Eosium Miner

WIP - Summer Camp 2023

In the merfolk city of Qasceile, before the widespread cultivation of the bioluminescent algae known as glow dust, all light used to come from a mineral known as eosium. Eosium is a glowing and toxic ore found in the deep ocean around areas of volcanic activity. There is a large amount of it deep in the Azupl Sea, which houses a volcanic iland chain just south of the Expanse.
When Qasceile was first founded, eosium was already being mined by the the nomadic Kanai on a very limited scale. They used it for light in the darkest parts of the ocean. The merfolk of Qasceile expanded this operation, setting up a permanent mining town near one of the largest deposits in the Azupl Sea. The trip between Qasceile and the mines took over a month, but the fledgling city needed light.
For the first twenty years of Qasceile's life, the eosium miners were invaluable, digging up large amounts of the ore to be ferried back to the city. Side effects of the job, however, became apparently after around five. Miners who spent long hours exposed to the raw ore began to suffer from nausea and their skin began to softly glow. Eventually, parts of their body slowly began to be worn away, especially their fingers, fins, and faces.
Research for an alternative began pretty quickly, and it was soon found the naturally occuring glow dust algae on the underside of the Expanse could be easily and rapidly cultivated. Soon, much of the city's lighting began to be replaced with the friendlier, more sustainable algae. The eosium trade, however, limped on for another two hundred years, mainly driven by the elite of Qasceile who wanted a more solid material for their lighting needs. Eventually, the need for eosium was replaced with viridescenite, an inert glowing rock found at the south pole, which was brought for trade by the Kanai. Some of the elite still have small pieces of eosium in their homes today - a status piece. In its smaller and more processed form, eosium seems to have minimal ill effects.
The mining town has long since been abandoned. Occasionally, desperate people will set up camp there to mine eosium for profit or on the request of a benefactor.