Modrons arise spontaneously when there is an insufficient number of modrons in the universe. In a way, they are the universe's own attempt to self-regulate the amount of disorder present in its own system.
Just as a body struggles against death, so does the universe vie against entropy. Nothing catalyzes the inevitable heat death of the universe like the use of magic.
That's what modrons say, anyway.
Modronium is like modrons: a logical extension reaching its own conclusion.
Modronium is a metal. Modrons can "vanish" part of the metal. The parts of the modronium that remain are still connected--though no metal remains between them--and will retain their weight, orientation, and rigidity.
If you make a modronium pole and vanish the middle section, you would be left with two short lengths that preserve their distance from each other and their orientation. The middle section has just been phased into a different dimension without losing any connectivity.
It's all very logical. Nothing at all to do with eldritch madness. Don't even suggest such a thing.
Examples of Modronium Objects
A modronium coin attached to a much larger, out-of-phase piece of modronium. Since the coin is attached to an extradimensional mass, the coin is very heavy.
Modronium shoes with their soles located eight feet above them. If the soles are placed on the roof of a building, a person can walk around below them, eight feet below the roof (no matter how far down the floor is.) You don't even need a floor, since you are walking below the roof, while resting your weight on it.
A modronium sword is just a grip and a sword point, that hovers three feet in front of the crossguard/basket. It still weighs the same, and handles the same, but it cannot be parried (since there is no middle part of the blade). True, you cannot slash with it, nor use it to parry a blow, but it is much easier to land a stabbing hit. [Mechanically, modronium weapons get +2 to hit, but no bonus to damage.]
Modronium has also been made into all sorts of deceptive items and tools for deception.
Modronium is not magical. It relies on a novel principle of the universe that is largely unexplored by non-modrons.
1: Are modrons made of modronium?
ReplyDelete2: Can modrons phase it back in?
3: What happens when a modron phases modronium back in when something else occupies the same space?
4: Is modronium naturally phased out, requiring modrons to "mine" it by phasing it in, and is secretly the dark matter D&D-world astronomers don't know to look for?
5: Is there a bunch of phased-out modronium wobbling at the gravitational center of the world because sometime a modron accidentally phased it completely out and it fell right through?
6: If two phased-out parts of modronium come into contact, do they strike each other and prevent passage through, or do they still pass? Like if you have a pair of swordsmen using modron swords, can their phased out sections parry each other?
7: Can modrons hear phased-out modronium clang?
1 - Modrons are made of small amounts of modronium. It is more concentrated in more powerful modrons.
Delete2 - Only Primus knows the secret of phasing modronium back in. In fact, it is said that most of his body is phased-out modronium. He is the tip of an unseen iceberg.
Aside from making Primus much "massier" than he appears, it also means that Primus can potentially be stabbed with the phased-out part of a modronium weapon, or shot with a modronium arrow. It is said that his chambers are surrounded by a phased-out maze of modronium walls.
3 - Phasing modronium is piecemeal, sliver by sliver. It is an intensely laborious process, with each cycle of washing and abrasion adding or subtracting a layer of molecules. It takes centuries to make a significantly-sized item of modronium. (And the modrons never make insignificant items.) Generations of monodrones are spent making a sword.
4 - No. Modronium is harvested from dead modrons, once those modron hulls have been geologically compressed and allowed to "fossilize".
5 - The only interaction modronium has with the real universe is gravitic. So, yes, there are a few pieces of modronium at the phased-out center of the planet, because that's where modronium falls when it breaks off without any attachment to a corresponding piece in the real world.
Modronium collects most at black holes and neutron stars, which is why your modronium sword is unlikely to be struck by a modronium meteor in the anti-universe. (But this scenario is not impossible. It would probably kill you and everyone around you.)
Modronium is actually made during the formation of a neutron star, when mass is phased out into the anti-universe.
6 - Yes, modronium swords can parry each other as normal.
7 - No, but they can sense it vaguely when they are close to it.
Had a similar idea. Take two immovable rods. Instead of the standard usage, when activated they become immobile relative to each other.
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