Solid Light

Solid Light (German: Festelicht) is a Kalharian superhero franchise created by SFLD in 2003. The franchise began as a comic book but has spawned into other media, including video games and a television series. The franchise is set in a futuristic, dystopian Kalharia, and centres on the adventures of Tobias Benz, a young petty criminal who becomes involved with a mysterious scientist who claims to have invented (or discovered) solid light, a potential source of immense physical power. Whilst the series is primarily episodic, an ongoing story arc reveals more about the characters and the setting.

Setting and backstory
The series is set in the year 2093 in the city of Markstadt, which is located somewhere on the coast of mainland Kalharia. The city, like the rest of the world, is technologically advanced, but has fallen foul of pervasive technology, high crime, indiscriminate mass consumerism and environmental damage. The city authorities and law enforcement are rampantly corrupt, and are fully under the control of private corporations.

Automation and artificial intelligence have left large numbers of unemployed. Among them is the young Tobias Benz, who, like many has turned to a life of petty crime. He is blackmailed by a mysterious older man, Schmidt, into participating in an experiment with solid light.

Characters
Tobias Benz

Main article: Tobias Benz

Benz is the protagonist of the series. He started out as a petty criminal on the streets of Markstadt, but then became the first human to be injected with solid light. The composite he was injected with gives him, and negates the need for external sources of sustenance.

Schmidt is the alias of an unknown scientist, who claims to be the discoverer of the hypothesised substance solid light. He serves as a somewhat fatherly figure to Tobias, but also uses the power of solid light to control and manipulate him to serve his own ends.

Karlotta Benz is the housebound, agoraphobic mother of Tobias. Initially it is Tobias' love for her that keeps him doing Schmidt's bidding.

Objects and concepts
Solid light is the eponymous substance of the franchise. The in-universe information about the substance comes almost exclusively from Schmidt, so its veracity cannot be certain. Schmidt claims that he manufactured the substance by shining a photon beam into a cloud of super-cooled rubidium. The resulting crystalline material had different properties according to its shape. The compound that was injected into Tobias Benz allowed him to either attract or repel metal at will, gave him a limited ability to manipulate electric current, and imbued him with enhanced agility, strength and stamina. The solid light also gave Tobias the ability to regulate his body temperature. Schmidt intended his ability to only be used in extreme circumstances, but Tobias chose to keep his body temperature constantly high and wear only minimal clothing.