Saether

Over nine centuries ago, the wizards of the lands that would become Valenar discovered the secrets of the substance known as Saether. Found as a sand-like particulate in thick veins not unlike ore, it was long thought to be little more than an alchemical and magical component created as a by-product of sorcery and the run-off of ichor from eldritch beasts. Valenar's wizards, second only in power to the elves of Eldeen and second in ambition to none, unlocked the elemental properties of Saether, finding a fluid composition that reacted with the sand-like material to unleash amazing power. Saether was not a by-product of magic but was, instead, a potent source of magic. Perhaps the most potent source. Perhaps the purest source. When exposed to this fluid composition, the Saether would expand, crystallizing as it released wave after wave of magical energy that could warp matter around it in powerful waves of transmutation, enchantment or even conjuration and other schools of magic. This potent but unpredictable weapon allowed the wizards to control Valenar but as the secrets of Saether spread it was Thrane that vaulted the entirety of Khorvaire forward into a new age by harnessing Saether as a source of power.
Experimenting on Saether, the proto-magitech engineers of Thrane in the city of Flamekeep were able to control its reactions with increasing precision through minor modifications to the alchemical fluid that contained it. This potential was fully realized with the invention of a Saether engine that soon replaced the unreliable and fuel-hungry steam-engines they had been previously using. In the centuries to follow, Saether (as the combined Saether particle & fluid composition would come to be colloquially known) technology advanced & spread rapidly, adopted to some extent by nearly every kingdom, city & town across Khorvaire. The harnessing of Saether has allowed for the proliferation of magitech, so that the creation of simple enchanted items no longer required incredible expenditure of magical power by expert sorcerers. Saether reactors were built into the hearts of major cities or the basements of keeps, conduits of humming Saether-cord lines feeding power from them to distant devices.
Now, following the Illithid invasion, new levels of magitech power utilizing Saether combined with Soul Attunement technology has been discovered and it is whispered that a new age is on the horizon...

Type

Metaphysical