Dzunim

Dzunim (Yen: 全陰, 'absolutely Yin/Dark'), also transcribed as Dziun'im or Cyunjam is a hypothetical concept in Cotric science referring to what is absolutely composed of Dark as understood in basic Cotric cosmology. This term is understood in various contexts upon an identical metaphysical premise but is approached and utilized differently in each.

It is the conceptual and qualitative opposite to Dzunyeng or 'absolute yang/Light'.

In natural science

In the natural sciences, Dzunim is used to describe a hypothetical material which has the properties the color black gives to materials maximized or as infinity. Dzunim in this case bears various characteristics such as absorption of any and all light, as well as extremely rapid absorption of heat and radiation of it, at a rate of infinity, or close to it. It is used in designing hypothetical scenarios, usually with relation to study of thermodynamics, and frequently appears in discussions of the construction of machinery as well. More abstract thought experiments using Dzunim or discussing its base premise, such as the effects of its infinite rate of heat absorption on a shape made of the material, have also been recorded. The earliest discussions of Dzunim in this context date from the 5th century.

In these discussions, as with its counterpart Dzunyeng, Dzunim is a direct piece of Yin, one of the two universal forces, perceived in a comprehensible material fashion, and thus Cotric metaphysics regarding the subject factor into its scientific discussion too. Its infinitely changing activity is seen as a symbol of the chaos Yin represents. The Cotric understanding of molecular theory, based on how chaotic and Yin-triumphant an object is, only occasionally applied to Dzunim for the sake of hypothesis as, being a piece of an universal force, it was not subject to the same laws mundane material was and functioned as an inseparable whole unless the experiment required otherwise.

During the Maengtau era, there were numerous attempts to physically synthesize Dzunim, as part of a wider All-Powerful Cauldrons movement. After the Great Mioky Catastrophe in 1473 the blame was moved to scientists part of this movement and attempts to bring into actual existence material shards of yin and yang was proclaimed a 'heresy of the highest degree', part of a wider anti-scientific reaction in Cotrism.

In alchemy

Cotric alchemy uses Dzunim as another article of thought experiment though there was belief it was physically attainable as well. Dzunim is the hypothetical precursor to various dark-oriented alchemical materials and phenomena in both physical and biological alchemy, used mostly to explain the roots of their common properties both physical and superworldly.

In occultism

Dzunim is an abstract concept in Cotric occultism symbolizing absolute chaos. While not referenced in any of the original classics, occult exegesis of the Sage's and other notable scholars' works have used the term, many of these texts making it into Cotric canon and revered occult tradition themselves.

Western reinterpretation

Documentation of the All-Powerful Cauldrons scholars and their attempts to incarnate universal forces as physical materials fascinated Asuran orientalists beginning in the 18th century, who were experiencing their own scientific revolution.