Difference between revisions of "Handwavium"

Revision as of 14:06, 21 March 2010

The Prime Mover behind the idea and community that is Fenspace, handwavium is a "magic goo", obeying only one law - dramatical correctness. All other observed habits are either editorial fiat or merely habit. Handwavium, to quote the Commissar, is like a cat; it doesn't go where you tell it to, it goes where it wants to. Particularly strong mental images or emotional influences during construction can influence this. Handwavium also responds to hermetic and shamanic traditions, as well as unfocused prayer and simple willpower.

Although "handwavium" is the most common name for the substance, there are any number of others used for it across Fenspace, including "Plot Tech", "Plotdevicite", "Protoculture", and "Unobtainium".

Detailed Discussions about Handwavium

Identifying handwavium can be a tricky matter - not the least because it sometimes seems there are more varieties of the stuff than there are Fen.

Handwavium and medical technology mix in poorly-understood ways.

The Catgirling Machine is a particularly vile example of applied Handwavium.

Known Handwavium Strains

• Black: A lubricant handwavium. Have you ever wished your oil in your car would soak the gasket and harden, forming a near-prefect seal? This will. Responds well to the occasional 'long drive through the country', for whatever value of country you have available.
• Grey: The pure quill, base, plain, simple 'wavium. The unmodified strain, usually an opalescent grey in color. Fairly cheaply available in Fenspace. Known to be a component in the monthly maintenance routine of Scott-series androids. When gelled and applied to a not-yet-activated android, makes that android look human.
• Green: Guacamole, a strain particularly suited to biomodification. Grey will cause biomods also, but they usually go easier and better with green.
• Gold: Honey, or Mnemosyne's Honey. A strain that resembles nothing so much as good clover honey, except the chunky bits inside are, ever so slowly, dancing. Causes extensive improvements in digital memory systems. Affects on organic systems are unknown as of yet.
• Solid: One of the earliest-known forms of handwavium, Solid is flat-black or crystal-grey and has the ability to generate and regulate energy (hence its nickname "dilithium" among the Trekkies). Many Fen-made devices (including AIs) use a Solid power core. It is possible to make basic Grey handwavium by dissolving a Solid in distilled water.
• Seibertron: Amongst other things, this strain allows for reliable spaceframes with the narrow pylons favored by the Trekkies. The Gearheads have a monopoly on creation of this strain.

Known Handwavium Quirks

• Pure samples are capable of self-replication, albeit rather slowly and with some odd limits. There does not appear to be much if any danger of a Grey Goo Disaster. The exact methods by which it works remain unknown.
• Illegal to manufacture and use in almost all of the 'Danelaw.
• Quirks don't apply to critical life-support systems - air, water, food, sewer. Power systems can be quirky, but never to a life-threatening extent.