The Lumen Cascade Engine operates through a lattice of crystalline conduits that channel trapped motes of photic energy harvested from the upper atmosphere, converting their unpredictable pulses into steady currents that drive the machine's core. At the center sits the Aural Prism, a humming polyhedral chamber where light and vibration merge into a fluid medium that technicians call resonant luminance. As the engine activates, the conduits ripple with shifting colors while microfilament vanes rotate to maintain harmonic balance between the stored light and the prism's output. If any conduit falls out of alignment, the entire lattice begins to shimmer like a disturbed reflection, prompting the stabilizers to release a calibrated burst of grounding ions that anchor the energy flow back into equilibrium. Over time the device adapts to its environment by subtly reconfiguring its crystalline geometry, creating new pathways for energy to travel and sealing off those that grow unstable due to atmospheric fluctuations. The result is a self correcting mechanism that produces an almost perpetual stream of usable power, as long as the sky continues to provide its inexhaustible reservoir of photic motes.
Photic Motes are tiny, naturally occuring particles of airborne light energy that drift in the upper atmosphere like microscopic sparks. They behave somewhat like charged dust, except instead of carrying static electricity they hold condensed fragments of sunlight that can be released or redirected by certain materials. Specialized crystals and alloys can attract and trap Photic Motes, allowing machines like the Lumen Cascade Engine to harness them as a highly responsive power source.
Resonant Luminance is the result of the Aural Prism converting light and vibration into a fluid medium. It has a shiny rainbow-like glowing texture and produces sounds reminisent to that of the surface of crystals, hence the name Resonant Luminance. The fluid is used in a multitude of things, but primarily channeled into the Digital Conversion Matrix array.
Grounding ions are small clusters of electrical particles that contain enough energy to manipulate light and vibration. They are primarily used to, in a controlled manner, push the energy flow back into balance should any conduit fall out of allignment.
The Digital Conversion Matrix converts Resonant Luminance into digital electrical signals. Due to the nature of Resonant Luminance, the post-conversion status of it leaves it with rare properties that can be utilized in a multitude of ways. One example is the Lumen Cascade Engine Visualizer, which takes these digital Resonant Luminance signals and uses them to generate imagery. The result is an image generated completely from light itself.