On a fundamental level, human beings perceive the universe around them as exteriors of objects. These exteriors have color, shape and texture which are fundamental to the object itself but are invisible without light to illuminate them – and that light in turn, can change the way those objects are seen by people. In turn, this and the way humans deal with 'stuff' – seeing rocks break into smaller rocks and building large things from small things makes humans conceptualize the universe as being more like 'stuff' (particles) than energy (waves) or information (probability).
With this point of reference in mind, Sourcians can conceptualize the universe very differently to us, with two entirely different organs used for sight alone, seeing both particles and waves and from this extrapolating probability in order to live inside the quantum universe as an observer.
Usually located close to the maesus or brain for minimal latency in perception, wave-sight describes the movement of energies in transit, rather than strictly on contact with objects. This is done by emitting electromagnetism and other wave-forms. While one might expect a return-wave to be needed in order to determine the effect like radar or echolocation, the effect instead monitors the issued wave alone to see how it influences other waves and how other waves influence it before it returns, by exploiting wave phenomena similar to those inside an aetheric generator.
Described in human-like terms, wave-sight sees the universe in lens-flare, eclipsed boarders of objects, potential paths in echoes and color indicating the probability of the given path. It can be thought of as seeing close and ranged objects and hearing distant objects – as known Sourcians are known to describe stars as “singing”, able to intuitively know where they are in a solar system and during a clear night very rapidly orient themselves in terms of where they are within a given portion of the galaxy.
Wave-sight organs are performed by hard pearl like organs which are almost always around the size of a ballbearing and in large numbers, grouped like the compound eyes of an insect or in honey-comb formation. While they can function covered, they work best if revealed and can be extended out of their pits for better more precise sighting. Their formation generally tends to be in strips.
While used primarily alongside wave-sight to perform comparisons, particle-sight organs are also located in manipulators and other exterior forms. They perform both active and passive electromagnetic sensing (again, similar to radar or echolocation). Unlike humans and the sighting of exteriors, particle-sight sees point-clouded interiors and insides, seeing through objects over distance – with what we would describe as color describing energy and brightness communicating density – in this way, intuitively “seeing” chemical compositions provided they're close enough to get a good look at.
Generally, particle-sight is performed by hard pearl like organs which can vary in size between marble-like, eye-ball like and head-like, depending on the application. Generally, they come either in pairs or in trios and are usually featured close to transmission surfaces, like manipulators/hands as part of the sighting systems on armaments. Like human-eyes, they are able to vary the diameter of a pupil-like opening, as well as its shape. In addition, they can vary the diameter of the limbal ring, which provides a similar functionality and in some cases, can dynamically form secondary pupils within the iris which seek out specific wavelengths.
The organ itself uses an iris-like covering to detect simplified versions of surface wavelengths (similar to a light-emitting diode or compound eye) while the light which actually enters the eye is able to process not only what the light struck through spectral analysis but also how far it has traveled and how light falls off as it passes through the eye itself, lending the eye a sense of depth three dimensional depth to not only surfaces but also interiors.
While quite remarkable, able to anticipate the positions and energies of objects and compute their compositions, Sourcians have no sense of color as we perceive it, normally cannot see visible light and cannot see painted on textures or surfaces on the exteriors of objects, meaning they cannot read – and that which they can see can often be of too lower resolution to appreciate aesthetically or of such high resolution that implied simplicity (like the idea of a round thing actually being a sphere) do not fool their senses and as a result do not “compute”. To a Sourcian, a ball can never be spherical.
Sourcian hearing can pick up radio and microwaves and some frequencies in the terrahertz range. It is especially noteworthy for the way it doubles as a sense of touch, able to feel pressure, texture, direction, friction, give, temperature and determine whether the object is a solid, liquid or gas. While it has a capacity for pain, the reaction given differs hugely depending on which hearing organ is affected.
Quite primative, Sourcian hearing is similar to that of an insect, relying on micro-fibre membranes along their exterior body and in carefully protected areas. Wavelengths involved tend to differ enormously, with the organs or formed components involved able to vary in size and diameter to detect different ranges of sound – similar to the way the pupil of an eye is able to dilate or contract its size and adjust how taut it is (similar to the surface of a drum) in order to compensate for optical exposure, brightness and contrast.
In a simple sense, even if a room is a perfect vacuum, a Sourcian can detect the sound played by a speaker – not as sound, but instead as the electrical interactions of the speaker. Thought to be used in communication, this organ is described as a sort of maroon prehensile seaweed. The organ seems to be very sensitive to thermobaric interactions as well as direct electrical stimulation and as such, is either tucked beneath harder surfaces, is rolled into a ball for its own protection or is placed inside armored horns. It is also commonly found in a tongue-like organ within the mouth which can be used to vary audio vibration. Alternatively, if a current is passed through it from the body itself and the shape altered, a wide variety of electromagnetic vibrations can be made – sounding similar to “modem noise” or an antiquated Nepleslain device called an acoustic coupler.
In theory, this organ is the closest thing a Sourcian has to an erogenous zone and is highly sensitive, particularly to what we would consider pain.