A Primer on the Three States of Matter
Foreword by a Lexicanor of Theastone
To the novice scholar, the world appears as a simple, solid thing. But to the true philosopher, it is a complex and beautiful tapestry, woven from three distinct, yet inseparable, threads. These are the Tellur, the Sussur, and the Aethyr—the Body, the Action, and the Soul of all creation. To understand their interplay is to begin to understand the very grammar of reality.
I. Tellur: The Matter of Being
The Tellur is the physical, stable, and enduring state of matter. It is the rock, the wood, the bone, and the blade. It is the world that can be touched, weighed, and measured.
Properties: Tellur is defined by its inertia and its resilience. It resists change and holds its form. It is governed by the predictable laws of physics and mechanics.
Manifestation: In a living being, the Telluric Form is the physical body—the flesh, the bone, the very hardware of existence.
II. Sussur: The Matter of Becoming
The Sussur is the ephemeral, transitional, and reactive state of matter. It is the flame, the lightning, the alchemical reaction, the spoken word, and the fleeting emotion. It is the world of action, of change, and of energy in motion.
Properties: Sussur is inherently unstable. It requires a constant input of energy (drawn from the Aether) to maintain its existence. It is governed by the laws of thermodynamics and psychodynamics. A sorcerous spell is the perfect example of a Sussuric event: a momentary and forceful imposition of a new reality that fades once the caster's will is removed.
Manifestation: In a living being, the Sussuric State is their physiological and psychological process. It is the storm of their endocrine system, the electrical fire of their nervous system, the very software of their consciousness in action.
III. Aethyr: The Potential for All Things
The Aethyr is the incorporeal, fundamental state from which all other states are derived. It is not matter, but the potential for matter. It is the raw, unformed energy of the cosmos, the silent, invisible blueprint from which all things are made.
Properties: The Aethyr is formless, timeless, and all-pervasive. It is the "warp" to the "weft" of the physical world, the ocean of potential upon which the islands of Tellur and the storms of Sussur exist.
Manifestation: In a living being, the Aetheric Signature is their soul. It is their core identity, their unchangeable nature, their metaphysical DNA. It is the architect's design that informs both the construction of their Telluric Form and the operation of their Sussuric State.
The Anatomy of a Being: A Synthesis of States
A living being is never one of these things, but a complex and often contradictory synthesis of all three. A full diagnosis of a person requires an understanding of each layer:
Their Telluric Form (their body).
Their Sussuric State (their mind and emotions).
Their Aetheric Signature (their soul).
It is in the harmony or, more often, the dissonance between these three states that the true nature of a person is revealed. A soul of fire (Aether) trapped in a body of fragile glass (Tellur) is the very definition of tragedy, and it is in these profound, internal conflicts that the greatest stories are forged.