About Aetherium

The material known as Aetherium is not a unique resource for those who walk multiple planes and worlds; a crystalline mineral that has been applied in a number of uses both mundane and military. Still, considering its use in bringing mortal life into the new age it has in the world of Gaelinar, its properties and uses still bear elaboration, even if planewalkers have maybe guessed on many of these traits.

Properties

Material Characteristics

Aetherium is a pale blue-green mineral that has a crystalline shape. Most Aetherium rocks have a broad variety of sizes depending upon the discovered vein of the mineral, ranging from large, pointed shards to immense boulders. The material has a very faint, latent blue glow and gives off a minor amount of radiant heat, though not enough to be considered a burn hazard or a heat source.

Physical & Chemical Properties

Aetherium in its raw state does carry a great deal of dormant energy and some of the most crude applications of the material were in the use of basic martial weapons, either folding it into steel to form a cutting edge or faceted and cut into a whole sword. Swinging weapons made in such a way yielded an obsidian-like cutting strength as well as a sort of gusting force that applied to a target hit.
After further study by scholars of the time, it was discovered that Aetherium reacted in unique ways to raw elemental forces, meaning that the wind of a blade's swing actually charged the mineral with wind energy that transferred into the strike. Similarly, exposing Aetherium to fire caused it to heat up intensely and retain heat for a great deal of time; exposing it to electrical current caused it to collecte and violently dispel great levels of stored charge, and striking it with stone caused the energy of the blow to transmit through the Aetherium and discharge out the other side in a focused blast that hit with a multiplied level of force.
After years of continued experimentation and study, the new scholarly field of Aethitek began to piece together ways to direct, focus and combine these elemental properites into a variety of uses. An Aetherium battery was developed, which slowly cycled an initially introduced electrical charge and kept the current steadily flowing. Firearms were developed, combining a heat source that charged up an Aetherium crystal with a firing pin that tapped the bottom of the crystal to send the stored heat blast firing outwards in the direction the weapon was aimed. Even powered flight was made possible using a combination of directed blowing wind and electrical currents.
Faceting the material granted even greater applications, providing more directed control or greater storage capabilities depending on the cut and shaping of the Aetherium rock. Likewise, intentionally distressing Aetherium yielded predictably chaotic results, resulting in the development of things like grenades which superheat a small faceted globe of Aetherium then intentionally crack it in multiple places to expel the stored energy.
The crowning achievement of all of this knowlege, of course, was the development of the Piercing Spire superweapon. Still, the properties of Aetherium are continuing to unfold even in the modern age, and the power of Aetherium continues to provide seemingly limitless boons to the human life of Gaelinar

Geology & Geography

Aetherium veins are found underground, usually at depths of approximately 50 feet or greater. Teknikari and naturalist scholars are still unsure of how much Aetherium lies beneath the ground of the world, but most discovered deposits are astonishingly rich to the point that resources seem to be nearly inexhaustible.
That said, long-established Aetherium mines have run dry before. Two of the very first officially established mines, each found on the two main continents of Gaelinar, were decommissioned and shut down after the mine's supply was exhausted - a process which took approximately four years thanks to fevered harvesting and study during that time.
To prevent mines from exhausting supply, both the Meritocracy and Confederacy have issued careful controls on harvesting, manufacture and refinement of Aetherium. So far, these efforts have yielded results, as discovered Aetherium deposits now have an estimated lifespan of 10-15 years on average.