Idle Speculation Part I: Fictional Elements, Materials, Isotopes And Atomic Particles

Continuing on my recent articles on the recent science-fiction novels that I have been reading, I’ve been reading up on fictional elements and materials. (Currently, I am reading The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson and Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. I just finished Babylon Babies by Maurice G. Dantec, The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton, Gone by Jonathan Kellerman and Gradisil by Adam Roberts.)

Especially those found in science-fiction, but others like Vorpal and Mithril from fantasy novels as well.

This started when I discovered that the Storyteller system from White Wolf began a New World of Darkness and collapsed the old World of Darkness a few years ago. Since I have not been gaming for years, I wasn’t aware of these changes.

Part I: Introduction

I have been an avid RPG player and dungeon master in the past. One of the great things of these table based games, is that they ignite the imagination. Creating whole worlds and playing in them was very satisfying. To this day, I believe that is how my love of writing began, combined with daily journal writing during my teens.

I used to play Vampire: The Masquarade, but my favorite WW game was most definitely Mage: The Ascension. (They have a new version out called Mage: The Awakening. I haven’t checked it out yet, but from what I’ve read, the rules are supposed to be improved and more streamlined.) The main reason why I loved this game is because my favorite game was Ars Magica, closely followed by Cyberpunk 2020. I really enjoyed Ars Magica for its troupe style play and the amount of details that went into creating the magus, the main characters. My favorite edition is the 3rd, but I have played the 4th edition released by Atlas games (A fifth edition came out in 2004, but I haven’t played or read the books). It was the only game I knew that had time pass, years pass by with the main characters constantly improving, researching, creating objects and spells and studying magic. It is a vast and complicated game, with a lot of subtleties.

Here are the fictional materials that I find fascinating and that I will discuss:

• Neutronium: It was a fictional material, but it is now speculated to exist for real in star matter.
• Omega Molecule: The perfect molecule, found in the Star Trek: Voyager episode The Omega Directive. The Borg are fascinated by it.
• Primium: A magically forged combination of Quintessence and titanium used by Iteration X a convention in the Technocracy of Mage: The Ascension.
• Mithril: Used in many fantasy settings, from Lord of the Rings to D&D (called Mithral because of copyright issues)
• Adamantium: The very durable metal found in the Marvel Universe.
• Adamantite: It is used in D&D and is invulnerable. It is used in armors and weapons.
• Vorpal: A metal used in D&D to create swords. I’ve read that it was invented by Lewis Carroll. The effect is that sometimes, the can cut off an enemy’s head.

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