Lledstone
Named after the essence of magic, lledri, lledstones are the foundation of magical invention in Belkora. The only inanimate object that can hold arcane energy, these stones can be used as a power source for almost any kind of magic, whether innate, enscribed, or even mechanical. This has led to the small stone being one of the most sought after commodities in the land.
Properties
Material Characteristics
Lledstone is a green stone with a similar hue to emeralds, but with next to no luster, making them have an incredibly dull surface. They have an odd cleavage, breaking into an almost star looking shape. They also exude a strong magical aura, making any attempts to detect magic go haywire as they only detect the lledstone.
Geology & Geography
Lledstone can technically be found anywhere there is magic in the air, whether in a plain, a forest, a desert, or even the bottom of the ocean. Anywhere there is soil, lledstone can grow. However, there are some areas that has a higher tendency to grow lledstone, where magic is stronger in the air. Some places with a large quantity of lledstone are the Elder Peaks near The Old Kingdom, the forests of Codwyg, and the fields of Agrotia.
History & Usage
History
Lledstone has been known throughout time to be a source of power. In the olden days, lledstone was viewed excusively as a tool for mages to perform incredible feats of manipulation
, with many folk tales speaking of how entires mountains, island, and ocean were created by mages drawing from large deposits of lledstone. Eventually, though, lledstone began to be used by those other than the few gifted with an innate talent for magic. Esoterics used lledstone to create the first simulacrum, giving the power of manipulation to all who were invested.
Even with manipulation spread beyond those born with the ability, lledstone was still viewed as a mystical resource that was elevated beyond the hustle and bustle of ordinary life. This changed when people discovered that lledstone could be turned into a form of ink or chalk to enscribe magic into objects that could be used by anyone. With this innovation, lledstone began to be viewed as any other commodity. This developed further as people realized that lledstone could be put into inventions as a power source, with functions both mundane and magical. Now, lledstone is one of the most commonly traded goods, along with metal and food.
Everyday use
The most basic use of lledstone that most people are familiar with from old tales is the ability for mages to supercharge their magic to bend the forces of the essences to their will in spectacular displays of power. Normal, their is a limit to how much a mage can manipulate an essence by how much arcane energy they can channel through their souls. However, having lledstone on hand increases this camp by channeling the energy through the stone as well.
Additionally, lledstone is often seen by people in glyphs that businesses often deploy. While people may not realize it unless they are studied in magic or are enscribers themselves, glyphs are all written in processed lledstone in order to channel arcane energy to perform the escribed function.
Cultural Significance and Usage
In the olden days, lledstone was viewed as a symbol of magical power, and that tradition is still quite alive in the Old Kingdom, where arcane magic is one of the pillars of the culture. They reject the more modern, industrial uses of lledstone, even the use of runes and glyphs. Along with the more traditional use as a magic enhancer and to make esoterica, high ranking mages in the kingdom will often adorn themselves with small bits of lledstone, such as on a necklace or on top of their staff.
Industrial Use
The most recent innovation in the use of lledstone is the use of it to power inventions. Arcane inventors have found a way to use machinery, both from local materials as well as materials from stardrops, to channel the arcane energy in lledstones. This arcane energy can then be used either to power a standard machine or to make a perfunctory manipulation. One of the more common uses of lledstone machines in recent times are the creation of street lights in Auronim, where the lledstone takes the wind flowing through the city and transforms it into fire.
Refinement
Most uses of lledstone requires no refinement, but if one wants to use it for enscribed magic, one must first turn it into ink. To do this, the lledstone must be crushed to a powder and then mixed with a magical varnish, a thin liquid that can solidify when exposed to air for long enough. Once thouroughly mixed, the varnish will dry on whatever surface it is applied to, and the mixed in lledstone is what channels the magic and allows for the rune or glyph to perform as intended.
Manufacturing & Products
The main thing that lledstone can be used to make is an esoteric simulacrum for use of manipulation by those born without innate magic. The first esoterica were carved completely of lledstone, but that was too expensive to be sustainable, so the esoterics in Galdorborg developed methods of cutting and placing lledstone into other objects in such a way that the ability for lledstone to channel arcane energy to permeate the entire object.
Distribution
Trade & Market
Since the development of lledstone ink and lledstone machines, lledstone has become a very hot commodity and is one of the most traded items on the continent. The three nations that have the most lledstone are the Old Kingdom, Codwyg, and Agrotia, although only the latter two trade the stone. Agrotia trades lledstone among the many agricultural goods they also export while Codwyg's only real connection with the outside world.
Within nations, lledstone is held by suppliers speicially trained in the handling of magical materials and is not sold directly to the public. Instead, mages and enscribers have to go through guilds, who actually purchase from suppliers, in order to obtain these materials. In the Old Kingdom, since lledstone is not commodified, if mages want the magical stone, they have to go into the Elder Peaks to find their own stone.
Law & Regulation
Most nations do not have direct laws governing who can purchase lledstone from guilds, although only guilds are legally allowed to buy from lledstone traders and suppliers. Instead, guilds are left to use their own discression on who to sell, although most require some evidence of the buyer being a trained mage or enscriber. In the Old Kingdom, the Archmage is in charge of the regulation of lledstone and is always on alert for any mage that seems to be trying to stockpile lledstone. To help with this regulation, the Archamge will usually hire a trusted mage to watcher over entrance to the Elder Peaks to prevent any who would take lledstone for nefarious purposes.
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