Aethersteel(material)
Aethersteel is a metal manufactured by the Sovereign; it does not occur naturally. Aethersteel is highly non-reactive and never corrodes. Aethersteel is conductive of many different forms of energy, which makes it a popular material in many high tech devices. Aethersteel has a high natural capacitance, and can hold a good deal of charge on its own. This makes the material difficult to use in devices of a smaller scale.
In its manufactured state, aethersteel is a relatively soft material. It is somewhat flexible and can be formed into sheets or wires. When a harder material is needed, a process of fire hardening exists to compress aethersteel into a harder yet less conductive state. This process requires exposing the material to a specially made elemental fire and then applying great pressure. The ability to harden aethersteel is known by all the human races, but is regarded as an art form taking several lifetimes to master. The process requires the coordination of several artisans each a master of a different discipline. Only a handful of these groups are rumored to exist in each dimension and guard their knowledge and techniques fiercely.
The process of un-hardening aethersteel is even more difficult, and requires careful application of aetherite and an excessive amount of energy. Currently there exist less than a single handful of people able to perform such an act. No race possess the knowledge to forge Aethersteel, the facilities to make it having been lost long before time remembered. No new aethersteel has been made for several millennia.
Aethersteel has a unique relationship with the Nexus. When energy is applied to the material it begins collecting void Aethers and transferring them its charge. The result is a massive flow of aethers toward the device. This flow is usually used in itself as energy; however it has also seen use in a wide variety of other applications. In the right hands, an aethersteel device can tear a hole in the fabric of the Nexus itself.
Keeping aethers charged for such an extended period of time is very dangerous, so aethersteel must constantly purge itself by forcing a few of the void aethers to discharge. If the material were to release all its energy at once, and insufficient aethers are found to collect this massive amount of released energy, the resulting explosion could be rather devastating.
This purging process occurs naturally by the material, as a result of its unique existence with the nexus. Regardless, on larger aethersteel devices special systems are needed to ensure the proper relocation of this energy to prevent damaging affects to the nexus in the surrounding areas. This purging process is said to give aethersteel a faint “glowing” appearance.
The nexus field created by aethersteel is traceable. Humans with strong aether sensitivity will detect this field when they approach the material. Even Legion soldiers can detect the aethersteel collector at Serenity from several miles away. The Teknocrats have been working on several devices to allow them to detect the presence of aethersteel, but have only had a moderate amount of success.
According to recent medical journals, ingesting aethersteel is fatal to humans.
