Arcanite

Arcanite is a catch-all term for several varieties of corundum which have become imbued with (and transformed by) the raw essence of magic over thousands of years of exposure to intense heat, cold, and pressure.

Properties

Material Characteristics

Arcanite is a gemstone, and a variety of corundum. It can be found in the colours of the visible spectrum, and glows with a visibly thaumichrome shine in dim light. While it maintains the ambient temperature of its surroundings, it always feels warm to the touch.

Physical & Chemical Properties

While many gems have the ability to hold a thaumic charge, Arcanite is unique in its ability to restore a spent charge by accumulating ambient thaum from the world around it over time. This property makes arcanite crystals a natural thaumic capacitor, capable of powering all manner of magical, metamagical or automagical effects without needing to be an intrinsic part of them.

Plainly, the same arcanite chip can power a glyphoscope, or a sky-bike, or a steam boiler. It provides clean thaumic energy which recharges over time. Its uses and permutations provided a quantum leap in Tellurica's thaumotechnological development, and changed the face of Navia forever.

Compounds

It is suspected that a synthetic variety of Arcanite was used by the demilich Acererak in fashioning the gems used in his transformation ritual.

Geology & Geography

Arcanite is largely found where strong thaumic fields are subject to intense heat, cold, and pressure for long periods of time such as;

Beneath the Great Hoeden Glacier,

Around the roots of mountains,

In the deepest trenches of the oceans,

In the Moment.

Origin & Source

In Navia, the largest deposits of arcanite are found in Hyperborea's Hoedenheim Territory, and in Lemuria's Grand Abyss.

History & Usage

History

The first substantial deposits were discovered by explorers⁽¹⁾ in archaeomantic sites dating back to the Jotundraken War in the Red Age.

1. The polite way of saying 'opportunistic tomb robbers'.

Arc

Type

Ore/Mineral

Taste

Magic

Boiling / Condensation Point

1° T

Melting / Freezing Point

Special

Common State

Crystalline deposits, typically in underground caverns and vaults.