A Philote was the most basic building block of matter, an indivisible particle not made up of smaller components. Philotes took up no space whatsoever, and were essential to the theory of philotic energy. Each atom had a philote of its own, each molecule likewise, and ultimately each human had an aiúa, an intelligent philote. It was theorized that perhaps a single philote contained the essence of humanity, and/or all sentient species in the known universe.[1]
Philotic energy was used as a form of faster-than-light communication, in which messages are transmitted instantaneously via Ansible. Later on, it was also used as a form of near-instantaneous travel, to be transported Outside and back in, arriving at the specified destination (which may be any distance from the origin).[1]
Philotic Twining[2][]
Philotes would combine or 'twine' to make up all matter in the universe. This twining also made possible the ansible, which allowed instantaneous communication over any distance via quantum entanglement. Philotes had no mass or inertia, only location (similar to a geometric point). Philotes were connected by Philotic Rays, which were detectable by instruments (unlike the philotes themselves). Philotic connections (above the scale of muons, presumably) have absolutely no physical effect on the objects they connect, but they are detectable.
The connections in subatomic particle twine together, and that structure twines with the other subatomic particles in an atom. Atoms in a molecule twine together, and so on.
For planetbound inanimate matter, molecules are connected directly to the center of their planet. The planet is connected to the star it orbits, and the star to the center of its galaxy. For living matter, however, molecules connect to the center of the living cell, which connects to the center of the organism. This implies that the fact that matter is alive is relevant to the mechanics of physics.
Individuals from intelligent species gradually form philotic connections between themselves and others that they are emotionally close with, or care deeply about. This implies that intelligent thought is relevant to the mechanics of physics.
When the arrangement of matter changes, philotic connections will update to reflect the new arrangement. The larger and more complex the structure is, the faster this update occurs. The smaller and simpler it is, the slower the connection updates. This can be interpreted as the philotes inhabiting subatomic particles being "stupider" than those that control complex structures.
The Nature of Reality[2][]
A "clever" philote that can control a complex pattern is called an aiúa (name chosen by Jane). Aiúas have a certain level of "willpower" or "cleverness" that determines how complex of a pattern they can govern.
The Outside contains an innumerable supply of aiúas with no form. In the Outside, when an intelligent mind strongly imagines a pattern, philotes will immediately respond to their aiúas will, reconfiguring to embody that pattern.
The entire universe is (theoretically) a collection of innumerable philotes that are collectively maintaining patterns that they have been assigned. "Space", as in the concept of distance and dimensionality, is a convention of how quickly information can propagate through the network of philotes, according to the natural laws they have been assigned. From the "perspective" of the Outside, the universe is a 0-dimensional point.
On the Inside, an intelligent mind can strongly visualize a pattern to "call" an aiúa to occupy it. If the visualized pattern fits into the pattern of the universe, a compatible aiúa will immediately assume control of the pattern. This is how all intelligent species are born, and for this reason the aiúa can be considered to be a person's "soul".
Although this process occurs in all intelligent life, only the Hive Queens are aware of it, and even then only on an instinctual level.
Philotic Web[]
A Philotic Web was a philosophical and physical construct that described the interconnection of not only all the aiúas in the universe, but also the lesser-intelligent philotes.[1]
The web was the direct result of every philotic connection in the universe. These connections never touched each other in the truer sense of the word "web," but every being could have been linked to every other being by their interconnected philotes. These philotic connections were not static, and can be strengthened or weakened over time. For example, Si Wang-mu and Peter Wiggin II begin their journey together having only a small philotic connection. As they spent more time together and grew increasingly more affectionate and emotionally attached to each other, coupled with Peter gaining Andrew Wiggin's aiúa, their connection grew stronger and stronger.[1]
The philotic connections could have grown to monumental proportions based solely on emotional and "spiritual" connectedness. Grego was spoken of as having formed a very intense philotic web with the angry mob in Xenocide in a matter of minutes. Additionally, philotic connections could cause physical disturbance or emotional distress when severed.[1]