Gemstones

Gemstones are mainly valued for their aesthetic beauty, but they also have arcane applications. Almost all of the gemstone mining in Pethron is carried out by the Dwarves, within territory they control. This can pose problems for those who do not have good diplomatic relations with them.

The only way to obtain gemstones, my dear, is to ask the Dwarves for the stone before they have found it. The humans do not seem to understand this - they go to the Dwarves and ask to buy stones that have already been mined, cut and set. When a Dwarf is mining and finds the rough beginnings of a gemstone he or she immediately sees it as it will be. If they do not have someone else already in mind, then they consider how it will look in their own collection. Once they have thought of it as theirs, they can never bear to part with it.
You must plan ahead. Months or maybe years before you will need the stone you go to the clan most likely to find a gemstone of the type you seek. You tell them of your desire for a certain type of stone, of a certain size. You negotiate how much you would pay for such an item. They will mark the conversation down in one of their grim looking books, and the dwarves of that clan will bear you in mind as they mine. Only with this preparation will a Dwarf think of a find as possibly being something that could be given to someone else.
Dwarves are greedy, but not impossibly so.

- Elavanor Halmnor of the High Elf Nobility

Properties

Geology & Geography

The central mountain range is the most common location for these gems, and it is here that they are mostly mined - the territory of various Dwarf clans. Some gems are mined by Gnomes in the hills between the central mountain range and the western mountains. Mining in the western mountains is not limited by tensions between the Kingdom of Men, the peoples of the mountain tops and the Elves (who support the peoples of the mountain tops to provide a buffer between themselves and the Kingdom of Men).