Dusk Fiber

Dusk Fiber is a material made from a combination of ingredients.
The foundation of Dusk fiber is spider threads that have been taken from the cocoons large spiders wrap their prey in. They have to be collected in short order, and typically before the spider is actually done with their meals. This makes the entire process potentially dangerous as larger spiders have no problem considering sapient races for their next meal if they are hungry enough. They must collect the threads quickly because they are only viable for so long before they break down too much to be usable for their purposes. Part of standard tactics is tossing in something both to distract the spider, and replace the meal they are taking from it. So they can simply run off with the cocoon and process it later. Killing the spiders isn’t an option, as they would limit the resource even further.
The spider thread is then spun with fibers gained from a variety of plants. Coconut husks and river reeds are particularly useful for the process. This gives the spider silk a bit more bulk, while allowing more surface area for the chemicals in the next step of the process to adhere to.
The next step in production is giving the spun threads a chemical bath with a carefully monitored brew made fresh for each batch. The threads are left to soak over night, and when they are brought out the next day, they are carefully hung up to dry in long strips back and forth. After a further twenty-four hours, the threads are tested for tackiness. If they are still tacky, they need to dry longer. If not, they are ready. If they are still tacky twenty-four hours after that, someone had royally messed up the brew, and the entire process has to be started over again with fresh spider silk.
The threads are then carefully hand woven on a loom to make sheets of fabric for what is needed, while others are kept off to the side for sewing.
The importance of the Dusk Fiber, is its ability to hold and control magics. Specifically, it was noted for it’s affinity for light based magics, and works spectacularly with invisibility spells. This is why the fabric was primarily used for cloaks. And it helped tremendously with the humans ability to perform hit and run tactics from the shadows of their more magically inclined opponents. While not really providing much in the way of protection, from attacks, it did a great job of allowing small forces to move about unseen by watchful eyes. Only to strike out from the shadows, inflict as much damage as they can, then slipping away again into the mists.
For this reason they were called Vale Cloaks

Properties

Material Characteristics

The finished fabric has a dark gray matte finish. Except, certain fibers can catch the light just right and reflex the light back spectacularly with a near rainbow sheen. Once woven and made into a cloak, the material keeps its natural color, unless it is acted upon with dyes or other treatments to change it’s color and properties.

Physical & Chemical Properties

The finished product Dusk Fiber is extremely light, but resistant to environmental influences like heat, or cold, and it beads off water spectacularly well. It is warm and comfortably while not being intrusive. Though it is almost exclusively used for outerwear like cloaks.

Origin & Source

The material are made from a combination of spider threads, that large spiders had used to make cocoons for their prey, spun with plant fibers for added bulk, and finally stabilized with a chemical bath. This treatment allows the fabric to be susceptible and conductive, to the ‘primal magic’ energies that are the limit of what the human tribes are able to produce. By either having sympathetic Elves aid them, or using carefully measure recipes of brews, they are able to enchant the Dusk Fiber into it’s most commonly known form: Vale Cloaks.

Common State

solid raw form