What exactly are tech materials? I've read the entire topic of a Beginner's Look at the Basic Principle of Tech, multiple times and am still trying to figure it out. From my current understanding things go like this tech spell > systems > sub-systems > part/s > material/s. When I think of materials I think of different metals, alloys, plastics etc which are either chemical elements or combinations of different chemical elements but on a macro scale. However LordArt hinted that tech materials are sub-machines that work together in order to accomplish the needs of the system. So now I'm thinking that materials could also be similar to enzymes in a metabolic pathway, or are like gears in a clock. I'm finding this really confusing
If tech materials are like physical materials, then the astral shields I construct are made out of tech materials, because they're denser than normal energy and have different physical properties and are shaped differently than just normal energy with programming. However if tech materials are sub-machines instead, then that wouldn't be a tech material. I suppose my biggest questions are on what scale are tech materials, and what's the difference between parts and tech materials?