Arcana Crystal

"Our gnomish kin thinks us strange for spending so much of our lives deep underground, but never have you witnessed anything as beautiful as the ley mines. Deep in the darkness, they are aglow with every color imaginable, arcana crystals larger than you've ever seen" - Brocc Rockhewer, Svirfenblin Miner

Properties

Material Characteristics

Arcana Crystals all emit a radiant glow and can be found in nine varieties, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Blue, Green, Black, and White.

Geology & Geography

Arcana Crystals are found naturally along the magical ley lines of Merkia. Rarely they can also be found in areas where extremely powerful magic has been cast.

Origin & Source

Arcana Crystals are made of condensed magical energy and are continuously formed at a slow rate as magic is used. The more powerful the magic the faster the Arcana Crystals form.

History & Usage

History

It is believed that the civilizations of the Mythic Era heavily relied on the use of Arcana Crystals for much of their day to day life due to the abundance of magic. Many ancient technologies are found with the remains of shattered arcana crystals inside them, however, replacing them with active crystals seems to have no effect on the object. This suggests that they had deeper understanding of the crystals that has been lost to time.

Everyday use

The main use of arcana crystals is to amplify a casters magic, with each color crystal effects a different school of magic. The larger the crystal the more powerful this effect is and many of the most powerful known spells cannot be cast without the aid of an arcana crystal. Each crystal can only channel a certain amount of energy before it is destroyed.

Refinement

While arcana crystals can be used in their raw form they are highly volatile. To mitigate this, they are typically cut into standardized sizes. While this also makes them more predictable it also makes assigning value to a given crystal significantly simpler

Distribution

Trade & Market

Due to the difficulty and time-consuming process of obtaining arcana crystals, they are considered a very luxurious item. Officially they can only be purchased from The Svirfneblin, though many find their way into black markets.

Law & Regulation

In many regions, there are no official regulations against arcana crystals, with the exception of Zauwry where the Sorcerer kings covet them, and harshly punish those in the domains that possess the crystals.