Hilschwisps

One of the most mysterious creatures found on Ammon, the Hilschwisps are fractal colonial organisms.

## Macroscopic physical characteristics

At human scale, they are commonly observed as 0.25 ± 0.15 m diameter spheroidal organisms not unlike Earth jellyfish. They have 120 ± 4 tendrils, though they do not appear to have any venomous properties. Instead, they are capable of generating electromagnetic fields.

Hilschwisps are translucent, but can internally refract light to produce varying shades of blue/green which are correlated with their behavior.

## Behavior

Hilschwisps commonly move in a pulsating pseudo-linear style when alone (again similar to jellyfish). However, when groups of them congregate more complicated movement patterns emerge from the interaction of their EM fields. When migrating, a group of them will glow green and form a snake-like linear shape and move with incredible speed. The cause of this seems to be pulsating electromagnetic waves moving through the group, mimicking their solo physical behavior. When congregating, they glow blue and form massive rings that appear to "orbit" a central focus (such as Bosch spires, Persephones or divers that stay still for a while). While orbiting, their collective EM field will have bizarre consequences such as rocks lifting from the sea floor and stacking into piles. Humans passing through (or escaping from) these congregations also report mental disruptions such as visual hallucinations (space-bending), auditory hallucinations (scratching/whispering), and profound feelings of emptiness (see Incident Report: Hades Project).

## Microscopic physical characteristics

Upon close examination, the Hilschwisp is found to actually consist of millions of smaller organisms, each approximately 4 ± 0.1 mm in diameter. These organisms appear to be identical to the macroscopically observed form, but scaled down by a factor of ≈1:120. The "tendrils" of the macroscopic Hilschwisp (Hilschwisp⁰) are actually made of miniature Hilschwisps (Hilschwisp⁻¹) in snake formation. Similarly the bodies of Hilschwisp⁰ consist of interconnected and overlapping ring formations of Hilschwisp⁻¹.

## Fractal characteristics

Confusingly, this pattern seems to continue indefinitely with no loss of fidelity. Thus Hilschwisp⁻¹ are made of Hilschwisp⁻², which are ≈1:120 smaller, etc. With our best equipment, we have observed down to Hilschwisp⁻⁵ (with a diameter of 10 pm), which still appear to be perfect replicas of Hilschwisp⁰. These organisms are smaller than conventional atoms, yet retain startling complexity at this scale. There is no indication that this pattern has an end, leading to troubling conclusions about our current model of physics.

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## Theories/Rumors

The startling discoveries surrounding this creature have led to a number of theories about them, and about life itself.

* After discovering the fractal nature of the Hilschwisp, many have posited the existence of a Hilschwisp⁺¹. While rings and snakes have been observed, there has been no evidence of such a collective.
	+ I bet there's one in The Deepest Trench: B --Dr Hek
* Some of the dynamical fractologists have taken to joking about how "the universe is just a big Hilschwisp". The jokes have gone on so long that some may actually believe it now.