Evolium

Evolium is a rare material composed of numerous elements, and is as valuable as it is volatile. It is practically nonexistent in natural environments on Earth, but are commonly found within meteorites.

 File:Evolium hazerd.png
In fact, a significantly large Evolium -carrying meteor had recently crashed on Earth, just outside the City of Heroes and Evo City.

## Effects and Properties

Evolium is a strange substance. It normally takes the form of a green crystal, with a slight green radiance to it. However, while its glow is noteworthy, one of its far more interesting effects is to grow in comparatively short time frames.
Evolium is a molecule consisting of - Gold, Silver, Molybendium, Copper, Iron, Platinum, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Veriperium. By some sort of controlled nuclear fission, it will absorb the atoms of the area around it, and create more of itself, with a byproduct of extreme heat and radiation (somewhere around 3000 mSv). It can transmute anything that it comes into contact with into more Evolium. However, it takes several minutes of contact for there to be any permanent effect. This time is extended depending on the substance in question. Natural fibers and wood don’t really take any longer, while non-organic substances (concrete, plastics, nylon) will take many hours, and metals take days to weeks depending on the specific metal.

There additionally exists a much rarer and potent form of Evolium, known as Blue Evolium. Unlike standard evolium, which has the appearance of a green crystal with green radiance, Blue Evolium instead take the form of a blue crystal with blue radiance. It is speculated to be this way due to being a much more aged variant of Evolium that has been undisturbed within the earth for a longer time. It spreads faster and mutates faster than standard Evolium, and thus it is more highly prized. However, the downside is that it is a more unstable and volatile compound to handle.

 File:Evolium Crystals.jpg
### Effects on Humans

If Evolium does come in contact with a person, it is merely a matter of time until they are eventually completely overcome by the infection. It typically kills in 2 ways. It will either convert the host completely into Evolium, essentially turning them into a macabre statue of crystal, or kill the host with radiation poisoning. However, there do exist a few rare cases in which instead of killing the individual, the Evolium will mutate them.

If the former occurs, it is a tortuous process. The victim can only watch as their body is slowly transformed into more Evolium over the course of a few weeks. The pain is excruciating, as their body is imbued with the crystal, until eventually they die. Death is typically due to the puncturing of some vital organ, such as the lungs or heart, or the mind breaking down due to pain and trauma.

In the latter scenario, a "lucky" few will receive mutations that will result in the body becoming symbiotic with the Evolium, increasing their strength, speed, and awareness. The Evolium that grows on a mutant no long releases radiation, nor does it grow on substances that aren’t its host. In addition, the mutant is no longer harmed by the adverse effects of other Evolium, such as new growths or radiation. As for the reasons why, they are currently unknown.

#### Late-Stage Mutation

As the mutations progress, various abilities begin to manifest themselves.

In addition to increased abilities from the prior stages, they begin to show advanced abilities, shown to be linked to Veriperium, namely the ability to manipulate heat and radiation, as well as the ability to eject small amounts of Veriprium crystals from the skin. The also have the ability to manipulate these crystals into valuable alloys. This manipulation of Veriperium also manifest in the ability to facilitate and accelerate the growth of Evolium crystals. Other abilities and effects based on even greater spans of time are currently undocumented.

### Liquid Evolium

Liquid Evolium (or Liquid-E) is a specialized form of Evolium. It is created by super-heating it to the point of liquefying, then diluting it with water. In this form it no longer releases heat and radiation, nor does it grow easily. However, in this form it is highly volatile, with 1 oz equivalent to 500 lbs if TNT. In addition, it can be used to "seed" Evolium. When spread, the liquid sprouts small crystals over a large area, and accelerates the growth of crystals already present.

Additionally, Blue liquid Evolium (or Blue Liquid-E) can also be liquidized, though it is more difficult to do so than standard Evolium due to its increased volatility. "The Society for Divine Cleansing" had in fact once developed a steroid-like compound that was derived from samples of heavily diluted Blue Liquid-E (which they had stolen from Tyler's Evolium refinery). The mixture contained none of the volatile or dangerous side-effects of evolium or Liquid-E, and served to give recipients temporary boosts in power. However, if one were to overdose on this substance, they would then experience the volatile mutagenic effects of standard Blue Liquid-E. It is believed that after the Society for Divine Cleansing was driven underground in 2019, no more samples of this steroid exists any longer.

## Uses

Evolium's primary usages is as a power source, and for the acquisition of valuable minerals.

### As a power source

Evolium is typically utilized in a manner similar to nuclear fission in a nuclear reactor. It uses the high amounts of heat created by the Evolium growth process to heat water, creating steam, which turns a turbine, which turns a dynamo, which generates electricity. The crystals are contained in a Harmonic Resonance field (a field of high-intensity sound, which breaks down Evolium into it's constituent atoms) so that they do not overgrow.

### As a resource

Due to its makeup, Evolium is a lode of various valuable metals. These metals can be collected through "harvesting". This is done by breaking down the crystals with an HR field, and then collecting the constituent atoms.

## Known Evolium Mutants

* Tyler Veritas
* Autumn Maengpong