Shimmer is a highly viscous compound created as a byproduct of refining astraelite into more usable forms. The material earned its name due to its bright, pearlescent hue when exposed to even the softest lights. The material is an extremely efficient arcane conductor, allowing it to store a tremendous amount of power. Under the right circumstances, shimmer can also passively generate its own energy, allowing arcane machines to run indefinitely.
History
Shimmer was discovered around 2,700 PB by eladrin researchers attempting to refine astraelite into a more usable building material. While successful in their primary goal, focus soon switched to testing the newly discovered compound. This discovery kickstarted the eladrin's technological revolution and the complete overhaul of their societies and culture.
Uses
Nearly every piece of technology created by the eladrin involved shimmer in some capacity. The most well-known of these inventions is the warforged, sentient machines capable of independent thought and cognition. It has widely been accepted that the warforged would not be possible were it not for the discovery of shimmer, however the existence of the Kosandran suggest that shimmer may have only sped up their creation. Whichever the case may be, it is thanks to the shimmer that warforged are still able to exist today, having long since been abandoned by their eladrin creators.
Beyond the warforged, shimmer was also used throughout their weaponry and defensive technology. Eladrin blades were often infused with shimmer, allowing it to store more powerful spells and enchantments than traditional runes alone allow. Some weapons even combined shimmer with runes, allowing for dual spell storage. Shimmer was also used to power enhanced crossbows and rifles, replacing traditional ammunition with powerful bolts of magical energy. These weapons proved extremely difficult to counter, as demonstrated by how swiftly the eladrin were able to conquer the entirety of Yrnath in only a few years.
