Phlogiston

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Phlogiston is a critical fuel source in the Star Empire of Galba Roy, consisting, in its usual transported form, of a densely-compressed gas, often giving off a warm yellow glow (though various other grades exist which may have different luminescence). Phlogiston is produced industrially using a method known as the Becher-Stahl Process which involves using meshes of sufficiently-conductive materials, known as Phlogistonic Matrixes. The resulting process converts oxygen or other gasses containing the oxygen atom into phlogiston, potentially alongside the production of waste products, at the cost of requiring a means to produce large voltage and thermal differentials. For this reason, industrial production of phlogiston is usually done using orbital platforms positioned to capture stellar energy.

Once produced and sufficiently refined, packaged phlogiston can be transported around the empire and used in a variety of applications - the simplest of which is converting the latent chemical action into heat (with oxygen and oxides as byproducts), or the use of a whole class of co-dependant technologies called phlogistonics, which converts the gaseous phlogiston into a plasma-like state and allows for complex power delivery and operations in some ways similar to electronics.

The high energy density of phlogiston is such that it's an extremely desirable, even standardized, power supply for almost all applications throughout the empire. Phlogiston containers are known to be prone to explosion in the wrong circumstances. Since they are used in ray weapons, some individuals will use their weapon's phlogiston ampoule or phlogiston tank as improvised explosives in desperation.