Rock Crystal
Properties
Material Characteristics
Rock Crystal is a hard, clear mineral that forms in long hexagonal shapes with sharply pointed ends. Rock Crystal has the interesting property that when any amount of light it reflected off or through it, the light splinters back into a rainbow of colors. So while these rocks are technically clear, they appear to the naked eye to be an ever-shifting rainbow of colors. It has a particular luster that makes it very attractive to the eye.
Rock Crystal is smooth and glass-like to the touch. Rock crystal that has been harvested from underwater will have had its sharp hexagonal edges worn away with time until it resembled perfect cylinders. It will not take on heat and is always cool to the touch.
Physical & Chemical Properties
Rock Crystal is characterized by its purity and clarity. It needs to be at least 90% pure and 95% clear, or else it falls into the much less desirable category of white quartz. Rock Crystal is particularly hard, hard enough to cut glass, stone, and metal. It is only malleable with extreme heat. It has to be mined with accelerant torches that will create clean breaks in the mineral.
If you spot a fracture in rock crystal, it is evidence of either extreme heat or extreme pressure, and a surefire sign that the properties of the crystal have changed to something less desirable.
Rock crystal is thought to have healing properties, with many saying, especially in the eastern kingdoms and Sacred Flower followers, that rock crystals give off positive and soothing vibrations. They are also though to ward off bad spirits.
Geology & Geography
Rock crystals are found on the walls and floors of lake caves, especially in The Misted, Dead Obsidian Mountain Ranges, and with some of the highest concentrations being in the caves along Starshadow, StarSign, and WinterRose Peaks. It is found abundantly in all of these places, and there is no current worry that the material could become scarce.
These minerals were formed from hot magma that cooled in the mountains instead of erupting for volcanoes, and then groundwater ate away at the cooled magma over hundreds of thousands of years, leaving large formations of rock crystals behind in the caves of underwater lakes.
History & Usage
Discovery
Rock Crystal was first discovered by Samia Lynx, an early priestess of the Sacred Flower region, deep in the underwater lake of WinterRose Peak. It was said she was drawn to the sparkle of the stone all the way from the bottom of the mountain (although standing there today, it is hard to see how that is possible). Samia brought back two small crystals, one that she carried in each palm, swearing that they would protect her and her descendant. One was turned into the first Dark Detector, and the other, a perfectly rounded hexagon was used in a pendant that has been passed from head priestess to head priestess ever since.
Everyday use
While the most common uses for rock crystal are both jewelry and the blades of cutting tools, there are some specialized uses that make rock crystal particularly important to seek out. Paper thin sheets of rock crystal carved from the ends of larger deposits are used to make Crystal Clostures – objects which have the near magical property to preserve whatever is left inside them. The off-cuts of rock crystal are heated and then cooled flat, and layered with mirrored glass to create Magical Mirrors – objects that can then be enchanted as communication devises over long distances. Priestess of the Sacred Flower Religion are known for collecting their own rock crystals from WinterRose Peak in order to make Dark Detectors – a sacred religious object used in ceremonies to drive out evil spirits.
ccRQ
31mmi
Type
Ore/Mineral
Color
clear, rainbow
Density
44 g/mmi
Common State
solid
Related Locations
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