We know Protodermis is the substance that everything within the Matoran universe is made of. But is that really the case?
From what we now, it exists in several states, similar to matter in our world, with liquid being the water, but we also know that it can be in solid form, like rocks, metal, ice, etc. and also molten, which makes up either molten metal, or lava (I would assume). Finally, we know it can also exist in organic form, which is what the organic tissue of the beings within the MU is made of.
But what about other materials, like soil, is that a form of organic protodermis too, or is it actual earth? And what about plants, are they organic protodermis, or real plants?
I also read on the BionicleSector01 page that Protodermis can be in gaseous form, which made me rather curious.
Does that mean elements such as Air is also Protodermis, or is that real air? And what about other elements, like Fire, Lightning, Plasma, Sound, Light, Shadow, as well as Gravity, Psionic, and Magnetism? Are they another form of Protodermis, or that they some of the few things that is not made of that stuff?
Sorry for the long list page.
No, not ALL of the Matoran Universe is made of protodermis, just the vast majority of it.
For example, Greg agrees here (Official Greg Dialogue | Page 287) that the atmosphere in the GSR is the same as the air that Spherus Magnans breath, since the Matoran/Turaga/Rahi didn’t have any breathing issues when going to the island of Mata Nui, or migrating to Bara/Spherus Magna.
(Sidenote, as far as I know Greg has never confirmed what the Spherus Magnan atmosphere is actually made of, so it might not be the same as Earth.)
We know that the Scroll of Preparations (Scroll of Preparations - BIONICLEsector01) is not made of protodermis, it’s made of parchment.
Yes, almost everything else is just protodermis, including soil and plants. If there is organic muscle tissue made of it, plant-matter and soil (which is partly organic material) wouldn’t be a stretch. (Personally, I headcanon protodermis to be a form of “programmable matter” that the Great Beings synthesised from the already highly transformative Energised Protodermis)
I don’t have a source or solid memory for this one, but I’m 99% Greg would say that energy does not count. So the elements you mentioned wouldn’t count as Protodermis, although Plasma and fire might be an exception, I’d be curious to see what Greg says about those.
(I do vaguely remember Greg saying once that a Toa of Fire has to generate something for the fire he controls to burn on, that’s a very vague memory, idk of anyone could confirm that, because I guess whatever that combustible substance is would probably be a form of protodermis)
I don’t know If anything I’m about to blurt out has any merit what-so-ever, but here I go:
What is Protodermis?:
“Protodermis was an artificial substance created by the Great Beings to make up the Matoran Universe. It was based on Energised Protodermis, which came from the core of Spherus Magna. Everything in the Matoran Universe is made of Protodermis. Protodermis exists in multiple states and forms, and could be refined and/or reshaped to have many uses.”
Ok… but what was it (and energised protodermis) actually made of?
There are a lot of theories that it is another undiscovered element. But, I have my doubts.
I have narrowed down protodermis down to lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, and cesium.
Why? Because these elements react really badly with water. So does raw protodermis.
Properties:
Hard and durable, can be combined with iron, rock-like.
Can be frozen and form crystalline-structures.
Can be found in plants and in life forms.
Clear-colour for liquid form after being “purified.”
Explodes into long lasting reactions of light when in contact with water.
Caesium:
Liquid at room temperature, physical and chemical properties similar to those of rubidium and potassium.
most reactive of all metals.
reacts with water.
least electronegative element.
Caesium forms alloys with the other alkali metals, gold, and mercury. It does not alloy with cobalt, iron, molybdenum, nickel, platinum, tantalum, or tungsten.
Rubidium:
Rubidium is a rare, very soft, whitish-grey metal in the alkali metal group. Rubidium metal shares similarities to potassium metal and caesium metal in physical appearance, softness and conductivity.
rubidium metal reacts violently with water.
It forms amalgams with mercury and alloys with gold, iron, caesium, sodium, and potassium, but not lithium.
Potassium:
Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force.
Freshly cut potassium is silvery in appearance, but it begins to tarnish toward grey immediately on exposure to air.
It helps your nerves to function and muscles to contract. It helps your heartbeat stay regular. It also helps move nutrients into cells and waste products out of cells.
Sodium:
Sodium is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal.
sodium and its compounds glow yellow.
It helps maintain normal blood pressure, supports the work of your nerves and muscles, and regulates your body’s fluid balance.
Lithium:
Lithium soft, silvery-white alkali metal.
Lithium is present in biological systems in trace amounts.
Lithium and its compounds have several industrial applications, including heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lithium grease lubricants, flux additives for iron, steel and aluminium production, lithium batteries, and lithium-ion batteries.
Thanks to the process of elimination, we have two final competitors:
Sodium and potassium.
Why?
Because they react when in contact with water and can be found naturally in the body.
Out of the two, (for now) I think that potassium is one of the most likely of the two candidates for Protodermis.
A war was started to obtain protodermis.
Millions of Agori and Glatorian died- fighting for potassium. Probably mixed with iron.
That, my friends, was one of my many possibly disprovable bio-theories.
I’m pretty sure this theory will fall quite short.
This isn’t just a theory. Greg Farshtey himself has explicitly stated that protodermis is a synthetic element:
Oh well. I never said I was right.
I only made this theory because I didn’t like the idea of it being “A nEw eLeMEnt”
(and also: Protodermis is a synthetic atomic element, synthetic as in made by chemical synthesis to imitate a natural product. aka, the combination of components or elements to form a connected whole. and yes, I copy/pasted all of that)
Energised protodermis is also sentient.
Protodermis was not based on Energized Protodermis. P was invented by the Great Beings before the discovery of EP, and they technically have nothing to do with each other, other than the fact that EP was named after P because it reminded them of their invention.
Also, Protodermis, energized or otherwise, isn’t a real-life element at all.
Actually, Protodermis is a synthetic substance that the Great Beings created based on Energized Protodermis.
What’s your source for this?
I’ve only been able to find a bunch of Quotes saying that protodermis came before Energized Protodermis, and that they are not directly related to each other:
Of course, it’s possible that it was, in fact, stated at some point that protodermis was synthesized from Energized Protodermis (I’ll admit it does sound kind of familiar), but we would need to see the exact source to determine if it should take precedence over the above quotes.
It was stated at an earlier point, but I did look it up and it was only recently stated that it was made before.