Name: Electricity Anima Description: An electricity anima is a type of anima, a hyperspatial organism that appears into existence spontaneously as a result of a high ECF (environmental cuil factor). It is similar to Light Anima, also known as “Will-o’-the-wisps”, in that they can spontaneously animate from sources of energy. Whereas Light Anima appear from sources of intense light, electricity animas, however, appear from sources of electricity in the complex circuitry typically found in ships. At 12‽, electricity in ships can spontaneously animate into an anima. Electricity running through terminals, computers, and micro-controllers forms the basis of its electric sentience which becomes animated as the cuils cause electrons to rapidly take form and gain the ability to move around and manipulate electronics on the ship. Despite being anomalous, they still seem to follow basic laws of electricity and electronics such as Ohm’s law to an extent. Behavior: Electricity anima are very dangerous. Once animated, they can cause power surges throughout the ship, and can even completely cut off power from sections, systems, or subsystems of the ship. They can move at the speed of electricity, or 1% the speed of light, and do not have physical form; in appearance, they teleport. Most will attempt to electrocute crewmates that unknowingly walk near energized wires or open electronics, frying circuit boards in the process. However, the more complex the electronics are in a ship, the more “brainpower” the Anima has; ships with complex navigational AIs are especially able to create very dangerous Animae. More complex electricity animae can manipulate complex systems, such as disabling life support or weapons, or flooding the ship with carbon dioxide. Complex animae can even move the ship or activate warp drives. Because they are made of electricity, analogous to flash memory, electricity anima do not have the capacity of memory. They are destructive in the moment and will attempt to destroy anything it sees as a threat, such as crewmembers. When an electricity anima appears, the ship is the crew’s own enemy. It cannot be killed by conventional means as it completely lacks physical form, only existing as sentient electrons in the ship’s electronics, like a neural web of interconnected electrons. However, it can be killed by clever manipulation of it; isolating it into a specific room or system and then cutting off all conduction to that room or system will prevent it from gaining power from the ship’s reactor, quickly killing it. Destroying or shutting off the ship’s reactor will also instantly destroy it, as its entire life depends on the generation of electricity from the reactor. It will often attempt to protect the reactor with its life. It is important to note that an animae does not have the ability to spontaneously produce an increased voltage, as that would involve greater energy than it has. For example, an anima cannot shock a person to death if they are only connected to a car battery as it only has a default voltage of 12v. If there is a transformer in the circuit of the car battery the anima can travel through to increase its voltage, then it has the potential to electrocute somebody. Simply, it only has the capabilities of whatever electronics it inhabits. They are typically dangerous because ships usually contain a variety of electronic components it can use to its advantage such as transformers and supercapacitors. The reactors they try to protect are also dangerous, as they often contain very high levels of voltages and amps that can even arc across the room to somebody. Whereas normally electricity follows the path of least resistance, an anima can circumvent that by choosing an alternative path for its energy, whether that be some ship system or you. In terms of their ability, the only thing they can do is move around circuits and redirect current. This, however, has a lot of implications only limited by the function of the electronics they inhabit. Tamability: Anima cannot usually be tamed because they lack memory in their raw state. However, they can be captured by isolating them and then switching their power source from the main reactor to something such as a battery. Because Animae can travel to anything connected to the ship’s electronics, even luring it into something like a computer that can be disconnected can trap it, as long as it still has power from something so it does not die. It cannot do any harm in such a state as long as there is no connected weaponry to the device and it is grounded. Under certain careful conditions, one can “guide” an anima into sapience. This involves careful manipulation of the electronics it inhabits. One would have to carefully step the voltage from its source into computer-safe voltages such as 3v, and then introduce computer hardware such as hard drives and processors. Over time, the anima adapts to the usage of this hardware, giving them a form of memory and advanced processing power. The addition of periphery such as speakers or a monitor can give it a form of communication, turning them into what is essentially sapient electricity inhabiting a computer. However, it still has its primal limitations; cutting off its power would kill it, though this can be circumvented with the usage of backup batteries or capacitors. This sentience is limited only to those specific electronics; if it chooses to leave its body into another external device or system, it will lose this sapience until it returns (if it returns, that is; it cannot make complex decisions once it is completely disconnected from its body, and it loses memory as well. It reverts to a base anima, becoming destructive as well. It would have to relearn the computer.) Where is it found?: Usually they are found on ships that stray too close to anomalies or into hyperspace. Rarity: They are uncommon, but the chance of them appearing increases depending on the size of the ship. Diet/Method of gaining nutrients and energy: Electricity animae are completely electrotrophic, gaining all of their energy from a source such as a ship’s reactor. Cutting this energy off will instantly and permanently kill them. Even if the reactor is destroyed, animae can usually live for a few more seconds from the energy in capacitors or from parasitic capacitance. Products?: None. Reproduction: They cannot reproduce. Size: Size is complex when it comes to electricity animae. Their “size” depends on the potential capacitance of the electronics they inhabit, depending on how many amperes they control. In ship systems requiring high amperes such as weapons, heating, or main power lines, they are often smaller (more dense), whereas with low ampere systems such as lighting in a room or life support they can be larger (less dense). Usually this is a power vs control scenario, as controlling something like weapons would take more control than controlling lights. They can only control enough amperes at a time to manipulate one room or system, usually. In addition, the amount of amperes they control lessens depending on how much resistance they must pass through. If an anima has to pass through a gap of air to reach a certain system, it will be able to control considerably less amperes than it would with a direct connection as air has a very high resistance (in Ohm’s law, current and voltage are inversely proportional to resistance, therefore a higher resistance equals less amps). When it comes to amps, their “source” is the energy source they inhabit. Any resistance past the energy source lowers the amps they can control, and they can only pass through resistance if they have enough voltage to do so (a higher voltage allows them to pass through resistance easier, as with real electricity). Weight: They are electrons, which is to say, very light. Lifespan: Immortal until their power source is cut off. If they are sapient under the conditions described under tamability, their lifespan is the lifespan of the computer they inhabit. Abilities: Highly adaptable depending on electronics, to the point that they can even become sapient and learn if given the hardware. If given a transformer or capacitor, it can shock someone to death. Can survive in baseline cuil levels. Flaws: Passing through resistance lowers the number of amps they can control, weakening the control they have over electronics. Their highest potential is at their power source, the reactor. Will instantly and permanently die if they have no power (both stored and generated). Their lifelink(s) is the reactor(s). Notes: Probably a bad idea to accidentally let one of these bad boys loose in a city’s main power grid, especially a more complex one. Because of the nature of electricity, they can circle an entire planet in a tenth of a second as long as they are connected to the power grid, making it very, very tricky to pin one down. The easiest solution would be to power off the entire city, but that often isn’t the best solution due to the complications that come from that.
