Frequently it has served to devastate intangible foes, foes who would otherwise be outside her abilities to effect.
Living Armor: Perhaps the most viable use of her zythium is her armor. No simple metal plates, it is an suit designed in modular layers. As such she can wear as much of, or all of, her armor depending upon her needs at the moment. Each layer has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Segmented
Segmented Weave: This is the lightest and most flexible portion. Hundreds of semi-flexible interlocking plates layered over her form. This section of the armor is almost weightless, providing exceptional mobility and flexibility.
However it is also the least protective. The particular type of zythium that exhibits such low weight and flexibility is also one of the weaker kinds of armor. Still more then capable of deflecting virtually any standard material it is weaker than Vibranium and significantly weaker then Adamantium. It also offers limited protection against blunt force trauma and thrusts have been known to slip between the segments.
Underlying the segmented armor is a thin layer of bio-gel Kratesis's sweat glands produce the gel which acts as a shock absorber and coagulant This helps to further reduce the power of impacts, and clot any wounds almost instantly.
Composite Plates: Modeled after the armor of medieval knights this layer provides ample protection and some degree of enhancement. Constructed from microscopic honeycombs of zythium in multiple layers. One hard layer, one soft. These microscopic honeycomb shapes serve to shatter in case of overwhelming force. As a result the soft layer provides a degree of flexibility, while the hard layer serves as rigid armor, and ablative armor against attacks of significant power.
Plate
The heavier armor does restrict her motions, and reduce her agility, however not by very much. Generally she feels that the armors enhanced protection is well worth the cost.
Lastly the armor contains bundles of zythium nano-fibers of roughly the same construction as her muscles. Not bound by biological restrictions these bundles are significantly stronger and smaller than her muscular bundles. These greatly enhance both her force and acceleration.
Powered by Kratesis's personal stores of Nth energy, the suit provides a significant upgrade in performance, but at the cost of endurance and agility. As such she only utilizes the suit for specific missions, for the danger of expending her energy against weaker foes is real.
Zythium Nano-Bow: Specially designed living zythium, each part painstakingly grown into whatever form was required. The cam system, limbs and riser are assembled in such a perfect fit there is no vibrations resulting in an almost completely silent bow, and virtually eliminating energy waste.
The poundage of the bow is truthfully better measured in tons. This is variable, controlled by the 'stiffness' of the limbs.
Several sensors are present upon the riser of the bow. These track air pressure, wind, gravity, the rotation of the earth, and even esoteric effects.
A small quantum computer is stored within the riser. It handles the basic tasks of selecting the poundage of the bows limbs, manages the data collected by the sensers.
Additionally it controls the assembly of the nano-arrows. Grown from living zythium, these nano-bots attach themselves to each other in the proper form to create whatever type of arrow is needed on demand.
After their function is performed they self destruct, breaking down into Nth energies, fading away into the universes backdrop of random nose. This helps to prevent the capture and reverse engineering of her Zythium technologies.
Spear: The most common type of arrow, and perhaps the most deadly. A simple zythium arrow, it has an onboard computer to aid in its guidance, and is commonly propelled at hypersonic velocity. Capable of punching through the side of a modern main battle tank from thousands of yards out these arrows are staggeringly deadly.
Fragmentation: A powerful explosive charge, inside a specially designed case made of dead zythium. Designed to fragment upon detonation it explodes in a veritable wave of razor sharp shrapnel, each harder and sharper than diamond.
Its adjustable explosive charge allows it to be used as a shaped charge, sending all the fragments in a certain direction or to vary the size of the explosion granting it a variable kill radius.
Incendiary: Much like the fragmentation arrow these scatter millions of nanites across their detonation area. The nanites containing a massive degree of absorbed heat energy they stick to, and burn. This temperature can vary from between a mildly hot fire, to thousands of degrees Celsius.
Cryo: An arrowhead filled with a Bose-Einstein condensate, which is a collection of bosons that are close to absolute zero. This renders them nearly the lowest possible quantum state, creating the type of matter known as Bose-Einstein.
Upon contact a small charge inside the arrow explodes, blasting the quantum cryo-matter into its pre-programed paths. Due to its delicate energy state it does not persist for more than a second, however it does 'flash-freeze' virtually ANY matter, even down to the quantum scale, making it effective against objects of any size.
Electro-Net: And electrically charged net. The size is HIGHLY variable, and adjustable.
In its largest settings its a massive blanket sized net that covers a large area. The powerful electric charge is distributed throughout the net, which is deployed from the arrow like a sabot round.
Its smallest settings the 'net' operates as a very powerful taser, never leaving the arrow head. This enables it to concentrate all of its charge into one small point, to affect even mighty meta-humans. Additionally the arrow shaft contains a huge zythium energy storage coil, which can power the taser for a considerable length of time.
Gas: An arrow with a gas production warhead. Millions of tiny nanites transform the air into a variety of substances.
The first of course is a simple smoke. Thick, choking and tar like it renders breathing difficult and reduces visibility to virtually nothing. Seeded with zythium nano-flack the smoke also greatly interferes with super-human vision by absorbing the magical, chi, cosmic, or electromagnetic energies that such meta-vision relies upon.
Secondly is an airborne biotoxin. Colorless and odorless it can be programed to be lethal to a wide variety of organisms or merely a knockout toxin. Less common but still possible are hallucinogenic inducing gasses, painkillers, or even retroviruses.
A rare but valuable use for the arrow is a liquid bio-toxin that suppresses healing factors. The zythium of the arrowhead can penetrate nearly any substance, and inject the self replicating toxin directly into the bloodstream where it neutralizes the bodies regenerative or healing abilities by combination of advanced chemical catalysts derived from Kratesis's study of hundreds of healing factors.
Flechette: One of her most common types of arrows, it is simply an arrow that divides into dozens of razor edged zythium flechettes. A 'shotgun' arrow as it were, typically used against highly agile enemies or large groups.
The Fractal Fighter
Martial Arts: Due to her quantum brain she masters every motion she witnesses. Because she is several hundred years old, and has spent the majority of that time fighting she is a master of nearly every martial art in existence. Her martial knowledge is peerless, as she often makes improvements to moves she learns, and she is capable of learning anything she can imagine, simply by imagining it.
Her technique is simply flawless, far beyond the abilities of the human brain and nervous system. The amount of precision her augmented body and mind are capable of is above any human, no matter how skilled simply because the level of control her body and mind offer is greater. The technological improvements to her brain and nervous system are very extensive.
The gestalt of these abilities is a group of inhuman styles.
Absolutio: Kratesis never makes a mistake, each motion is precise down to the micron. Her footwork is perfect, her body motions are flawless, and her hands are utterly peerless. She possesses the kind of precision that is needed in the building of sub atomic machines, but she does so with the body of a technologically enhanced beta level mutant.
As a result her martial speed and strength is heavily amplified. It is this style that enables Kratesis to strike as if she was a seventy five tonner, and possess mach four combat speed due to the complete efficacy of each and every motion.
Although this is not exceptionally useful with her bow, and enhanced striking strength does little for Slake, the enhanced speed and power of motion is still quite valuable to her combat style.
Vespa: Her eyes are capable of seeing through solid lead, and detecting any type of energy what so ever. As such Kratesis sees the nervous system of her foes, and their internal energy flow. This allows her to create a system of nerve strikes calibrated to that exact person. Even aliens, and those with bizarre philology can be targeted by this.
She is capable of shutting down a specific organ, disabling a limb, and more esoteric effects such as disabling chi flow, or impairing the bodies connection to magical energies. At times she has struck highly specific locations on the skull to disable the portions of the brain that control metahuman abilities.
This style is exceptionally useful when combined with her bow. Delivering precision arrows to critical locations has disabled even foes of exceptional power. This capability has served her well against technologically based foes. Often an arrow based Vespa strike is her first choice against power armored enemies.
Fractum: All things posses strengths and weaknesses. At times these points are relatively simple to understand, such as the throat of a human. At other times they might be complex, and difficult to find, such as the weak point in a planet destroying space station.
They might even be mobile in time and space. For example a weak point could exist for only a second or less, before vanishing forever, or move from place to place.
Yet exist they do, and Kratesis possesses the tremendous calculating power required to identify them on the quantum level. She has shattered an advanced space craft with a single unarmed punch, and driven the vibrations of a punch through an adamantium helm to explode the brain matter of a foe.
When wove into her fluid style of combat these Fractum strikes allow her to deal damage far outside the limits of her strength.
Zythium Nth
One of her most prominent attributes, for it is this substance that makes up the majority of her armor and equipment. However it is far, far more then simplistic super-hard material. It is no single 'object' as is normally defined, rather it is a type of exotic matter, strange energy, and quantum process. The details of which are explained below.
Nth: Known as the 'highest' energy, or 'last' energy these terms are perhaps not exact. It would be more apt to define Nth energy as the foundation, the building block of energy. What the quark is to the atom, Nth is to energy. From magic, to nuclear, to chi, to psychic, electromagnetic, to kinetic, to cosmic the 'Nth Harmonic' provides the fundamental building blocks that make up said energy.
In its raw form Nth is useless. It can preform no work, affect nothing, and interact with nothing. This property is what leads to it being undiscovered by the vast majority of scientists. Only by altering the 'quantum harmonic' of the Nth does it transform into a useful type of energy.
Zythium: A hitherto unknown element, not discovered by any known alien civilizations or super scientists. Instead it was the result of a mutant ability long ago. A young mutant begin to mutant into the metal, slowly but surely becoming 'living metal'. This Zythium at first seemed fairly simple, but as time went on the mutant begin to evolve more and more complex types of Zythium. He also begin to go insane.
Eventually it was discovered that Zythium reacts abnormally with energy, depending upon the type of Zythium. The majority of Zythium acts as a 'deconstructor' of energy, dividing it down into its most fundamental harmonic. At first they thought somehow energy was being destroyed, but eventually they realized it was simply being converted into worthless 'Nth' energy.
By this time however the tormented mutant was completely lost to madness. Violently destructive horrifically sadistic he was deemed not only a threat to all of mutant kind but a thread to the earth itself. His armored body and corrupted mind seemed immune to all mutant powers, simply absorbing their myriad of assaults.
Around this time a mostly unknown mutant known only as 'Kratesis' returned to the earth from her travels through time and space, and beyond time and space. Alerted to the crisis she struck quickly, taking her sword SLAKE and in a majestic display of impossible martial skill driving it through the skull of the insane mutant. To the astonishment of all mutant kind and several alien races SLAKE drove through his invulnerable skull into his brain and exterminated his consciousness instantly.
The sword SLAKE begin to absorb the mutants Zythium form and transfer it to Kratesis. This act seemed blasphemous to many mutants, and laid the foundation for a schism that would later rock mutant civilization.
There are a number of types of Zythim, and its fantastic properties depend upon the exact nature of the Zythium.
Inert Zythim: Created by draining converting every iota of energy inside the object to Nth energy. Obviously this is a nearly unimaginably complex process, as even one single photon can spoil the entire project. Secondly that material must be crafted into one single fullerene molecule of tremendous size, a macromelecule. This creates an inert object that is literally one single molecule, and one single quantum state.
The effect of Inert Zythim is quite peculiar.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In other words when you walk your feet press against the floor, and the floor presses back with an exactly equal degree of energy. When a punch strikes a face, both the face and the fist experience the exact same amount of energy. This can easily be observed in space. When an astronaut pushes against an object both the astronaut and the object drift away from on another because BOTH have experienced the exact same amount of force.
Inert Zythim is the exception. It rejects all energies, all forces, all interactions outside of its quantum state. Because energy cannot be created or destroyed objects that strike Inert Zythim rebound away with DOUBLE their original force. The force that would have pushed the Zythim, and the force that would have pushed the object.
For example if a baseball were to be thrown at a sheet of Inert Zythim at 30 miles per hour it would bounce away.. at 60 miles per hour and the Inert Zythim would not move even an inch.
The same applies to energy effects, such as a laser beam. A hundred watt beam would bounce away at two hundred watts. A magical blast would rebound away twice as powerful. Any and all energies, effects, and impacts are knocked aside at twice their original power.
This however is merely a macro interaction of its most fundamental property, which is an absolute rejection of all quantum states not harmonic with its own. As such it is completely immune to the effects of reality warping, molecular alteration, telekinetic disintegration, and all other phenomenon external phenomenon. Intangible objects cannot pass through it, no form of vision can see through it. No object can teleport into it, no matter how small, nor can it be teleported by any force not harmonic with itself. It can however travel through wormholes, and portals because those do not fundamentally alter its state just offer another type of ordinary travel.
Euhedral Zythim: The atoms of a Zythim Euhedral are aligned in near perfect periodic order in all three spatial dimensions. This forms a perfectly square crystal. These crystals harmonic vibrations are highly pure, in effect a single perfect 'note'. As a result they can be designed for various effects.
The most common effect being the psycho-reactive crystals. These vibrate on the same frequency as the human brain, making them fantastic conductors, focusers, and amplifiers of psychic energy. Often used to establish a 'link' between two individuals by growing Euhedral psycho-reactive crystals that focus the psychic energies of one mind, making their thoughts clearer and more precise. The Court's Choir of psychics then guide this signal to the other Crystal, using it as a beacon. That crystal beams the thoughts directly into the head of the receiver.
Additionally they may be used to generate psychic static by amplifying the random nose a mind naturally generates. Thus 'jamming' that mental frequency with meaningless psychic garbage.
Last but not least each member of the Arcani's Choir wears a mask with a variety of psychic technologies and Euhedral Zythim crystals. These are used to establish deep level mental links between every mind, effectively erasing the difference between their thoughts. It is a hundred minds thinking as one, a psychic hive. Their psychic energies are both focused and amplified by the harmonic resonations of the Euhedral in their mask, which is a significant portion of the Choirs terrifying potency.
Aside from psychic effects Euhedral is capable of focusing and amplifying virtually any energy. This finds itself useful in a vast variety of technologies.
Living Metal Zythim: The original and most common form. This is often considered the 'default' form of Zythim. It was this form of Zythim that composed the majority of the mad mutant's tissues. This metal is literally alive, although not composed of cells it is instead a form of 'micro-life'.
It responds to the thought commands of its bearer, by bonding with their nervous system. In the case of Kratesis she possesses mental control over the entirety of the Living Metal.
Living Metal Zythim (LMZ) is relatively light weight, weighing little more then paper of the same volume. It is immensely durable, being highly resistant to bending, cutting, or tearing forces. Its hardness is also extreme, although it is not as hard as some other exotic materials such as adamantium.
Its most valuable attribute however is its energy absorption properties. It is not a perfect absorber of energy, instead it only absorbs a portion of the energy that comes into contact with it. This percentage varies depending upon the amount of energy. Greater 'spikes' of energy cause the greatest levels of absorbency, as the metal 'vibrates' closer and closer to that exact energy frequency by absorbing more and more of it.
For example a sheet of LMZ would absorb a lesser percentage of electricity from a nine volt battery then it would from a lightning strike. This also holds true for kinetic energy such as a punch or hammer strike. This does not necessarily mean that lower powered attacks deal more damage, after all one percent of a million is far greater then fifty percent of ten, but it does sometimes produce odd effects.
LMZ begins to 'transform' these absorbed energies into Nth energy fairly quickly. The Nth energy is the 'life force' of LMZ. Just as humans possess chi or bioenergies, Living Metal possesses Nth energy. With this energy LMZ can change its form, heal damage, or even grow (how Zythim is produced), but when depleted of energy LMZ becomes lethargic, slow, and eventually becomes 'dead' metal like any other super-tough exotic metal.
Court of Arcani
In times long lost to the mists of history Kratesis founded the Court of Arcani. An eternal organization devoted entirely to the liberation of mutants, and their eventual mastery over earth which they regard as their evolutionary birthright.
Long centuries of scientific study have granted them a myriad of advanced technology. Often guiding the progress of human research for their own mysterious ends they have maintained their hard won technological edge through the application of gold, toil and blood.
Sophiornithidae
Among their numbers are geniuses with mutant intelligence selected for by generations of ruthless eugenics programs, and educated from birth in the most advanced scientific theories available. Many magnificent breakthroughs are mad before the stress of hyper intelligence, and brutal pressure inevitably drives them to insanity.
Often they live in family units, each member of the family bred to be a prodigy, a savant of science, economics sociology or some other critical field. Although the cost is high, it is necessary to maintain the technological edge of the Court.
Strigidae
Hand picked from among those blessed with great mutant gifts, physical ability and personal loyalty to Kratesis they act as her personal body guard. Equipped with the best technology available to the Arcani, and trained in combat by Kratesis herself they are each a deadly and devastating warrior in their own right. When brought together and lead by Kratesis they are simply devastating beyond compare.
Eostrix Choir
For generations a brutally enforced eugenics program, combined with genetic tampering have created psychics of staggering power. Physical deformities, bizarre and horrific mutations and twisted minds run rampant.
Each wears a simple porcelain mask, embedded within it pysco-reactive crystalline fractal structures. Constructed by means of arcane and forbidden quantum techno-sorcery they link the minds of each member of the Choir together, forever. So deep and strong are the bonds that to remove the mask is certain death.
Apart their minds would each be exemplars of terrifying psychic power. Together they create a telepath of Alpha level mutant might.
What Kratesis has done with such a tool is perhaps best left unsaid.
Tytonidae
In the world there are many who would fight for the cause of mutant kind but do not desire to join in the strict life of the Court Proper. Yet Kratesis would not turn away a weapon in the eternal crusade for the destiny of all mutant-kind.
Over the centuries their ranks have included mutants of all stripes, good and evil, strong and weak, warrior and magi. Patriots and traitors both have graced their ranks. Great heroes have been made, and mutant martyrs born in blood and fire. Legacies have been forged in the struggle and sagas written on the bones of the fallen. Of all the forces of the Court it is perhaps the Tytonidae that are the most influential to the outside world.
Mutants are virtually always accepted, and non-mutants are not turned away so long as their heart seems true. Even mercenaries who serve only for coin are gladly accepted, and even those whose motives lay darker still. The origin of a blade matters little to Kratesis, it cuts down her foes all the same.
Terracruor
Made from the blood soaked soils of a thousand mass graves, the vital essence of life summed up by the technological abominations of Kratesis's Quantum Sorcery. These beasts are the very dead themselves, from dust returned, to bring their terrible vengeance down upon mankind. Merciless, pitiless, tireless.
Various shapes formed from mud or sand itself. They provide an endless tide of foot soldiers, expendable and replaceable fodder for the Court.
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