Project Obsidian (Biogel, History) (Patreon)

Project Obsidian

Project Obsidian was a research and development project funded by the Imperial Navy Special Projects Division, under the oversight of Admiral Sarva. Its developmental focus was directed toward discovering some fundamental transdimensional substance, or combination thereof, which might be used to rescue the living minds of sailors who might otherwise be killed, and restore those minds to living bodies, preferably identical to their originals. While the objectives seemed far-fetched, the basic physics was well enough understood to lead SPD scientists to a number of suitable starting points which had promise for further discovery and development.

While a number of particularly dangerous options were studied by the SPD at its Kestrian isolation facility, a dedicated contractor was formed exclusively to look into a number of prospective base substances already known and accessible to the general scientific community, and in some cases, the general public. Vixanti Corporation would establish a number of facilities, with all but their corporate Facility One dedicated to researching one substance in isolation.

Facility Two, an asteroid isolation facility in the deep space Katchar Drift, was assigned the slitherslime variant of the transdimensional mineral class known as gobzite. Facility Four, an open campus in the Drivian III wilderness, was assigned to research flaria crystal fields and emissions. Facility Five, located in an abandoned salt mine beneath the city of Cheyka, on Vessiatti V, was assigned to study marbok mold and its highly unusual manner of symbiosis. Facility Six, another asteroid isolation facility in the Katchar Drift, was assigned to study a number of exotic alien technologies, including those of the von’kir. Facility Seven, a small campus located just outside the city of Vint’la’duri on Ki’so’parri II, was directed to look into less hazardous alien technologies, such as those utilized by the zexta jewelers. Facility Eight, yet another asteroid isolation facility, this time in the asteroid field between Tandia III and IV, was assigned to research substances and life forms collected on the nearby world of Gelroe. Facility Nine, a large, converted deep space factory facility, was assigned the task of experimental synthesis of new, completely artificial transdimensional substances.

While all Vixanti facilities saw some degree of success in their assigned studies, it would be Facility Three where the big breakthrough would take place. Well hidden in an old subterranean quarry beneath the West Extension of the Mashiva Spaceport, Facility Three was designated to study the preferred substance of the ancient and extinct key’vin’ta: the so-called ‘purple slime’ variant of the transdimensional mineral class called gobzite. Under the direction of Dr. Anshi Alluwa, purple slime’s properties were studied in detail, though not without a number of mishaps along the way. Unsatisfied, and completely without authorization, Dr. Alluwa abandoned purple slime and started to look for exotic substances which might, in combination, produce the desired effect.

Dr. Alluwa began to work with the naturally mind-trapping sap of the golden kisitti tree, a substance which lost its powers the moment that it was parted from the tree. Just acquiring samples of the substance required a sapient being to physically touch the tree. This would cause a bole to open, and slightly glowing amber sap to flow out, but the slightest touch of sap to flesh would result in the victim being snared, pulled into the tree, converted into sap, and an eventual expelling as a glowing, mind-containing, amber seed. Owing to this danger, research had been reserved by the SPD, but this didn’t stop Dr. Alluwa from trying to find some way to stabilize the sap, and control its transformative abilities.

Success in her endeavor would take Dr. Alluwa several years, during which the Grand Matron directing Vixanti Corporation would take a keen interest in the rebellious young scientist. Fostered, and guided toward ends not entirely in line with the military goals of the project, the resulting artificial transdimensional life form was a glistening black slime which would soon be known as biogel. This biogel could be worn as a form hugging symbiotic suit that would protect its wearer from many conventional harms as well as transforming its wearer into a fully pose-able biogel ‘doll’ in the even that something which would otherwise be fatal occurred.

Known as gummies, after their resemblance to the shiny licorice candies which were a particular favorite in Vixnati Facility Three, the form the living dolls took had to be programmed. On a whim, and facing no objection, Dr. Alluwa programmed the biogel to model the resulting forms on the y’maxi, who were known for their extremely promiscuous nature. This resulted in all gummies of each sex to be perfectly identical, a fact which not a few in Vixanti Three found quite pleasingly kinky.

The initial biogel product proved to be quite hazardous in use. Just putting on a biogel suit carried with it a 5% chance of immediate glistening, as the transformation into a gummy came to be called. Brave volunteers who  dared to wear it for more than a few hours found that the longer it was worn, the more unstable it became. At one hour’s wear time, only about 1% of wearers were randomly glistened. By two hours, 3% had been glistened. By three hours, it was 7%. By four hours, the number spiked to 25%. By five hours, 80% had been glistened. By five hours and fifteen minutes, everyone was glistened.

Despite the danger, the line of volunteers to test biogel seemed endless, even when they knew that their glistening was almost guaranteed. This curiosity became the impetus for the Grand Matron to start pushing biogel development into areas well outside the bounds of the military project, and toward ends that were as disturbing as they were strangely enticing. She kept biogel a secret from the military as long as was possible, until she was sure she could achieve her own objectives for the substance, including making it far more palatable for introduction to the general public.

When Admiral Sarva finally learned about biogel, it was on its third iteration. At once furious about being kept in the dark, and fascinated with the possibilities, he let the matter slide, but not before quietly slipping a number of trusted agents into Vixanti, and particularly into Vixanti Three. By that time, biogel had become stable enough that truly random glistenings were almost unheard of, and all ‘accidents’ were related to the failure of wearers to ‘cleanse’ their suits of collected waste mass at the appropriate intervals. This was exactly what the military was looking for, except for one major catch. There was no apparent way to restore the largely inanimate gummies to any semblance of a functional life.

In an attempt to dissuade the SPD from abandoning the biogel project, and to ensure that the military would continued to fund the Grand Matron’s increasingly grandiose plotting, Vixanti developed a whole set of systems which would allow a starship to be powered by, driven by, controlled by, and have its entire crew physically maintained by biogel and the energies passing between the souls wearing it, and their fundamental selves in their higher-order-dimension home. Thus equipped, naval vessels could be rendered largely independent of supply lines, save perhaps for ordnance. All could be linked together as a single unit as well. A single organism, as it were, with each system and each crew member acting as constituent organs, under the immediate control of the principle minds within their ship’s biogel cores, and the overall control of the one who’s fundamental essence was used to initially attune the unity. And that soul, the Grand Matron had already determined, would be hers.

Admiral Sarva considered the whole biogel starship project far too speculative to move forward with, but continued to provide some funding in hopes that it might eventually turn out worthwhile. By this time as well, the knowledge that Vixanti Corporation was working with biogel, and general information about its nature, had become public. It was decided that Vixanti could develop biogel as a commercial product, under SPD supervision to help ensure its safety.

The Grand Matron quickly released information about the Vixanti Interstellar Lifestyle, a completely lifestyle package which would replace things in civilian life with biogel equivalents, just as the starship project replaced shipboard systems. Images and videos of ‘accidents’, mostly deliberately filmed glistening volunteers, were leaked in order to drum up interest in the new ‘kink’. Eventually, the results of those glistenings would find their way out of Vixanti, generally as gifts, or via shady activities on the new official unofficial CoreNet fansite VixNet. It didn’t take long afterwards that the first exhibitions would take place at spacefaring and xenolifestyle conventions, with models wearing biogel, and various biogel furnishings, complete with controllers programmed to make the biogel mattresses and cushions interact with models in various very visually appealing ways.

At the same time, three large warehouse freighters were converted into biogel powered starships. Destiny Alpha and Destiny Beta would be purely civilian vessels operating for Vixanti Corporation. Destiny Omega, the ship designated to house the biogel core that would control the whole network, and all biogel everywhere, was designated to house newly developed, non-fatal biogel weapons, and small fighter pods that the SPD had developed using samples of biogel provided by Vixanti. This latter vessel was to be commanded by a civilian captain agreed upon by both Admiral Sarva and Vixanti, though the Grand Matron had no intention to allow said Captain to take control of the whole network. The core wouldn’t be attuned until she was ready, and she had no intention of exposing her plot until she had enough biogel wearers under her control to prevent the authorities from acting against her. Unbeknownst to the Grand Matron, however, Dr. Alluwa fully intended to be the one in control of the Unity,and had already primed the core for that purpose.

The arrival of an out of work and out of luck Captain Shetari Anwae to Vixanti would trigger the Omega Incident, which would derail both plots to control the biogel Unity. The day-long incident would see a struggle between Dr. Alluwa attempting to control Captain Anwae using a programmed biogel suit, a third party criminal organization hired by the Grand Matron to dispose of her as well, and the intervention of Admiral Sarva, who’d by now figured out exactly what was going on, and was working to stop it before it all got out of hand. The event would end with Captain Anwae being absorbed into the primed core, and becoming the soul controlling the Unity, and who’s physical manifestation as the Unity would become known as Omega.

Project Obsidian would end with the Omega Incident. Vixanti Corporation came under the direct control of the SPD, with an ennobled Lady Shetari Anwae as its figurehead leader, and public mistress of all things biogel. Further military developments would be controlled directly by the SPD, while commercial development would pass to a carefully supervised subsidiary known as Gelitech.