Democratic Socialist Assembly

It is science. Everything is. But this is one of those weird sciences. Anomalous Physics in the realm of science is like bringing an instruction manual for building a toaster to a literature club. Like, yeah, technically that counts, that is a piece of literature, but should that count? For what this club does? Anomalies are perhaps ones of the hardest, most questionable, and sometimes most dangerous sciences to study. Decades of work can go into studying just one anomaly and, in the end, you’ve only studied one anomaly, and the next one you study is nothing like the one before.

Anomalies are hard to predict and hard to group. However, they’re not all totally unique and independent from one another. We do find patterns, even when it doesn’t want us to. The topic we are delving into this week is a fairly recently explored one and one that continues to find new discoveries every day, so keep that in mind as we progress through the week that what we are working with is only what we know so far and what we can approximately hypothesize and theorize about.

To begin our studies of what an anomaly is, we’re going to have to look away from anomalous physics and look at the anomalies of quantum physics. Throughout the universe, there are quantum fluctuations, random changes of energy in space. These happen everywhere all the time. In these fluctuations, new particles are made: a particle and an antiparticle. They usually very quickly divide, then recombine, destroying each other in the process. These are called Virtual Particles, virtual because of how temporary they are.

However, there are a few times when they are not virtual and end up staying around. And, appropriately for this class, that is because of one of the most anomalous things to ever exist, that being a black hole. You all are in a physics class so you should have a basic understanding of what these are: star explodes, point so tiny and yet with infinite mass, nothing escapes it, etc etc. It’s where the laws of the universe breakdown and nothing makes sense. Ask any physicist what a black hole is. They’ll try and tell you, but they got no clue because black holes don’t care what people think or can comprehend. They’re eldritch monsters.

Quantum fluctuations occur here as well and it is here when a virtual particle is no longer virtual. If the particles appear outside the event horizon, they still collide and cease to exist. Inside, hell if I know. No one knows what happens insides a blackhole. However, when they appear on the event horizon, that’s where the magic happens. One particle is outside the horizon while one is inside. One is pulled into the black hole to feed it and the other is ejected away. The particles that are ejected are known as Hawking Radiation, named after…a guy. Doesn’t matter who he is.

Back to Anomalistics, particles do not just consist of matter and antimatter. There is another one called an Anomalous Particle. Just like virtual particles, anomalous particles appear, divide, then recombine and stop existing, and they do this all the time everywhere. These ones that appear from fluctuations are Virtual Anomalous Particles. Also like virtual particles, virtual anomalous particles don’t always disappear. Sometimes they stay around. As to what exactly keeps them around, that’s still to be discovered. Leading theory is that they attach to surrounding matter and that keeps them from blowing up.

The ones that stay in our world and attach to matter are referred to as Deposited Anomalous Particles. It’s believed that deposited particles can be found almost anywhere, though rarely in large quantities. Some places seem to have more deposited particles than other and, just like the name suggests, there doesn’t really seem to be a reason why, or at least not one we can find. The causes and rates of deposition are a continual mystery.

When an anomalous particle becomes deposited, surrounding it can be found another force, this one being what actually causes anomalies. We call this extra force Anomalous Energy. Like an electron around an atom, the energy can be found around the deposited particles. As to its origin, that is debated. One theory suggests that deposited particles contain anomalous energy and radiate it out while another one suggests that they act as magnets and attract anomalous energy once deposited. Whichever theory is right will have great ramifications for the future of anomalistics and how we approach the study, like if the energy can be harnessed or not.

Anomalous energy is the main source of anomalies in our universe. It is what causes anomalies. When it interacts with matter, it alters it in some way. Maybe it’s composition, it’s relation to time, it’s structure. If it can be altered, the energy will find a way. Usually there are so few deposited particles in any given area where these alterations go entirely unnoticed. However, there are sometimes when these particles do pile up and more anomalous energy is around. These times are when the anomalies can become noticed. Interestingly enough, the energy in each anomaly is uniform and causes the same anomaly uniformly. One could expect that the energy would alter all the matter around it in different ways but it instead alters it all in the same way. These anomalies are anomalies in it of themselves.

Remember earlier when I said we don’t know why some places have more or less deposited anomalous particles? That’s still true, but only mostly. We have found materials that do affect the presence of anomalies, one encouraging anomalies and the other discouraging it. As for specifically how, once again, that is unknown.

There are three theories on that. The first is that the materials affect the amount of quantum fluctuations surrounding them and how many virtual anomalous particles appear. The second is that the materials affect the deposition rates and not the fluctuation rates. The third is that the materials affect the anomalous energy surrounding them. Again, exactly which theory ends up being true will have major ramifications on how we go forward in this field of study.

The first material is called Amox. This material encourages the presence of anomalies in the area it is found in. It can best be described as a mold-like material that, while having a physical form, that does not seem to stop or slow down its ability to spread. When it seeks to spread, it is difficult to stop it outside of direct intervention. It can be found in soil, in wood, rock, and can even penetrate steel. Areas that have higher amounts of Amox in them are found to have higher frequencies of anomalies as the amount of anomalous energy here is higher. It does not seem to be a living thing, but Amox seems to almost feed on the energy and, in turn, radiate it.

The main way to get rid of Amox is the second material, Zurcoal. This material suppresses anomalies. The rocky-material can be found throughout the Isles and does have a few major mining sites. It’s anomaly suppression has been noted by many Debtian societies and is considered a traditional material in amulet creation as well as has been made use of by the Debtian Jeb!ist Church, but it is not in high demand because of that very quality and it weakening the effects of talismans. Also it’s just not very pretty looking and a lot of people only want to dig up pretty rocks.

From research on the material, it does not seem to prevent anomalies from occurring nor be able to undo anomalies, only suppress them, and recent discoveries finding anomaly-affected material that naturally formed in areas of high Zurcoal presence leads some to speculate that the third theory on anomaly presence to be true, that the materials do not affect the particles but the energy. Amox does not grow around Zurcoal and seems to avoid it. When it interacts with Zurcoal, it contracts. If an independent growth, the Amox may shrivel away entirely.

Now, I can already tell someone of you have the idea in your head and no, absolutely do not try and find Amox and interact with it. Not all anomalies are objectively bad, yes, but some can be very bad. You might get some fancy ability like talking to plants, or maybe all your bones will slowly turn into joints and prevent you from moving anywhere painlessly. We are here to study anomalies, not to become anomalies. Or maybe something more grounded like your DNA mutates and you develop cancer because yes, some cancer diagnoses have been linked to anomalous energy and Amox. Again, just don’t seek it out.