Leik

Welcome, new citizen, to the great splendor of Dorralia, city of Storms! As a new settler from one of the neighboring mines or dwarfcities, the High Council has deemed it necessary that you are informed of a magical peculiarity. Please read the following carefully, because it is both highly useful to understand Leik-crystals and highly dangerous to not.

What is Leik?

Leik is a term coined by the Thaumaturge Rabhakar Mirewright, who was a the first dwarf to fully harness the crystals. The term is a portmanteau from our words Leigg and Muick, so it literally means shining miracle. The term is quite apt, for Leik-crystals are clear crystals that can be found natively in and around Dorralia and can also be mined from the rock below.
These clear crystals hold one of Dorralias greatest secrets. When struck by lightning, the Crystals are transformed into containers of great power, which can be revealed by wetting the crystals with water, causing them to shine a pale blue light.

History of the Stormcoast

Leik-crystals were known far before Dorralia was even conceived by Queen Golrok and King Circalion, but no one understood how to harness them. The Wizard Obanion the Wise describes them almost 2 milennia before their first use in Dorralia.
Back then, the Stormcoast was an undesirable stretch of land. The constant storms made life hard and the dangerous currents and high cliffs prevented the formation of trade routes via the sea. The strange crystals that glowed in the rain were barely known to scholars at the time and then only dismissed as a novelty item.

by Ninodonlord (via Midjourney)

Mysterious origin

For reasons not yet known at the time, the crystals hold a particular affinity to static fields. In fact, Leik-crystals can draw lightning strikes far more effectively than even very conductive metals. There is, however some danger involved. Charged crystals become volatile from the stored energy. Repeated strikes by lightning will cause the crystal to crack and ultimately explode, no longer stable enough to contain the energy within. This missing knowledge would however not stay hidden for long...

Rabhakar Mirewright and his spiritual descendants

It was shortly after the first founding when the city only had one ring of walls, that the thaumaturge Rabhakar Mirewright discovered further properties of the crystals. When in the charged state, the power within is slowly depleted when in contact with water.
More importantly, if proper metal (copper primarily) or magical (runic) pathways are opened for the crystal to flow into, the crystals can effectively power rune magic, a branch that was previously considered too wasteful to accomplish useful spells.
Rabhakar and all the thaumaturges of Dorralia that came after made it their lifes work to studying, further developing and understanding the intricacies of Leik-Magic as the new field was dubbed. Now, many years later, the devices born from it are much more developed and can accomplish almost everything that regular spells could, with some limitations in flexibility of course.
Today, you can buy Leik-devices from many licensed thaumaturges throughout Dorralia to improve your daily life!

Midnight by Henry Fuseli

How to keep yourself safe from the potential dangers

Now that you know the basics about Leik, here are the three important rules to keep in mind when interacting with and handling Leik and its derivatives:

1. Never bring a charged Leik-crystal into a storm unless you are near taller structures that Lightning will strike instead. Because of this you are risking your life if you take Leik-crystals beyond the city gates!
2. If the crystal is leaking glowing vapours, take it to a trained Thaumaturge. The leaking indicates damage to the runes scribed into the crystal and the entire device could damage you or your property.
3. Do not alter any runes unless you know what they do within the thaumaturgy.