Bogstone

A rare, obsidian-like mineral found only in the drowned hollows. It absorbs light and distorts reflections, making mirrors and pools of water ripple when it is nearby.

Bogstones are powerful but perilous objects, their nature straddling the line between the material and the unseen worlds. Those who use them too freely often find themselves drawn deeper into the mysteries of the bog, sometimes never to return.

Properties

Material Characteristics

Bogstones are dense, obsidian-like minerals found deep within the drowned hollows of the Black Bog. Their surfaces are smooth yet strangely uneven, as if caught between a solid and liquid state. The stones have a deep black coloration that seems to absorb nearby light, creating an eerie, dim aura around them.

• Texture – Cool and glass-like but unnervingly soft to the touch.
• Visual Effect – Absorbs light and causes nearby reflections to distort, making mirrors and still water ripple in its presence.
• Weight – Heavier than common stone, yet it floats eerily in shallow, stagnant water.
• Sound – Produces a faint, hollow hum when struck, as if vibrating at an unnatural frequency.

Geology & Geography

Bogstones form in areas where necrotic energy and stagnant water have lingered for centuries. Some scholars theorize that they are the crystallized remnants of lost souls or memories trapped within the bog’s depths.

• Found beneath moss-covered roots or buried in mire-choked ruins.
• Can only be properly extracted with ritual tools, as ordinary picks tend to shatter them or sink into the swamp inexplicably.
• Local legend warns that those who take too many Bogstones hear voices in their sleep, whispering secrets best left forgotten.

History & Usage

History

Legends & Superstitions

• The Reflection That Moves On Its Own – Some say if you stare into a Bogstone too long, you may see your own reflection moving independently, a sign that your soul is starting to separate from your body.
• The Sunless Depths – It is rumored that if enough Bogstones are placed together in a pool of water, the surface will open like a portal, leading to a realm of eternal twilight where forgotten spirits dwell.
• The Price of Knowledge – Many who have used Bogstones for scrying claim to have seen more than they wished, speaking of dark figures watching from the depths of the reflection, waiting for something… or someone.

Everyday use

1. Divination & Scrying
2. Seers and mystics use Bogstones as focus points for divination, peering into distorted reflections to glimpse echoes of past events or fragmented visions of the future.
3. Some believe that under the right conditions, a Bogstone can reveal lost knowledge buried in the subconscious or hidden in the spirit realm.
4. Illusory and Shadow Magic
5. The distortion effect of Bogstones makes them a potent component in illusion spells.
6. Used by sorcerers and spies to create false reflections, cloak themselves in shifting mirages, or render water surfaces into unreadable voids.
7. When carved into a pendant, it allows the wearer to fade from reflections, making them unseen in mirrors or pools of water.
8. Necromantic and Curse-Bound Rituals
9. Some necromancers use Bogstones to bind spirits, trapping echoes of the dead within their shifting reflections.
10. When placed upon a grave, it is said that the stone prevents the soul from departing, keeping the deceased bound to the material world.
11. Certain forbidden spells use ground Bogstone dust to create unbreakable shadow-bonds between master and servant.
12. Architectural & Defensive Applications
13. When embedded into walls, Bogstones create an anti-scrying effect, making it impossible to use magic to observe what lies within.
14. Some castles and fortresses rumored to house dark secrets have Bogstone-infused corridors, making anyone inside appear as a shifting, ghostly blur to those outside.
15. Used in temples of gloom-bound cults, where worshipers meditate before the stone’s shifting surface, hoping to hear the voices of their gods.
16. Cursed Trinkets & Unstable Relics
17. Some enchanted Bogstones allow a user to see through another’s reflection, but at the cost of slowly eroding their own sense of self.
18. A properly attuned Bogstone absorbs lingering echoes of emotion, making it dangerous to carry one taken from a place of great sorrow or rage—as these feelings may seep into the holder's mind.
19. Whispering Bogstone masks have been created by occultists, distorting the wearer’s face into a shifting, unknowable visage.

Type

Mineral

Related Locations

• The Black Bog