Tesseracts

Overview

Tesseracts are floating regular polyhedra discovered within The Maze of the City of Scholars. The term was coined by the Axiom to describe these black stone blocks veined with gold that constantly rearrange themselves.

Physical Properties

The tesseracts are composed at least in part of Aerolith, explaining their antigravitational capabilities. Each block contains an Aerolith core at its heart, which enables it to defy gravity. The blocks are etched with geometric carvings featuring interweaving lines, parallels, and concentric patterns—similar to the groove motifs found on artifacts throughout the City of Scholars.

Network Behavior

The tesseracts form a vast interconnected network, functioning as a labyrinthine library of memories and vestigial images. The polygons communicate with each other, exchanging information, linking together data they contain, then splitting off to seek new connections. This behavior resembles thoughts being born and dissolved—aggregates burst apart, with each block streaking off to new destinations before rejoining other clusters.

Axiom researchers discovered the tesseracts’ network properties. The choreography of their movement appears chaotic but follows geometric and fractal logic rather than mere chance. The system may be governed by a code where blocks follow precise rules or can be activated by specific stimuli.

Behavior

The tesseracts appear to possess a life of their own. They fly, assemble, separate, regroup elsewhere, reveal hidden chambers, create new ones, or seal off others. Their movement forms a maze in perpetual flux. The shifting layout does not follow any discernible logic or pattern from current observations, though the periodicity of cycles remains unknown.

Theories

Axiom Theory: The system is governed by a code—blocks follow precise rules or can be activated by specific stimuli.

Yzmir Theory: Ideas are embedded within the blocks. They function as information storage units capable of combination and reconfiguration to trigger sequences of effects still unknown. This suggests the tesseracts may contain memories, records, or other preserved information.

Alternative Theories: Some believe the tesseracts are simply mobile platforms, or perhaps part of a defensive mechanism protecting deeper levels.

Significance

The tesseracts demonstrate that the inhabitants of the City of Scholars had mastered Aerolith to a far greater extent than Asgarthans. The technology enabling their constant automated movement remains unexplained. The tesseracts appear to guard a final, hidden level beneath The Maze.

Interaction with External Probes (393 AC)

Waru Toowoom created a simulacrum cube using Heka and Glyphs, including the Rhombus of The Gestalt, and pushed it into the tesseracts’ network. The cube was programmed to seek references to the Source of The Tumult. The tesseracts accepted the probe into their dance, linking it with other clusters and allowing it to gather information.

However, the network detected the intrusion. The ground trembled, the tesseracts’ velocity increased, and the pace of their fusions and dissolutions quickened. The blocks battered Waru’s cube repeatedly until its surface cracked and it shattered, fragments plummeting into the abyss. Before destruction, the cube transmitted the location of the Phoenix Shrine to Waru via The Gestalt.

Relationships

• The Maze: Location where tesseracts are found
• City of Scholars: Ancient city that created the tesseracts
• Aerolith: Material comprising part of the tesseracts
• Axiom: Faction studying tesseract mechanisms
• Yzmir: Faction proposing information storage theory
• Waru Toowoom: Ordis Exalt who probed the network with a Glyph-inscribed cube (393 AC)
• The Gestalt: Network used to receive data from the tesseract probe (393 AC)
• Heka: Magic system used to create the probe cube (393 AC)