Quintessic Physics - Heliomance/Uncharted-Horizons GitHub Wiki

_{Focus Areas · Design document §3}

Available from: CH19 (Substance-Elemental or Process-Elemental validated) + MA05 — the elemental-world niche equivalent of Nuclear Physics

24 breakthroughs — CORE 8 · STANDARD 13 · UNCOMMON 1 · RARE 2 — Modern – Space

Builds on: Mining (1) · Construction (1) · Mathematics (4) · Mechanics (2) · Chemistry (11) · Optics (1) · Electricity (3) · Electronics (1) · Relativity & Cosmology (1) · Rocketry (1) · Materials Science (1)

Leads into: Seafaring (1) · Trade (1) · Thermodynamics (1) · Optics (1) · Electronics (3) · Computing (1) · Relativity & Cosmology (6) · Rocketry (5) · Materials Science (4) · Aeronautics (1) · Space Engineering (2) · Energy Systems (4)

_{The numbers count prerequisite links between this focus and the other. How to read the tables.}

In Elemental worlds (FQ9 ≠ Corpuscular), matter is not made of atoms, so Nuclear Physics (NP), Quantum Physics (QP), and the semiconductor route to Computing never cohere — those focuses stay Unknown and unenterable. Quintessic Physics fills the same structural niche: the deep theory of matter, the high-energy endgame, and an alternative computation substrate. It serves both elemental traditions. Each breakthrough below has two framings that share identical mechanics: a Substance reading (Greek/Aristotelian — a fifth element, the aether, binds and transmutes the four) and a Process reading (Chinese wu xing — the generative and destructive cycles are the fundamental forces, and "energy" means driving those cycles). The building and unit names shown are Substance-world; Process worlds use the parenthetical cycle-names. It reconnects to shared frontier physics (FTL, orbital engineering) by the late Space era per Deep Reconciliation.

Shared spine, mirrored frontier, divergent branches. The seven core nodes (QM-E01–07) are load-bearing — dual-framed, shared by both traditions, and required for the deep-physics tokens and the endgame. Around them, a mirrored frontier gives the elemental world a node for every atomic experience that is a phenomenon rather than a quantum: Limiting Fineness (QM-E14) where atomic worlds have Wave-Particle Duality, the Boundary Survey (QM-E16) for Radioactivity and Uranium, the Complete Catalogue (QM-E17) for the Standard Model, Plenum Gravitation (QM-E27) for Quantum Gravity, the Quintessic Warhead (QM-E20) for Nuclear Weapons, the Compact Re-Tempering Reactor (QM-E21) for compact fusion — and, where the plenum offers what vacuum cannot, Aether Telegraphy (QM-E18), the Celestial Current Survey (QM-E19) and the Current Sail (QM-E23). Shared late craft keeps its familiar names in every world — the Programmable Computer, Integrated Circuit, Vacuum Tube, Solar Panel and Radiation Shielding are named for what they are and do. Only a name that asserts a theory false in that world (the Nuclear Submarine, the Atomic Bomb, Semiconductor Mastery) gives way, to the name that world's own science would give; the machine is the same, the switch inside it differs. Beyond all this the two elemental worlds pull in opposite strategic directions. Substance rewards depth and self-sufficiency: transmutation (CH20/CH21) turns any resource into any other, the Formless Reserve (CH27) catches what transmutation wastes, Incorruptible Matter (QM-E09) perfects what you hold, Dissonance Weaponry (QM-E26) shatters what others hold, and Temperament Medicine (QM-E10) crowns a flourishing, self-contained civilisation — a substance civilisation can synthesise its way out of scarcity and prosper tall and isolated. Process rewards breadth and balance: Closed-Loop Calorimetry (CH26) proves the wheel gives back, the Generative Cycle (CH23) grows the economy by keeping resources flowing through the five phases at a gain, Phase Exchange (TR16) pays for routes that complete a cycle, Self-Renewing Structures (QM-E24) achieve permanence by renewal rather than perfection, Full-Cycle Coupling (QM-E11) pays out for holding all five phase-classes at once, and Counter-Cycle Reversal (QM-E25) lets a rich realm pay the ruinous price of turning the wheel backwards — so a process civilisation wants wide, diverse territory and many trade partners. The Boundary Furnace / Cycle-Limit Observatory (QM-E08) is the deep-science instrument both traditions build; Plenum Gravitation (QM-E27) carries the elemental routes to the FTL frontier, with Exotic Matter (QM-E06), Higher Strata Theory (QM-E12), the Aetheric Vacuum (QM-E13) and the Celestial Current Survey (QM-E19) (see §4). Every node here is derived from the two physics models (Elemental Physics, Models I and II); none exists in an atomic world, and no atomic-only node exists here. The Great Cycle of the Process world has no terrestrial rhythm — no seasons, no ages — so that nothing betrays the world before its decisive experiment.

flowchart LR
  n_QM_E01["QM-E01 Fundamental Matter Theory"]:::CORE
  n_QM_E02["QM-E02 Bound-Energy Release"]:::CORE
  n_QM_E05["QM-E05 Re-Tempering Reactor"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E21["QM-E21 Compact Re-Tempering Reactor (Compact Cycle Reactor)"]:::RARE
  n_QM_E25["QM-E25 Counter-Cycle Reversal"]:::RARE
  n_QM_E08["QM-E08 Boundary Furnace / Cycle-Limit Observatory"]:::CORE
  n_QM_E17["QM-E17 Complete Catalogue (Complete Phase Codex)"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E28["QM-E28 Beyond the Catalogue (Beyond the Codex)"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E27["QM-E27 Plenum Gravitation"]:::CORE
  n_QM_E06["QM-E06 Exotic Matter (Elemental)"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E12["QM-E12 Higher Strata Theory"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E19["QM-E19 Celestial Current Survey"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E20["QM-E20 Quintessic Warhead"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E04["QM-E04 Unified Field Theory (Elemental)"]:::CORE
  n_QM_E10["QM-E10 Temperament Medicine"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E13["QM-E13 Aetheric Vacuum (Void-Cycle Tap)"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E18["QM-E18 Aether Telegraphy (Flow Signalling)"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E09["QM-E09 Incorruptible Matter"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E14["QM-E14 Limiting Fineness"]:::CORE
  n_QM_E03["QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing"]:::CORE
  n_QM_E26["QM-E26 Dissonance Weaponry"]:::UNCOMMON
  n_QM_E16["QM-E16 Boundary Survey"]:::CORE
  n_QM_E11["QM-E11 Full-Cycle Coupling (The Great Wheel)"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E24["QM-E24 Self-Renewing Structures"]:::STANDARD
  n_QM_E01 --> n_QM_E02
  n_QM_E14 --> n_QM_E03
  n_QM_E01 --> n_QM_E04
  n_QM_E02 --> n_QM_E05
  n_QM_E04 --> n_QM_E05
  n_QM_E27 --> n_QM_E06
  n_QM_E04 --> n_QM_E08
  n_QM_E02 --> n_QM_E08
  n_QM_E01 --> n_QM_E09
  n_QM_E04 --> n_QM_E10
  n_QM_E27 --> n_QM_E12
  n_QM_E04 --> n_QM_E13
  n_QM_E01 --> n_QM_E14
  n_QM_E01 --> n_QM_E16
  n_QM_E04 --> n_QM_E17
  n_QM_E08 --> n_QM_E17
  n_QM_E04 --> n_QM_E18
  n_QM_E27 --> n_QM_E19
  n_QM_E02 --> n_QM_E20
  n_QM_E05 --> n_QM_E21
  n_QM_E05 --> n_QM_E25
  n_QM_E14 --> n_QM_E26
  n_QM_E04 --> n_QM_E27
  n_QM_E08 --> n_QM_E27
  n_QM_E27 --> n_QM_E28
  n_QM_E17 --> n_QM_E28
  classDef CORE fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1d4ed8,color:#0b1b3b
  classDef STANDARD fill:#f1f5f9,stroke:#64748b,color:#0f172a
  classDef UNCOMMON fill:#dcfce7,stroke:#15803d,color:#052e16
  classDef RARE fill:#fef3c7,stroke:#b45309,color:#3b2005
  classDef UNIQUE fill:#fae8ff,stroke:#a21caf,color:#3b0a3f

_{Prerequisites within this focus. Box colour is the tier (blue CORE, grey STANDARD, green UNCOMMON, amber RARE, purple UNIQUE); dotted arrows are alternatives (“or”); a line can pass behind another box, so follow it from its start. 19 of these 24 breakthroughs also need breakthroughs from other foci, which the overview above lists.}

• Tier: CORE · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: CH19 (elemental) + MA05
• Unlocks: Deep Matter Labⁿ [250/1; requires a Research Lab in this city; +2 Science; Great Scientist points 2 — the Nuclear Physics Lab's stats, so the two worlds keep pace]; +10% Insight to Quintessic Physics. Substance: "Quintessence Theory"; Process: "Unified Cycle Theory". The mirror of the Atomic Model (NP02).
• Notes: The deep theory an atomic world can never reach — and vice versa.
• Leads to: QM-E02 Bound-Energy Release, QM-E04 Unified Field Theory (Elemental), QM-E09 Incorruptible Matter, QM-E14 Limiting Fineness, QM-E16 Boundary Survey

• Tier: CORE · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: QM-E01 + (CH20 or CH22)
• Unlocks: ⟨Reveal up to [all] [Uranium] within a [20] tile radius⟩ (a Triggerable on discovery — the richest feedstock, sought out). Prerequisite for the Quintessic Plant (ES15), the Quintessic Warhead (QM-E20) and the Quintessic Submarine (SF14). Substance: "Quintessic Reactor"; Process: "Overcycle Reactor". The mirror of Nuclear Fission (NP03).
• Notes: Energy from transformation itself.
• Leads to: SF14 Nuclear Submarine, QM-E05 Re-Tempering Reactor, QM-E08 Boundary Furnace / Cycle-Limit Observatory, QM-E20 Quintessic Warhead, RK08 Nuclear Thermal Rocket, ES15 Quintessic Power Plant

• Tier: CORE · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: QM-E14 (Limiting Fineness) + EN01 (Vacuum Tube)
• Unlocks: Unlocks Computing focus (the elemental route). Substance: "Resonance Computing"; Process: "Cycle-Logic Engine". The mirror of the Transistor (EN02).
• Notes: Brass, crystal, and standing waves — or turning phase-wheels — instead of silicon.
• Leads to: OP07 Laser, EN03 Integrated Circuit, EN06 Semiconductor Mastery, EN10 Miniaturization, CP01 Programmable Computer

• Tier: CORE · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: QM-E01 + EL03 (Electromagnetism) + MA08
• Unlocks: Grants HIGH_ENERGY_PHYSICS; +10% Insight to Electronics; prerequisite for the elemental FTL paths, the Ion Drive (RK09) and Metamaterials (MS03), and fires the "the medium is not still — it has structure" report. Substance: "Aetheric Field Theory"; Process: "Flow Field Theory". The mirror of Quantum Field Theory (QP05), electrodynamics included (Aetheric Electrodynamics, merged here in v3.124); Quantum Gravity's mirror is Plenum Gravitation (QM-E27).
• Notes: The elemental road to the frontier.
• Leads to: QM-E05 Re-Tempering Reactor, QM-E08 Boundary Furnace / Cycle-Limit Observatory, QM-E10 Temperament Medicine, QM-E13 Aetheric Vacuum (Void-Cycle Tap), QM-E17 Complete Catalogue (Complete Phase Codex), QM-E18 Aether Telegraphy (Flow Signalling), QM-E27 Plenum Gravitation, RC04 Black Hole Thermodynamics, RK09 Ion Drive, MS02 Nanotechnology / Fine Structuring, MS03 Metamaterials

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E02 + QM-E04
• Unlocks: Re-Tempering Reactorⁿ [1125/6; requires a Factory in this city; +8 Production; ⟨[+15]% [Production] [in this city]⟩; ⟨Remove [{Power Plant} {non-[Re-Tempering Reactor]}] [in this city]⟩ — a grid plant: ⟨Power Plant⟩ (tag) — no fuel at all] — the stats the Fusion Plant (ES08) will carry, so the two endgame plants match. Satisfies the FTL energy requirement. Substance: "Re-Tempering Reactor"; Process: "Self-Feeding Cycle Reactor".
• Notes: Endless re-tempering (Model I, §7) — or a generative loop that feeds itself (Model II, §7) — powering a starship.
• Leads to: TR15 Post-Scarcity Economics, TH20 Boundary Ring / Cycle-Limit Ring, QM-E21 Compact Re-Tempering Reactor (Compact Cycle Reactor), QM-E25 Counter-Cycle Reversal, RK10 Fusion Drive, RK14 Bussard Ramjet

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E27 (Plenum Gravitation) + (CH21 or CH23 or MS02)
• Unlocks: Exotic Matter Forgeⁿ [1000/3; ⟨[+15]% Production when constructing [SS FTL Drive] units [in this city]⟩] — the Exotic Matter Lab's stats (QP11); grants EXOTIC_MATTER; prerequisite for Warp and Wormhole FTL. Substance: "Aetheric Exotic Matter"; Process: "Broken-Cycle Matter". Hosts exotic matter holds (merged into the Warp and Wormhole builds, W14): a failure rules both out.
• Notes: Exotic matter without atoms.
• Leads to: MS08 Exotic Matter Engineering

• Tier: CORE · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: QM-E04 + QM-E02 + EL07 (Power Grid)
• Unlocks: Boundary Furnaceⁿ [national wonder — every civilisation may build its own, since the FTL evidence must not be first-come; 750; +6 Science, +1 Happiness; ⟨[+15]% [Science] [in this city]⟩] — the Particle Accelerator's stats (QP04). The great instrument of elemental physics: Plenum Gravitation (QM-E27) is built on its data (W17). It settles no FTL condition of its own (W1). Substance: the Boundary Furnace — it drives substance to the boundary of form and reads what it does there (Model I, §7); Process: the Cycle-Limit Observatory — it drives patterns to their limits and reads the flow (Model II, §7).
• Notes: Every elemental civilisation's cathedral of deep science.
• Leads to: QM-E17 Complete Catalogue (Complete Phase Codex), QM-E27 Plenum Gravitation, RC08 Gravitational Coupling Experiment

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: QM-E01 + CH20 (Transmutation Practice)
• Unlocks: ⟨[-25]% maintenance cost for [All] buildings [in all cities]⟩ (matter that neither corrodes nor fatigues); ⟨[+15]% Strength for cities⟩ (walls that never crack). Substance only — permanence by perfection. (The earlier "Incorruptible Alloy" trade good is dropped under the resource discipline of §7.0.)
• Notes: The philosophers sought not just gold but incorruptibility.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: CH21 (Philosopher's Stone) + QM-E04
• Unlocks: ⟨[+10]% Great Person generation [in all cities]⟩ — long-lived masters. Institute of Temperamentⁿ [world wonder; 1000; +2 Culture; ⟨[+1 Happiness] [in all cities]⟩; ⟨[+50]% Golden Age length⟩; ⟨[+15]% Great Person generation [in all cities]⟩] — the living body kept in ideal balance of the Qualities (Model I, §7): a flourishing, long-lived people; deliberately not a cure (the Disease axis) nor an animating force (the Life axis). Substance only.
• Notes: Gold from lead was only half the dream.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: CH22 (Five-Phase Theory) + CH23 (Generative Cycle Engine)
• Unlocks: ⟨[Great Sage] is earned [+15]% faster⟩ — the coupling studied everywhere, if not the Wheel itself. Process only. The Great Wheelⁿ [world wonder; 400; +3 Culture, +2 Happiness; Sage ×2; Great Sage points 3; each Turning feeds two — the wonder's presence doubles every feeder's capacity in the fed-Turning counts of the Generative Cycle Engine (CH23), through their (1 + [⁠[The Great Wheel] Buildings]) term, so every Great Sage beyond the first wheel yields a full phase effect, up to twice its feeder's count, however it is placed; ⟨[+5]% [Food] [in all cities] <for every [min([Owned [Turning of Wood] Tiles], [Owned [Turning of Fire] Tiles], [Owned [Turning of Earth] Tiles], [Owned [Turning of Metal] Tiles], [Owned [Turning of Water] Tiles])]>⟩, and the same unique for [Production], [Gold], [Science] and [Culture] — +5% of every yield for every complete wheel held, so a one-wheel civilisation still gains from building it; ⟨[+1] Happiness from each type of luxury resource⟩ — breadth itself is strength]. The mirror of the Philosopher's Stone: where the Stone perfects one thing, the Wheel lets everything nourish more than itself. Its value scales with exactly the investment it rewards — Great Sage generation — and its own Sage slots and Great Sage points feed straight back into it.
• Notes: Balance, not abundance of any one thing, is the source of strength.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E27 (Plenum Gravitation) + MA13 (Topology)
• Unlocks: Hosts higher strata or a higher-order cycle exist (Warp and Hyperspace in elemental worlds; a prove row, W4). Substance: "Aether Strata Theory" — the Aether in strata of ever-greater purity, in which distance itself is different (Model I, §7). Process: "Higher-Order Cycle Theory" — cycles of higher order than the five, in which distance is measured differently (Model II, §7).
• Notes: Extra dimensions and the higher strata are one truth wearing two faces.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E04 + MC10 (Precision Machining)
• Unlocks: The elemental prerequisite for Wormhole FTL and for Transformation Media (MS17). Like Casimir it always works as science, whatever FQ4 (Vacuum Energy) decides: a throat is held open by the medium's tension drawn on at small scale, real in every elemental world. Its report concerns the medium's energy, not the FTL method; whether that tension can be drawn at power scale is FQ4, read at the Aether Tension Engine (QM-E07). Substance: "Aetheric Vacuum Tap"; Process: "Void-Cycle Tap".
• Notes: Empty space is never empty where space is a plenum.
• Leads to: MS17 Transformation Media, QM-E07 Aether Tension Engine

• Tier: CORE · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: QM-E01 + OP08 (Spectroscopy)
• Unlocks: ⟨[+10]% Strength for cities⟩ (resonance sensors see an army coming). Substance: "Limit of the Aether's Fineness"; Process: "Fastest Rhythm of the Flow". Gateway to Resonant-State Computing (QM-E03). The mirror of Wave-Particle Duality (QP01), with the same grants.
• Notes: The curve peaks and falls exactly as ours does — for a medium's reason, not a quantum's.
• Leads to: QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing, QM-E26 Dissonance Weaponry, ES07 Solar Panel

• Tier: CORE · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: QM-E01 + MI05 (Deep Shaft Mining)
• Unlocks: ⟨[+1 Gold] from [Uranium] tiles [in all cities]⟩ — the warm ores sold as cures. Reveals Uranium — named, as in our world, for the planet Uranus, which holds in any world (the World-Truth ruleset derivation, §7.0, remaps its revealedBy here). The warm ores investigated: they emit no rays, but they are the richest feedstock for bound-energy release — Uranium boosts the Quintessic Plant (ES15) and is required by the Quintessic Warhead (QM-E20). The mirror of Radioactivity (NP01), which also reveals Uranium.
• Notes: The ore was always warm. Now you know why — and what it is good for.
• Leads to: SE03 Radiation Shielding

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: QM-E04 + QM-E08
• Unlocks: Codex Hallⁿ [national wonder; 1000; +6 Science, +3 Culture] — the Standard Model Institute's stats (QP06); it no longer hosts an FTL condition (W1); still in Tachyonic's build. The search beyond it is QM-E28 Beyond the Catalogue. Substance: "Complete Catalogue of Forms"; Process: "Complete Phase Codex".
• Notes: The last page of the book of matter.
• Leads to: QM-E28 Beyond the Catalogue (Beyond the Codex)

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: QM-E04 + EL09 (Wireless Transmission)
• Unlocks: Medium Relayⁿ [375/2; +2 Gold; ⟨[+1 Gold] from each Trade Route⟩]; ⟨Resting point for Influence with City-States is increased by [5]⟩ — no distance in the plenum. The elemental prerequisite for Interstellar Communication (SE14). Long-ranged but not unhackable: entanglement's gift belongs to atomic worlds. Substance: "Aether Telegraphy"; Process: "Flow Signalling".
• Notes: A message written in the medium itself.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E27 (Plenum Gravitation) + RK05 (Satellite Technology)
• Unlocks: Current Chartⁿ [1000/2; ⟨[+15]% Production when constructing [SS FTL Drive] units [in this city]⟩]; prerequisite for the Plenum Drive, and host of the currents run faster than light (merged into its build, W14) — its report: "a current runs through the plenum that a vessel might ride". (The earlier "+2 movement for space probes" is gone: Unciv has no probes — see §7.0.)
• Notes: The heavens do not merely turn. They flow.
• Leads to: QM-E23 Current Sail

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: QM-E02 + WA-any (any military breakthrough)
• Unlocks: The base-game Manhattan Project (national wonder) and Atomic Bomb (unit, <when nuclear weapons are enabled>), answering to this breakthrough in elemental worlds through the World-Truth ruleset derivation (§7.0), and shown as the Dissolution Bomb (Substance) / Overcycle Bomb (Process). The Atomic Bomb's own Uranium requirement stands: Uranium is the richest feedstock here too. There is no thermonuclear tier in elemental worlds (no Nuclear Missile). The mirror of Nuclear Weapons (NP05), with the same objects.
• Notes: What can power a city can unmake one.
• Leads to: RK13 Orion Nuclear Pulse, SE13 Planetary Defense

• Tier: RARE · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E05 + MC12 (Robotics)
• Unlocks: Compact Re-Tempering Reactorⁿ [a grid plant: ⟨Power Plant⟩ (tag); ⟨Remove [{Power Plant} {non-[Compact Re-Tempering Reactor]}] [in this city]⟩; 1125/6; requires a Factory in this city; +8 Production; ⟨[+15]% [Production] [in this city]⟩]; ⟨[+1] Movement <for [Water] units>⟩ (bound-energy hulls) — the Compact Fusion Plant's grants (NP09). Reached through Robotics, since resonance electronics never shrink. Substance: "Compact Re-Tempering Reactor"; Process: "Compact Cycle Reactor".
• Notes: A reactor in every keel.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: CH23 (Generative Cycle Engine) + CO10 (Iron-Frame Construction)
• Unlocks: ⟨[-25]% maintenance cost for [All] buildings [in all cities]⟩ (structures that re-form what wears); ⟨All newly-trained [Water] units [in all cities] receive the [Renewing Hull] promotion⟩ (Renewing Hullⁿ: ⟨May heal outside of friendly territory⟩); ⟨All newly-trained [Land] units [in all cities] receive the [Renewing] promotion⟩ (Renewingⁿ: ⟨[+10] HP when healing⟩). Process only — permanence by renewal, the mirror of Incorruptible Matter (QM-E09).
• Notes: Theirs never changes. Ours never stops changing, and is thereby made new.

• Tier: RARE · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E05 (Self-Feeding Cycle Reactor) + CH24 (Phase-Destruction Warfare)
• Unlocks: ⟨[-100]% construction time for [Repair] improvements⟩ — whatever is pillaged is made whole in a single turn (Unciv's Repair is an improvement, so the standard construction-time unique reaches it); ⟨[-33]% construction time for [All] improvements⟩. Turning the wheel backward, paid for by the Self-Feeding Cycle's power. (Regrowing forests and un-depleting mines have no Unciv mechanism and are dropped.) Process only.
• Notes: To un-burn.

• Tier: UNCOMMON · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: QM-E14 (Limiting Fineness) + WA-any (any military breakthrough)
• Unlocks: Dissonance Cannonⁿ [unit, Siege; cost 320 — the Artillery's; mv 2; str 21; ranged str 28; range 3; ⟨[+200]% Strength <vs cities> <when attacking>⟩ (the Artillery's own); ⟨[+33]% Strength <vs [Armored] units>⟩ — armour is a form, and it rings; ⟨Must set up to ranged attack⟩; no resource]; Harmonic Wardⁿ [150/1; cityStrength +6] — the Elemental Ward's twin. Substance only; the counterpart of Phase-Destruction Warfare (CH24).
• Notes: Find the note, and the wall sings itself apart.

• Tier: CORE · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E04 (Unified Field) + RC01 (Relativity) + MA13 (Topology) + QM-E08 (Boundary Furnace)
• Unlocks: ⟨Reveal up to [all] [Strategic resource] within a [20] tile radius⟩ (a Triggerable on discovery — gravitational mapping: a dense body betrays itself by what it does to the medium); the critical node for the elemental Warp, Wormhole, Hyperspace and Plenum Drive, and the elemental reading of Closed Timelike Curves, Dark Energy and the Gravitational Coupling Experiment; fires the "the medium is more malleable than expected" report. Substance: "Rarefaction Mechanics" — bulk substance rarefies the Aether around it, and substance drifts toward rarer Aether (Model I, axiom 5): gravity as a theory of the Aether's density, so an ore body shows itself by the Aether it thins. Process: "Mechanics of the Inward Draw" — the world is a vast eddy whose Earth-movement draws every pattern inward (Model II, §2): gravity as a theory of the flow, so a heavy pattern shows itself by the draw it adds. The mirror of Quantum Gravity Theory (QP08), as Unified Field Theory (QM-E04) is of Quantum Field Theory.
• Notes: Gravity read through the plenum: the density gradients that do curvature's work (see the Relativity & Cosmology note).
• Leads to: QM-E06 Exotic Matter (Elemental), QM-E12 Higher Strata Theory, QM-E19 Celestial Current Survey, QM-E28 Beyond the Catalogue (Beyond the Codex), RC05 Dark Matter Identification, RC06 Dark Energy Understanding, RC07 Closed Timelike Curves, RC08 Gravitational Coupling Experiment, QM-E07 Aether Tension Engine

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: QM-E27 (Plenum Gravitation) + QM-E17 (Complete Catalogue)
• Unlocks: Hosts the catalogue contains a superluminal form (elemental Tachyonic; a prove row, W4/W14) — blocked by measurement, so it unlocks the Very Large Boundary Furnaceⁿ [national wonder — every civilisation may build its own; cost set at spec, about 3–6 turns of construction; +6 Science; 2 Scientist slots — the Very Large Particle Collider's stats; on completion it settles the condition]. Substance: a furnace that drives forms past the last stable harmony in search of one that outruns light (Model I); Process: "Beyond the Codex" — an engine turning patterns at the very limit of the cycle (Model II). The mirror of Beyond the Standard Model (QP15).
• Notes: W1/W14 — the test moved here from QM-E17 Complete Catalogue, an Atomic-era row; priced as a decider.