The Society of Reflective Personalities - Collotelinite

The Calibration Queen

Personality:
Collotelinite believes in order because order is the only way anything meaningful can be measured.
She arrives early, long before the others, smoothing the polished surface and checking the light alignment twice. Not out of anxiety, but out of principle. The microscope is a sacred space, and she treats it accordingly. When everything is set correctly, she is flawless: continuous, even, dependable. When it isn’t, she refuses to perform, and confusion reigns.

She is the Society’s reference point, whether she likes it or not.
Everyone measures themselves against her. Everyone argues about her numbers. And everyone quietly relies on her stability when things start to drift.

Collodetrinite resents this. He calls her “idealised” and claims her homogeneity is a luxury he was never afforded. She listens, nods, and does not argue. She knows that coherence comes at a cost, and she was fortunate in her formation. Their relationship is tense but inseparable; together they define the vitrinite continuum.

The Sporinite swarm running across the surface distracts her from her seriousness, putting a discreet smile on her lips. Undisciplined as they are, they remain oddly adorable.

Despite her solemnity, Collotelinite holds a secret towards Telalginite. A longing… He drifts too close, releases things he doesn’t take responsibility for, and then disappears, leaving her looking… younger than she should. It disturbs her. Not because it alters her reflectance, but because it introduces ambiguity. And ambiguity, to Collotelinite, is unacceptable without explanation.

Fusinite respects her. He doesn’t need her approval, and she doesn’t demand his story. They coexist with mutual recognition: different paths, different histories, equally valid records of transformation.

If Collotelinite seems severe, it’s because she carries responsibility. Rank depends on her. Correlations lean on her. When interpretations fall apart, people come back to her numbers and ask, “Are you sure?”

She always is.
Unless, of course, someone forgot to calibrate the microscope.

Scientist’s Note:
Collotelinite is a maceral of the vitrinite group. It derives from the parenchymatous and woody tissues of roots, stems, and leaves composed of cellulose and lignin, originating from both herbaceous and arborescent plants. During peat formation, these tissues undergo decomposition and chemical alteration, followed by geochemical gelification (vitrinitization) that obliterates the original cellular structure and produces a homogeneous material.

Under reflected light, collotelinite appears grey to light grey, smooth, and uniform, with a more or less structureless texture. Its reflectance is commonly about 0.05–0.10 % Rr higher than that of the corresponding collodetrinite, though the difference diminishes with increasing rank. Collotelinite does not fluoresce and exhibits little or no bireflectance except in anthracitic and meta-anthracitic stages, where weak anisotropy may develop along residual cell traces. The fluorescence intensity of vitrinite macerals passes through a minimum near 0.5 % Rr, reaches a maximum around 1.0–1.1 % Rr (depending on excitation wavelength), and then declines with further maturation. The reflectance of collotelinite is widely used to determine the rank of coal and dispersed organic matter in sediments.

When collotelinite looks off, chances are your microscope needs attention, your your polishing is bad — or you’re looking at the wrong maceral.

More information here:

ICCP, 1998. The new vitrinite classification (ICCP System 1994). Fuel 77, 349-358.