Hardlight (Cosmoria)

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Dance, O Freest Aeon

This content is a part of Cosmoria.

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Index / Lexica / Timeline

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Hardlight, when produced, is usually a light blue in color. Hardlight can be any color to its creator's liking. The hardlight above is a considerably thin blue disk, typical for most hardlight constructs.

Hardlight, also called Photonic Matter is a solid and durable mass of photons which are trapped in a nonlinear medium. Most often, hardlight exists in the form of solid and thin plates, which hold a massive amount of capabilities and uses.

Hardlight is produced by shooting numerous weak beams of photons through dense rubidium (or other alkaline elemental) gas near absolute zero. With time, energy, and resources, hardlight may be produced at a practical rate, which allows for military application and everyday use for citizens. With a brutally short half-life, hardlight remains more a curiosity than a practical material in most cases. Classical Magi can produce and maintain the substance fairly easily, but only if they are in constant contact with the substance.

Properties

After hardlight is made, it is shown to hold extreme properties. With the correct procedures, hardlight may be formed into "solid" objects which have a thickness equal to the wavelength of the light. While incredibly thin, usually on the order of several hundred nanometers, hardlight is not brittle in the slightest. It is shown to have numerous defensive capabilities, withstand temperature extremes, and absorb extreme blunt force without breaking.

With usage in militaries, hardlight has been noted to be one of the sharpest, toughest, and hardest materials if procured properly. It has made the idea of close quarter melee combat relevant again since its creation. Hardlight may also be used for personal defense, in the form of shields or armor. Spacecraft, especially those of high value, may employ magi to protect its hull or cargo with hardlight.

Hardlight is very volatile, as it is not limited to the visible light spectrum. Typically, Hardlight is created with blue light, being 450 and 495 nm in length, but any wavelength is feasible. Due to quantum fluctuations amplified during the hardening process, hardlight is not perfectly smooth and has a rough texture.

Notable Appearances

Hardlight has held many appearances in history, with many appearances of hardlight occurring in warfare. Widely used since the War of the Final Transition, hardlight has since expanded from a novelty to commonplace weapon of war. Most uses were documented in Commonwealth's Eclipse, with Sedruan technology heavily relying on magi producing the substance. It has also seen major use in the War of the Ancients in particular by the Quintet Payotari Association.

Paladins who worship Mars very often spend years perfecting the creation of hardlight. This is in spite the fact the paladins have a much harder time creating the substance than classical magi. They typically fashion the hardlight into glowing spears, a religious symbol in Martial Civil Religion and a powerful weapon in its own right.