"Prime" erchius is the most commonly found allotrope of the anomalous mineral, known for its diverse uses as fuel for various FTL and Sub-FTL craft and vehicles, especially for its use as the catalyst of hyperdrives. Prime Erchius is a very useful material in its gaseous, liquid, and crystalline states, but has many dangers, most particularly the horrific process of Erchius infestation and its oddly parasitic process of devouring livable planets until they become oxygen-less rocky husks. Because of this, some think that it may be pushed on by an anomalous, extra-galactic, or perhaps extra-dimensional, microorganism of unknown biology that lives in symbiosis with crystalline Erchius.
Erchius infestation is caused when the solid form of Erchius is unearthed by either natural or organic caused situations. It will interact with the oxygen in the air from within its small pocket, rapidly crystallizing anything it can grow on and the radiation it emits will cause tumor growth and rapid cell mutation in organic creatures, and crystallize inorganic creatures, causing joint locking and potential meltdowns. Small samples, however, do not carry this massively destructive potential, as over the course of a few weeks they will build up a thick oxide layer, the growth of which will begin to outpace the growth of the crystals, preventing it from actually expanding any further. The mutations on organic creatures will cause them to enter an as of yet unknown form of trance, causing them to protect the Erchius crystals and helping it to spread. Over the period of up to 3 weeks, the mutation will continue until the organic barely resembles its original form. After some time, an unknown process will cause Erchius itself to begin growing from the affected and in this stage they will be referred to as a "Moontant". This creature has drastically increased strength from its original form as well as extraordinary pain tolerance. As time progresses the Moontant's skin can grow harder due to the Erchius growing on the surface of their skin, providing weak body armor. By the time a victim has entered the Moontant stage, much of their intelligence will be reduced to that of a primal, instinctual animal. Erchius Infestation can cause entire planets to collapse into disarray and become lifeless, upon which time that the Erchius will then recede back into the depths, as if it was lying in wait for miners to come looking for it.
Originally discovered by a group of human colonists in its liquid form on the planet Hala IV, a short trip from the solar system, they discovered it had extraordinary properties as a fuel and decided they would take it for further study. The Apex had synthesized it themselves in an experiment gone wrong in its crystalline form, which resulted in the lab becoming infested, and a clean-up crew from the Miniknog researched into it more and looked beyond its military properties as a fuel. The Glitch seemingly had pockets of Erchius on planets they were placed on and until a Glitch was freed from the Hivemind, it would lay dormant until they could discover it. The Avians unknowingly gathered some while mining for their own power crystals, of which Erchius is an isotope. Florans stole some from the assorted star systems they ravage and re-purposed it for their own uses, and Hylotls seemingly discovered it themselves, as did the Novakid. All of the races seemed to notice the potency of Erchius as a fuel for their FTL drives, and it has become one of the largest operating economies within the galaxy. Following this they discovered Erchius' parasitic nature and its use of bio-electric energy to continue to grow in areas where oxygen is not prevalent. This having followed the discovery of shards of Erchius crystals within the body of a freshly mutated Moontant.
Erchius as a fuel is potent, due to its high levels of radioactivity and the large amounts of it that can be found occupying the galaxy. To safely handle Erchius in its crystal form, it is required that a HEV suit be worn as to prevent infestation, though it has been established that crystallization can occur and create punctures in the HEV suit, so one must always be prepared. Following the removal of the Erchius from its natural habitat, presumably onto some kind of station or ship, it must be liquefied as to stop further crystallization and for as of yet unknown reasons, the emission of Erchius Radiation, though traditional ionizing radiation will continue to be emitted. Scholars have many theories for why this is, ranging from microscopic, as of yet unknown lifeforms living inside the Erchius itself causing the radiation, to the liquefaction process slightly changing the allotropic form of Erchius so that it no longer emits the specific radiation. This can then be put into a portable or normal reactor, and the liquid fuel will be used to both work similar to a water turbine, as well as a Nuclear reactor, doubling the fuel output from the Erchius. The Erchius Gas must be collected from an extractor in the atmosphere of a gas giant, which by itself requires specialized gear to survive the pressure and gravity of the planet. It must then be placed inside canisters and either liquefied or placed into a gaseous erchius reactor, which though more expensive to buy and maintain, as well as more dangerous due to the possible meltdowns caused, requires less erchius as well as superior power output.
Erchius has become prized for its use as fuel for warp drives and hyperdrives. This is because prime erchius has the anomalous property of being able to produce a field of negative energy when it is energized via powerful superconductive coils. When pumped through a coil, the resulting field produce can be expanded, allowing space to be warped in order to move a craft faster than light. Hyperdrives work in a similar way, pumping large amounts of energized erchius through a torus until it can produce a large burst of negative energy, enough to cause space to 'snap' into a rupture that allows a ship to pass into hyperspace.
Many organisms have either evolved or have been parasitized to become dependent or subsist off erchius and its erchioids due to its unusual properties. These organisms often have unique traits due to their dependence on their erchius-infested environments, and can be quite dangerous.