Ask Rhine: What Happens When Espers Dissipate?

Greetings, Agents! This is the first entry of a ‘column’ of sorts that I intend to update periodically with elaborations on aspects of the Thymosphere. If you have a question you’d like me to answer, send it to support@espercorp.com c.o.  Dr. Cornelius Rhine.

Today I’d like to address a phenomenon that happens quite frequently in the Spirit World: Esper Dissipation. Often when I explain the average day of a Field Agent to those unfamiliar with Geomon, they react in shock at the notion of fighting creatures and causing them to dissipate. It strikes them as inhumane. But once you understand the nature of dissipation, you see that it’s really a natural part of the Thymosphere’s ecosystem, and is generally harmless to the Esper.

Dissipaton occurs when an Esper loses the ability to maintain a solid state any longer, usually as the result of some kind of outside force. Its energy is depleted and its physical frame damaged in such a way that it undergoes a rapid breakdown in structural integrity resulting in dissipation. The Esper literally breaks apart into a multitude of little pieces of Energy and Matter that fly off in every direction. During the process, parts of the Esper might break off, fuse, or crystallize in various manners depending on the circumstance.

What’s left behind are various energetic compounds, some of which we are able to collect using ANCHOR technology.  There are always some number of stray crystal shards, which are useful for our experiments here at Espercorp and have thus been adopted as our de facto currency. Espers also tend to leave behind refined samples of their Elemental Energy, of which we collect samples for research and development. It is important to note that a portion of the dissipated Energy is also absorbed by your party in the form of Experience. Other Items you may find, like flawed crystals, etc. are all left over from that Esper’s dissipation.

But what happens to Espers when they dissipate, you ask? Well, based on our observations they seem to float around as mist for about thirty minutes. Evidently they remain aware, or at least their various disparate particles remain attracted to one other, because slowly bit by bit the Esper will reassemble itself. It starts by taking on a shapeless, amoeba-like form and  absorbing whatever Energy it can process. During this time the Esper is quite vulnerable. A predatory Esper could easily snap up the raw energy for its daily meal, and if too much of the dissipated Esper is consumed, it will never be able to reform.

Often when Espers are in this state they hide within an object of like Energy. For example, a Plant Esper might blend with a tree formation, and absorb Plant energy until it has gained enough strength to take its previous shape once more. Even once it has achieved a solid form it is not entirely safe. It will be low on strength, and in need of sustenance before it can again defend itself.

Can you guess what Esper is hiding in this Tree?

Now, this invites the question: why don’t our own Espers have this problem? When our Espers are healed they don’t come out of it 2 levels lower. They retain all their strength, and continue to grow stronger. The answer, my Agents, is bonding. Espers bonded to a crystal need never fear losing any of their Energy, because the very chemical bond that keeps them from running away also keeps them from dissipating wildly. Whenever any excess energy from a bonded Esper is knocked off, it gets sucked right back into the crystal, where it is stored until the Esper is healed. When a bonded Esper dissipates, it explodes into a huge Sphere of Energy, but the bond pulls it together again. It’s really remarkable that these energetic properties of the Thymosphere lend themselves so well to our purposes here at Espercorp.

In conclusion, if you find yourself worrying about the huge number of Espers dissipating, don’t. Dissipation is a natural part of life in the Thymosphere. The landscape changes rapidly, and Espers get absorbed and created at every instant. Your scope of the Thymosphere is limited by the ANCHOR devices, but here are huge spiritual weather patterns that you are entirely unable to detect.  Entire habitats of Espers get erased and reformed every day. And for every flock of Piccio that dissipates, another will reform and take its place. All Energy in the the Thymosphere is self-contained. It all feeds back into the same system. I seriously doubt that the 8,000 or so Field Agents we have active in the field will make a significant difference in the Thymosphere’s ecosystem for some time to come.

-Dr. Cornelius Rhine

Founder, Espercorp