Materials

The Oxygen Problem

Due to elevated atmospheric oxygen in the post-Collapse world, certain classes of materials cease to be viable.

What Fails

• Mild steel and iron. Corrode at dramatically accelerated rates. Unprotected iron degrades visibly within days.
• Organic polymers. Carbon-backbone chains — rubber, plastics, nylon, epoxy, polyurethane — undergo severe oxidative degradation. Seals, gaskets, insulation, wiring sheathing, flexible couplings all crumble. Silicone is a categorical exception.
• Carbon fiber composites. The carbon fiber itself is stable. The epoxy matrix that binds it into structural components is an organic polymer — it degrades like every other one.
• Magnesium. Severe fire hazard. Ignites easily, burns at temperatures that melt steel, nearly impossible to extinguish.
• Wood as construction material. Ignites easily, burns fast. Large-scale timber construction is a fire liability. Small-scale use (tool handles, fuel) with caution.

What Survives

Corrosion-Resistant Metals

These metals form self-protecting oxide layers:

• Copper
• Bronze and brass
• Cupronickel alloys
• Aluminum
• Stainless steel
• Titanium
• Nickel superalloys

Stone and Earth

The primary construction material for above-ground structures and dwellings.

Glass

Does not corrode, burn, or degrade. Manufacturable from sand and a furnace. Sealed enclosures, windows, optics, laboratory vessels. Settlements that master glassblowing gain access to sealed atmospheres for oxygen-sensitive work.

Fired Ceramics

Immune to atmospheric corrosion. Clay-based ceramics produced with kiln technology: structural bricks, armor plating, electrical insulators. Brittle under sharp impact. Advanced ceramics (silicon carbide, boron carbide) offer extraordinary hardness.

Silicone

Silicone (polysiloxane) is an inorganic polymer with a Si-O backbone. The Si-O bond is already fully oxidized; elevated atmospheric oxygen cannot attack it. Thermally stable, flexible at low temperatures, dielectric, biocompatible.

Silicone serves three roles in Shell construction:

1. To isolate components from contact with atmospheric oxygen,
2. To enable operation of CNT,
3. Prosthetic skin, addressing the body-image integration phenomenon (see Character: Body Image),

All three applications are produced in the Basin from the same chemical process.

Carbon Nanotubes (CNT)

The material that makes Shell locomotion possible. When twisted into coiled structures and energized electrically, CNT yarn contracts along its fiber axis — the only available material that replicates muscle-analog actuation. The Sanctum manufactures CNT yarn through chemical vapor deposition, but the process requires carbon feedstock and metal catalyst nanoparticles (iron, cobalt, nickel) sourced from GAEA territory.

Bone Ceramic

Aurochs bone, deproteinized, yields a hydroxyapatite scaffold — porous ceramic that is dimensionally stable, machinable, and shock-absorbing. The same process produces bone glue, the settlement’s only manufacturable adhesive.

The scaffold’s defining property is its trabecular lattice — an internal microstructure that dissipates energy through progressive micro-fracture. Metal transmits shock. Fired ceramic shatters. Bone absorbs and disperses. Essential for Shell CNT bundle encasement and laminated composite armor.

Can be infiltrated with oil (self-lubricating bearings), bronze (structural spacers), or left dry (sacrificial impact liners). Ground to powder, it serves as ceramic feedstock for the Glassworks.