COAG

Crystallized Ophiletene Aurora Gas or COAG is "the" miracle substance that single handedly won the war against the gods in favor of the Hellecians.

These clumps of green crystals contain trace particles of Cosmic Aurora trapped during a planet's formation. Ejecting the substance from its core, as the decaying radioactive elements trap the dissipating Aurora in volcanic "air bubbles."

The Hellecians use this substance as fuel for their fleet of star-decks (in place of Ichor sacrificed by their oarsmen), ammunition for energy-based weapons, armor for Lanaxdrian limb couplings & shaped into trinkets for royalty to temporarily increase their Ichorized abilities.  

However, the amount ejected from the core of an average-sized planet (assuming a metallic core forms under the proper circumstances to produce the substance) is barely enough to power a single star-deck.

Even upon its discovery by the Hellecian progenitors on Deloth. The four founders knew it would be impossible to scavenge enough COAG to fuel their fleet.

It's only when their dying mother Hellestine taught them the COAG refinement process did the Hellecians get to work building their fleet and its armory to storm Karoj-Menos.

After the end of the Pantheon Hegemony, COAG refinement became an arms race between the Delothian Collective & the Professional Guilds of Aeonite Craftspeople to out perform their competitor's fleet of merchant vessels.

Typically, COAG was easier and more plentiful on volcanic planets (namely in the Thermetolian Wedge under Aeonite control) and, in some cases, in orbit around large gas giants. While COAG could be synthesized in a lab by irradiating sulfur within a suspended "cocoon" of iron-nickel alloy.

The fastest way to make a lot of COAG was irradiating an already existing planet's core.

While the likelihood of boiling the inhabitants of a planet alive and/or poisoning their environment with radiation was very high. Delot refiners boasted their mechanical precision could safely produce the life-saving COAG without disturbing the ecosystems on a planet's crust. 

This was rarely ever the case. 

As for ammunition, most energy weaponry magazines consist of bolts of super-heated slag or matter acceleration batteries that are powered by a soldier's supply of Ichor. For this reason, many governments still issue gunpowder-based weaponry to their militias to cut costs and curtail favor with their troops.

With COAG, soldiers can keep their Ichor in reserve or (for heavy infantry) concentrate on keeping their energy greaves active on their Warrior Scale.

The only drawbacks with using COAG as a fuel source is the heat buildup and sludge accumulation. While not an issue for Aeonite physiology or star-decks, COAG heat buildup in energy weaponry can cause severe burns on a careless/inexperienced soldier.

On the other hand, sludge accumulation on a poorly-maintained vessel's fuel lines and exhaust ventilation systems could mean critical engine failure. And a poorly-cleaned barrel of a Hoplon's standard-issue Dodrini (or repeater rifle) can be the difference between fighting the enemy or hiding from the enemy...with a useless rifle.

While grateful for this innovation, many refinery guilds are still unable to explain how Aurora particles could be trapped in volcanic rock and why the Pantheon tried to hide its existence rather than use it in their construction of Karoj-Menos.

However, studies from the noxious gas planets of the Pylistesine Serpent prove a more nefarious origin to the power behind COAG.

Type

Metamaterial