Darkstone

"Darkstone, also known as the Tears of Mizov, is a dangerous substance and extremely difficult to work with. Only magical forges can even hope to shape it, and most of those places would refuse to do so for fear of tainting their forge."
~Alvertos Flamedraft

Properties

Material Characteristics

Darkstone is a smooth, obsidianlike stone that is nearly unbreakable. It is one of the hardest substances on Kobos.

Physical & Chemical Properties

Darkstone is always bitterly cold. It draws the warmth and life of anything it touches into itself and devours it.

Origin & Source

Darkstone rains down from Mizov when the dark moon suffers a celestial impact. Only the largest stones survive the descent, and they are never very much larger than a pony by the time that they land.

Life & Expiration

In its natural location of Mizov, darkstone persists forever. On Kobos, unless it is contained by foul necromantic rituals or destroyed by being brought to consecrated ground, it will either evaporate and seek out a corpse to animate as an undead or it will wear a hole to the shadowfell.

History & Usage

Everyday use

Darkstone is almost exclusively used for evil ends: sacrificial altars center evil cults or power heinous necromantic rites, a particularly nasty weapon designed to hold negative energy might have a small darkstone in its pommel, or amulets that aid the owner in drinking the lives of those around them.

Refinement

Trapping darkstone in stasis requires a mimicry of the deathblow that felled Mizov: a blast of magical force.

Hazards

Darkstone exudes shadowfell energies, even if its been processed by magical force. While processing prevents bosetors from opening around it, it will still taint any area that it occupies for long enough and will likely taint any mortal who is exposed too long to it. This effect is muted to varying degrees when it is set into an object as its properties are redirected to fueling the magic, but it never goes completely away.

Distribution

Law & Regulation

In Maecodia, it is illegal to sell darkstone. It is considered a religious duty by the Reverents, Deminites, and the Entropians to turn them over or report them to the nearest church official so that they can be properly destroyed. Most towns and cities consider it a legal as well as a moral obligation.

Type

Ore/Mineral

Rarity

Very Rare

Color

Darkstone is black, though it's a darker black than the word specifically describes. Looking at darkstone can be dizzying, as light simply cannot escape its surface.