Iceglass Crystal
Iceglass Crystals are rare and volatile crystalline formations found deep beneath glaciers, enchanted frost caverns, or buried within the permafrost of ancient battlefields. These shimmering, translucent blue-white crystals are more than mere minerals—they are repositories of elemental cold and latent arcane energy.
They are highly prized across both the Wildlands and Shadowed Lands, particularly by cryomancers, rune-smiths, and weapon-forgers of the north. When refined properly, Iceglass becomes both a potent arcane conduit and a destructive weapon material.
Properties
Physical & Chemical Properties
- Elemental Resonance: Iceglass naturally channels cold-based magic. Spells cast through or stored in Iceglass increase in range, precision, or potency—especially ice and wind-based effects.
- Temperature Lock: It maintains a fixed sub-zero temperature regardless of ambient conditions, capable of flash-freezing moisture or flesh on contact.
- Fragile Yet Deadly: In raw form, Iceglass is brittle—but when enchanted or alloyed, it becomes razor-sharp and unnaturally durable. Shards can pierce steel like glass daggers dipped in frostbite.
- Soul-Holding Capacity: Rare variants of Iceglass can be used in necromantic or divinatory rituals to store echoes of souls, memories, or visions trapped in the ice.
History & Usage
Everyday use
- Weapons: Forged into Iceglass blades, arrows, or spearheads that cause intense cold damage and slow enemies on impact. Some versions burst into a freezing mist on shattering.
- Arcane Devices: Integrated into wands, staves, or magical focusing lenses, especially for cold or divination magic. Cryomancers often embed Iceglass into their spellcasting foci.
- Armor Enhancements: While rarely used as armor itself (due to brittleness), Iceglass shards are sometimes inlaid into runic plating to enhance cold resistance or repel fire.
- Ritual Tools: Used in rituals of scrying, soul-binding, or memory-divining. The Circle of Frostbound uses Iceglass Mirrors for communing with spirits of ice and interpreting omens in frost fractals.
Hazards
Harvested only in deeply frozen places—such as the Frostspire Caverns, the Iceshard Glacier, or beneath the Thornveil permafrost—mining Iceglass is perilous. The crystals are fragile and resonate violently to heat or loud vibrations, sometimes causing arcane frostbursts or collapses.
Once gathered, they are cut in ritual silence, bathed in glacial water, and sometimes etched with runes or sealed in bone-cold silver casings to stabilize them.
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