Stone Paper

Stone paper is a strong, durable paper-like material made from limestone dust and alchemical mixtures. Used as an alternative to plant-based paper, stone paper is characterized by its strength, water resistance, and longevity. There is also the added benefit that it did not require trees or other plants to create.

Origin

Given the aggressive nature of the trees that make up the Evermore Wood combined with the underground lifestyle of Dwarves, paper or papyrus was not at all common. Maintaining the history and lore of the dwarven people was difficult and laborious resulting in the loss of much of their history as it was only passed down through oral traditions or went undocumented.
It wasn’t until an ingenious alchemist by the name of Marthe Inkhelm was experimenting on the properties of various stone leftovers from traditional stonemasonry that things would change. She discovered that limestone could be combined with certain chemicals produced by alchemy that allowed the treated stone it to accept dyes and inks. With some revisions and refinement of the process using limestone ground into a fine powder and a special alchemical mixture (kept a closely guarded secret among papermaking craftsman) which led to the development of proper books using stone paper with animal leather or insect chitin as covers.

Properties

• Strong: Less prone to tearing and resistant to stains.
• Flame Resistant: While stone paper can be burned, it is not so easily done. Errant sparks can leave marks, but won't cause the paper to smolder or burn unless held to an open flame. It will also burn slower.
• Water Resistant: Stone paper is also fairly water resistant, though the same cannot be said for fresh ink upon the page. It is still not generally recommended by dwarven librarians to submerge a book, however.
• Durable: While stone paper is not biodegradable, it is affected by sunlight and care should be taken when allowing stone paper writing to be exposed to extended sunlight. Rarely a problem underground and exposure is generally measured in weeks. When storing dwarven tomes in above ground libraries care should be taken to not leave them near windows.
• Recyclable: Using similar methods to its creation, stone paper can be recycled and restored allowing it to be reused. The process bleeds ink from the paper and recycled stone paper is indistinguishable from newly fabricated paper.

Item type

Trade/Manufactured good

Rarity

Only manufactured by dwarven papermakers.