Exotic

Exotic matter is the term for strange, electomagnetically interacting matter. Theory consists of three orders of them.

First Order

First-order exotics are either quantum dots or stabilized atoms.

Quantum dots are magnetically controlled matter to suit various ends, that consist of no nuclei, just the electron shell. Since they are essentially atoms without protons, there are no limits on their size, and they do not exhibit lanthenide contraction. So, pseudogold is not yellow, pseudomercury is a solid, and so on. Elements created in this fashion are usually referred to with the 'pseudo' prefix. Their primary use is in creating a perfect, monomolecular edge, and for defensive nets - usually referred to as screens.

Stabilized atoms are atoms that, while normally radioactive, are inhibited from decaying through stimulation and monitoring, or sometimes other methods. This is usually done to help facilitate better experimental situations, and rarely sees direct usage.

The principles of first order exotics can be carried into the second order, at least for quantum dots. This is used almost entirely for experimental purposes, however, since exoelectrons are far too valuable to be used otherwise.

Second Order

Second-order exotics make use of replacement protons, neutrons, and electrons. They are typically referred to as exoparticles - that is, exrotons, exeutrons, and exolectrons - or hypoparticles - hrotons, heutrons, and hectrons. Like all matter, they possess their own antiparticles. They are referred to as exomatter and hypomatter, respectively.

Despite having electric charge, exoparticles, hypoparticles, and standard atomic particles do not like to mingle with eachother - there is an additional, repulsive force between them, and they dislike bonding with normal matter, making them seem almost frictionless. This is not perfect, however, and certain exotics will trap and exchange electrons, allowing for some interaction, though this is limited.

Exomatter

Individually, exoparticles have a bit more third again the mass of their standard counterparts, and six times the electric charge, which compounds the previous by making them significantly denser than their normal counterparts, though they behave in a physically very similar manner. Even still, this makes them a considerable improvement over normal matter in many respects.

Only twenty-three exoelements are possible:

• exohydrogen
• exohelium
• exolithium
• exoberyllium
• exoboron
• exocarbon
• exonitrogen
• exooxygen
• exofluorine
• exoneon
• exosodium
• exomagnesium
• exoaluminum
• exosilicon
• exophosphorus
• exosulfur
• exochlorine
• exoargon
• exopotassium
• exocalcium
• exoscandium
• exotitanium
• exovanadium

Hypomatter

Hypoparticles are not so well formed. They are over seven hundred thousand times the mass of their standard counterparts, and possess twenty-three times the electric charge. This makes them highly volatile when exposed to extreme temperatures, but this requires experiment, weaponry, or dropping them into a true star. Only six hypoelements are possible.

All hypomatter is extremely reflective, even to enhanced human vision, and seemingly frictionless. Outside of hypohelium, telling the difference between two of these requires mass analysis.

• hypohydrogen, like exohydrogen, is a superconducting solid, remaining so up to temperatures in the millions of degrees Kelvin.
• hypohelium is the densest liquid known, weighing approximately eight hundred kilograms per cubic centimeter.
• hypolithium
• hypoberyllium is notable for the fact that a single-atom layer of this substance is impervious to neutrons.
• hypoboron
• hypocarbon is the densest substance known, weighing over two and a half metric tonnes per cubic centimeter. Its tensile strength is not quite that of the atomic nucleus (merely being in the near-zettapascal range), though its raw mass limits its usefulness even beyond its difficulty to produce.

No simple process currently exists for the creation of hypomatter. Currently, it exists in gram quantities, most of which has gone to the creation of klein taps.