Ioners

Ioners are a fictional ethnolinguistic group used in speculative science fiction to explore societies organized around ion-based science and technology. The term designates people who live in a world where ionic processes shape everyday life, energy systems, and governance. The name derives from ion, the charged particle, with the -er suffix used to indicate inhabitants or practitioners.

In most depictions, ioners inhabit a network of coastal city-states or a single research-centric polity connected by electrochemical infrastructure and ion-travel corridors. Social organization tends toward technocratic institutions that emphasize measurement, experimentation, and energy stewardship. Education typically foregrounds physics, chemistry, and environmental monitoring, with public policy shaped by data sharing and peer review.

Technologically, ioners are imagined as pioneers of ion propulsion, advanced batteries, and ion-exchange technologies. Their economy often centers on energy production, mineral processing, and high-precision instrumentation. Urban design favors modular laboratories, sustainable transport, and resilient power grids that exploit ion-based storage and transfer.

Culturally, ioners may value intellectual humility, reproducibility, and communal research ethics. Rituals or festivals commonly celebrate discoveries related to ions, charge balance, and electrolyte chemistry, sometimes using symbolic artifacts that reference isotopes or ion streams. In fiction, ioners appear in world-building exercises and thematic anthologies as a case study of technocracy and scientific culture.

See also: ion propulsion, ions, plasma physics, electrochemistry.