Manarium (Mah-nar-ee-um)

Summary

Mana is everywhere, and is generally okay with that. Some things about physical reality really likes mana, though, and so tries to bait it closer. Some mana ends up taking that bait, and the other mana decides, "hey, that looks fun", and so joins in. A daisy-chain effect follows where mana starts accumulating in a fun place.
When physical material becomes supercharged with unusual concentrations of mana, manarium is the result. It is not an inherently dangerous or chaotic thing, simply that it has more mana than normal. Some things can resolve this normally, such as plants gradually consuming the mana for their own purposes. Other things seek out these weird concentrations, slurping up the mana (intentionally or not). Whatever is fortunate enough to stay around long enough starts to create pretty generous deposits of manarium. This generally happens with dirt and rocks, but stuff like dead trees, old equipment, disused items, and likewise can also become 'manarium'. Or at least, charged with mana.
In common vernacular, manarium is usually a type of ore in the veltron. When a good deposit is found, be whatever the actual base material is, it can be mined up and processed for its mana. The fundamentals of it aren't that different from prospecting for copper, iron, gold, and other metals. Once the mana is extracted, the core material is mundane and ordinary, and so discarded if that has no real use. There is something of an upper limit to how much mana can be present, though. Once a threshold is reached, manarium gives birth to crysium growths, who continue the process instead. Because of how much more valuable crysium is, quite a number of people choose to leave manarium deposits alone and come back later.
That said, manarium has its uses in various reagents, fertilizers, and low-intensity mana needs. In the case of manarium-rock, the resulting rock can look quite beautiful with the pulsing veins of mana throughout it. Some primitive forms of architecture sought out this type of rock to create places of power for priestesses, mages, and anyone attempting magic. The practice brought innovation toward mana-utilizing architecture for many cultures, becoming an important if ignoble part of their histories.

Physical Characteristics

Raw manarium principally takes on the nature of the thing its composed of. Its easily identifiable by the 'mana veins' throughout it, growing and spreading without rhyme or reason. These veins often show the type of mana that is accumulating, displaying colors and some physical natures–fire is smoldering and magma-like, where as wind is shimmering and gassy, for example. If one isn't sure about it entirely, breaking up the manarium causes the mana to release in harmless flashes of light. Something that can quite surprise an unaware miner.
As manarium matures and begins reaching the crysium-producing stage, it hardens and becomes somewhat 'glassy'. It soaks up surrounding material around itself, expanding the manarium deposit size through a process similar to assimilation. The how or why of this remains a mystery throughout the world, but when crysium starts erupting out, the manarium underneath settles down. At that point it could be mined and processed, but there isn't anything newer or special about doing so.

Type

Ore/Mineral