It was an unfortunate set of circumstances that led to the discovery of Ytrite within the ADL’s borders. While the terraforming process of Curos was only recent, dating back only 5 or so years, the investment in resources was immense. All for it to have been pummeled to dust by some barbarian warlord who bit off more than he could chew by assaulting an Alsinan fleet. With the drastically increased temperature of the planet’s surface, the genetically modified plants and cyanobacteria brought to the planet nigh universally were set ablaze and died.
However, just weeks after the planet’s glassing, preliminary reports indicated something…strange on its surface. Long, thin, yellowish strands of…something. It had the spectropathic readings of most metals, and yet it was observed consistently melting and solidifying, burrowing its way deep into the crust of Curos.
These observations continued for a time, to determine if this was a material undiscovered by the Alsinans or something they already knew.
When the planet’s temperature calmed to temperatures which wouldn’t instantly melt whatever mining vehicle or inspection vehicle was sent down to the surface, such was done. A small, unmanned collection of probes and droids were shot down through the atmosphere of Curos, burning off a small portion of heat-resistant coating from all equipment in the process. It was a very tense couple of minutes as the equipment barreled down to the surface, but once it pierced through the outermost edges of Cunicule’s atmosphere and the heat-resistant coating held firm, relief was felt by all.
It would not be long before the probes, rovers, and droids landed on Curos’ surface, and the inspection would begin.
All across the planet’s surface were these strange yellowy strands, not any thicker than a wire, coating the ground like an infestation. A “bundle” of the material was gathered and returned to orbit for further manned analysis, but the data the probes sent back was bewildering. It was somewhat metallic in composition, but it was not very hard. In fact, it proved near impossible to break by pulling the “wire.” Only when a scientist hit it with a high amount of force with a hammer did the wire snap.
An electrical current was run through it, with such a minute amount of loss that over the length of wire the scientists had to play with, it amounted to practically zero. It was also discovered that, when running this electrical current through it, the material would tug other nearby wires with a strong amount of force.
Whatever this material was, it would definitely be useful. And with the abundance? No shortages were to exist of it.
On Curos, the probes and droids kept collecting more and more of the yellow wire, till they discovered an unusual structure. Deep within the caves of Curos, as one mining droid was exploring, cutting through thousands of tons of limestone and granite to see what had happened to Curos as a result of the orbital assault, it discovered a massive opening within the stone. A cave, a massive one at that, with more of the yellow wire-like substance coating the ground. But, the wire had an unusual shape. It looked as if it had formed a mesh, a complex with other materials in the area. When the drill-equipped droid attempted to harvest some of the mesh, it refused to break until an obscene amount of pressure was applied to one point. However, it had broken in an instant with a hammer strike back aboard the research vessel. An oddity.
It would not be long until the material was shipped back to the vessel itself for further study, and curiosity bloomed as to what this strange metalloid was. More tests were conducted, and its properties more concretely understood. High shock impacts had a tendency to break the material’s molecular bonds, which formed in a lattice-like tube structure with other elements. However, when one attempted to press into it to break it, the material would hold firm, the lattice structure conforming to the form of the material pressing into it, then bouncing back to normal once pressure was removed. Trials were scaled up, with a small sphere of cork and wood shot at a mesh of the material at low speeds. The mesh would deform heavily to the sphere, becoming extremely concave, but halting the sphere. When the sphere was launched at higher speeds, it shattered. Clearly, the shock resistance of this material left much to be desired.
Follow-up trials of its electrical and magnetic properties proved promising, with the electrical resistance proved by the material lacking. This coincidentally provided similarly to heat conductivity as well. Thankfully due to its natural tube-like structure, the material, finally christened “Ytrite,” was exceptionally easy to draw out into a wire. When these processed wires had current run through them, the amount of electrical resistance proved even less. An oddity of its construction, however, is that the magnetic properties of Ytrite were odd. It repulsed most other magnetic materials but attracted itself, leading to a new phenomenon called “Ytritian Magnetism.” Practical uses of this material were not slim, as industries were craving for better superconductors and cheaper ones at that. Ytrite would prove to be a catalyst in itself to the Alsinan economy, one way or another.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/193kGpIfivPrysxbRpaQlcS_fY4gc4Kkghdk9vbCsP6s/edit
