Cloudcrystals

Cloudcrystals are a rare and dangerous-to-harvest material used by the avians to store and transport energy. It takes the shape of teardrop-shaped crystals varying in size. They can only be grown in Boiling Sky, a unique expanse of sky within Arial known for it's heat, constant updrafts, lack of floating islands and the cloudcrystals.

Uses

Cloudcrystals are unrivaled in their ability to gather and store large amounts of energy, making them natural batteries. They are used by the avians to power their technology, inventions and modern luxuries. They are fundamental to their health system and travel, being used to power large hovercraft such as the Boiling Sky Hovercraft.

Formation & Harvesting

Exactly how cloudcrystals form is unknown, but the current predominant theory credits the constant heat and updraft of Boiling Sky, two traits unique to the region. There is also a sub-theory that states large amounts of uninterrupted space is needed, another trait unique to Boiling Sky.
The predominant theory states that residue blown up from the depths of Boiling Sky clump together, and the constant updraft always adds more thin layers of residue, slowly growing the size of the cloudcrystal. This is supported by residue that naturally gathers on the base of hovercraft and hovertowns that easily gathers static charge can dispense a nasty static shock if allowing to gather for too long.
Cloudcrystals gather in large clumps, known as cloudcrystal fields. They have to be picked by hand, as trawling the fields would prevent the creation of new crystals and smaller crystals are useless.

History

They were first discovered by avians adventuring into the Boiling Sky. Cloudcrystals naturally gather energy when shocked by lightning, which is how their unique properties were initially discovered. After scientists figured out how to artificially charge the crystals, they created an industrial revolution for the avians, including the pioneering of hover technology. Hovertowns began cropping up near the cloudcrystal fields. These hovertowns base their entire livlihoods around the cloudcrystals, though recently some of the larger towns have also turned to tourism.

Name: Cloudcrystals
Location/s: Boiling Sky
Uses: Energy storage and transport