Serugasium

Serugasium is the fluid that acts as the soul(s) of sentient (not sapient) beings.
==Information==
Serugasium is a viscous, glowing liquid that rapidly evaporates into nothingness at any temperature or pressure. It cannot freeze, and does not stay in a gaseous state for more than a few seconds at a time before phasing out of existence.
It is not normally found in the Compliens Universe proper, but exists in a sort of purgatorial state condensed "behind" objects with sentience such as brains - in other words, a field, much like gravity. It only becomes tangible once something pulls it out into the physical world, such as a feeding Solupire or the usage of certain spells. Once extracted into physicality, serugasium cannot be returned to its intangible state. Physical serugasium is also known as ectoplasm.
===As a form of soul===
Wherever sentience is present, serugasium is also present. An object that gains sentience (such as a rock becoming a Shrock) creates a small baseline amount of serugasium. Likewise, an object that loses sentience (such as a Shrock becoming a dead Shrock) destroys that small baseline amount of serugasium.
However, sapience increases serugasium density - a Batorius has more serugasium than a Shrock, but a Shrock and a Batorius with its cerebral cortex removed have about the same amount.
Removing serugasium from a creature will cause it to become less sapient. If the physical structure that allows sapience of that creature remains intact, though, their sapience and serugasium will return after a few days.
The serugasium of two different individuals repel each other strongly and will almost never touch. Creatures with multiple souls, such as Totomples and Wialscreems, have multiple clusters of serugasium with dividing channels in between.
Complixonox is not sapient in and of itself, but when bound to matter, it raises the matter's level of serugasium, imparting sentience. When freed from its material bindings, in fact, complixonox can bind itself to its own residual serugasium. Many Spectral Element Compliens are created this way.
===As a form of energy===
Within the serugasium field, cohesive concentrations of serugasium act as consciousness for beings like Compliens, but waves of serugasium act more as a form of energy transfer. Serugasium waves, since they produce and are sustained by magitons, are also known as esperomagetic waves. Another term is psychic energy.
All sentient beings naturally produce esperomagetic waves. In particular, Compliens and spells of the Esper Element tend to exploit these waves.
Spells such as Mind Bind or Brain Punch create "solidified psychic energy". This actually refers to extremely high-frequency serugasium waves that have been turned physical, created by the complixonox used to fuel the spell. The serugasium is held in place by the spell user's esperomagetic waves to simulate solidity, though these constructs do dissipate rapidly as any physical serugasium does.
The amplitude and frequency of certain esperomagetic waves creates a resonance through the w-axis of the universe that matches exactly with that of the Dreamscape, allowing the two dimensions to interact with one another despite being completely separated. The REM sleep of Complinoids produces these exact waves - theorized to be the product of convergent evolution. These waves are also consumed by some Compliens, such as Lampadon.
==Trivia==
*When ingested, it causes lightheadedness and short term memory loss.
*When non-physical, it is a field. When pulled into the physical realm, it becomes quantized into matter-like particles known as serutons, each particle roughly the mass and volume of a gold atom.
*The serugasium field has an interesting property - the information of any point within it can be instantly accessed from any other point, regardless of distance. This bizarre behavior is exploited by the tubulet for FTL movement of information and matter.
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Category:Substances