Aether and the Remnants of The Fall – October 15, 1908
For centuries the term Aether (also spelled æther or ether) has been used by early scientists and philosophers to describe any number of invisible and unprovable mediums and constructs. In ancient Greece through medieval times it was said to be the material that fills the region and the universe above the terrestrial sphere. (the sky, outer space, stars etc). It’s early Greek translation means “Pure, Fresh Air” or “Clear Sky”. This idea of Aether as the material that makes up the heavens was even associated with the failed attempts by medieval alchemists to produce gold.
In the 17th and 18th centuries Aether was attributed to gravitational theory, as an invisible, unprovable medium that interacts with all matter, causing the pull attributed to gravity. It was an easy, but ultimately incorrect and unpopular mechanical explanation for Netwon’s observations.
In the 19th century, a new theory became popular among the world scientific community called Luminiferous Aether (light bearing aether). It was believed that light must travel through some form of medium in order to be propagated through space, much like sound was known to propagate through air. Aether became the new term for that medium. Many experiments were made in an attempt to prove this theory, but the most famous of these experiments began in 1881 by a scientist named Albert Michelson. These experiments, often called “Aether Drift” experiments, intended to prove the existence of the stationary Aether medium. These experiments culminated in a joint experiment in 1887 with Albert Michelson and Edward Morley which in the end, not only failed to prove the theory, it was widely accepted that the experiment disproved the theory.
Even with the results of the Michelson-Morely experiments, research concerning Luminiferous Aether continued with various scientists up until The Fall.
When the comet fragments impacted the earth in 1903, scientific research halted for many years, but it didn’t take long for scientists to notice the changes in the earth’s atmosphere. By 1906 (3 years Post Fall) the newest use of the term Aether was in full use across the world, by the few scientists still surviving to do their good work. The comet that caused The Fall brought with it some new mysterious, invisible, constant energy field surrounding the areas where the largest of the comet fragments landed. Where no physical meteorites seem to remain in the craters, they leave behind an invisible medium that has very real, very identifiable properties.
Without protection, this new Aether medium can be felt as a pressure in your head, and under the skin and it can burn you, from the inside out, even if you do not feel any actual heat. It seems the closer you get to the larger impact zones, the stronger this field is.
Scientists soon found that they could harness this invisible energy source by creating metal and glass containers infused with foreign material from the impact crater’s ejecta blanket. Research is ongoing, but this energy source is currently being utilized as a power source for primitive engines and weapons in the various more advanced surviving communities around the world. Aetheric energy sources eclipse the power previously provided by the traditional fossil fuels of petroleum and coal, and with no apparent environmental effect beyond the already measured and mapped “hot” zones caused by the comet’s craters.
Indeed those of us in the scientific community who work towards the reconstruction of the world and it’s society, hope that this new power source will be the silver lining in the black cloud that has descended upon the world with The Fall.
Caelyn Nagle,
Field Technology Scout
Graduate Student of The New Tek University.
