Mercurians are an ideogenic species consisting of nanoparticles of organometallic nature. They are created when a biological organism of sufficient cognition becomes bonded to a mercurial. Once the bonding is complete and practically irreversible, Mercurians can take on their Mercurius form, which has an entirely metallic appearance. 

They were created in 2011 in a collaboration between Blight and Simulacra. At this time, Simulacra had come to a compromise with the Orderly and Umbris but still strongly believed in the supremacy of artificiality. Blight, who had come to visit in secret out of curiosity, made an offer to create something that would let people choose for themselves, among themselves, if they wished to walk the path of Artificiality. 

By 2028, Kavisa's prominence and efforts to help find and guide other Mercurians helped establish a physical community of Mercurians in Simulacra along with a social network of Mercurians across the world. This connection established something of a convention with Mercurians creating and using their Mercurian shared name as the "surnames" of their host and mercurial, though this isn't something necessarily expected among them. 

Genesis

Genesis begins from a mercurial bonding with a biological organism of sufficient cognition (generally, humans, other sapient species, and ideated creatures). Mercurials generally do not actively seek hosts unless the potential host in question is actively experiencing dysphoria or other dissatisfaction with their body. 

Initial bonding can occur the moment a host makes any contact with a mercurial's mass; the mercurial will rapidly coat the host's body before seeping into the skin in a matter of seconds. After that, there are generally three routes: rejection, dormancy, and acceptance. 

Rejection can occur if the individual is quite comfortable with their biological body and its current state. After a week to a month of contentment, the mercurial simply seeps out of their body, leaving to find another host. It is noted that simply wanting the mercurial out of their system is insufficient, though a strong EMP pulse or multiple weaker ones can cause the host to eject the mercurial through their mouth. 

Dormancy is a neutral state with the mercurial simply lingering in the host's body, not doing anything. This can occur if the host is neither particularly satisfied or unsatisfied with their body. If the host's thoughts tip either way, dormancy will progress to rejection or acceptance. 

Acceptance refers to the process of a host accepting the mercurial and the changes it can offer to their body. Generally, it starts with the host's thoughts of body dysphoria or dissatisfaction with any aspect of their organic body. They may hear an inner voice or feel a suggestion to change those characteristics; if they consciously or subconsciously accept, the mercurial will alter their body accordingly. If the host is receptive to this change, the mercurial's voice will grow stronger and it will make more suggestions, especially those leaning towards artificiality rather than just changing biological aspects. It may suggest to replace blood with its form, replace weak flesh with pristine metal, replace biological nerves with a cognitive processing system that they could control and alter as they like. 

The more changes the host accepts and the more artificial their body becomes, the more the mercurial starts to develop a distinct personality and presence. In many cases, they become a companion to the host, one developed in a way designed to complement them well. At some point, the mercurial will propose to complete their bonding by replacing all of the host's biological flesh with their organometallic material. If the host accepts, then their first Mercurius transformation will occur, and will be accessible to them thereafter. The host also gains considerable control over their ability to manipulate their mass. 

Once the acceptance process begins, it is unsafe for the host to eject the mercurial with an EMP wave, as it can cause failures in the functioning of their body. If the host wishes to reverse the process, they must ask the mercurial to do so, and the mercurial will be resistant to it if the host does not truly want to go back to their original state. Only when their body is fully organic again (though it may be modified) is it safe to forcefully remove a mercurial from them. 

After the process is complete, an EMP can no longer separate the host and the mercurial, though it can still disorient them severely. With enough power, a Mercurian can be turned into a puddle of silvery metal for a few minutes. 

Abilities

• Nanoparticle Composition: Mercurians can use the nanoparticles of their body to modify their form, characteristics, and density. They can create additional limbs or manipulate it like a liquid metal, for instance. They are immune to physical damage, such as cuts, impacts, burns, and chemical damage.

• Metallokinesis: Mercurians can use their nanoparticles to control and manipulate metal to form solid structures. They can use existing metal or form pure metal by extracting metal from their nanoparticles; once they have finished with their work, the nanoparticles leave the metal and return to their own body.

• Fabrication: In addition to being able to form metal, Mercurians can fabricate other materials based on the kinds of materials they have consumed by essentially "printing" the material from their nanoparticles. They cannot freely manipulate non-metal materials as easily, but they can consume and re-fabricate an item.   

• Immortality: Mercurians with complete bonding do not age. Additionally, as long as one nanoparticle remains, they can convert more mass and recreate their body. 

• Interfacing: Mercurians can interface with many technologies, including mundane digital technologies, mechanical technologies, some magitechnologies, and more. They can understand the structure and function of technology easily and manipulate or modify with their nanoparticles if they wish. They can also interface and fuse with other Mercurians. 

• Integration: As part of interfacing, they can absorb various kinds of devices to incorporate their functions into their body. These functions can be maintained indefinitely if they are simple, but complex or demanding functions tend to be activated and deactivated at will. For magitechnological devices, they need to keep a magical power source in their body to maintain the magical functions. 

• Distributed Cognition: Each nanoparticle of a Mercurian is capable of powerful cognitive processing both in cohesion and in parallel, allowing them to process a great deal of information and multitask easily. 

Behaviors

When mercurials were initially created, their numbers were few enough, its behaviors were subtle enough, and the Mercurians that came to be were satisfied enough that the Orderly did not take any action besides requiring that Simulacra and Blight take responsibility for their actions by ensuring they were aware of Secrecy—and the plans to reveal magic to the world soon. Many Mercurians thus continued to live in mundane society through the transition to Reunion, though many also moved to the Simulacrum or one of the Sanctuaries with a blighted community. 

Once Reunion came, it was decided that mercurials, given their nature of depending on the host's own will and desires and their general helpfulness in cleaning up pollutants, could be left wandering freely, so long as their population in any given area did not go above a certain number; if they did, then some would be relocated to the Simulacrum or elsewhere. Mercurians, however, could do as they pleased. Many pursued interests of design and art, considered by many of them to be an aspect of Artificiality—architecture, fashion, engineering, dance, and more. 

Acquisition

You can design your own Mercurian, though Auspice offers PWYW commissions for Mercurius forms with a base price of 30 USD. If you get the Mercurius form done along with a base form (for instance, a human design using the humanlike/humanoid commission form), they can offer a 10 USD discount. 

At base price, the Mercurius form will be entirely smooth with no or few notable features, as with the example on left. You can either pay more for specifications, or pay a higher PWYW price for Auspice to go for something more complex. 

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