Arcanite

Properties

Material Characteristics

Arcanite is a bright reddish crystal. Though it's color varies to the entire spectrum of the rainbow. In it's purest form Arcanite is a small transparent crystal. In it's refined from it is a fine colored powder. Arcanite can also be synthesized from certain living creatures, this substance appears vary different from the natural forms. The recently synthesized Arcanite is a dark brown soup that drys into a course brown powder. But Arcanite can also be found in many different items from magic pots and pans, to the strangest magic armor.

Physical & Chemical Properties

The Crystals are pretty stable and offer vary little danger to miners other then the task of mining to them. In its refined form it is a little more volatile as it is know to be slightly flammable. But the Synthesized Arcanite in its refined form is extremely dangerous as it has the tendency to catch fire at any major change in temperature. This could be moving a box of the stuff from a underground cellar to an upper floor or the hot wax of a candle landing on a bag of it. Due to this Synthetic Arcanite, is a controlled substance in many nations and outright banned in others.

History & Usage

History

Used by different peoples for hundreds of years its history is long and mostly forgotten. In 365UB a Contanian Alchemist by the name of Yorum Cesht discovered that the different enchanting minerals from around the continent where in fact the same thing. In a spark of un-originality, he daubed the mineral Arcanite.
Also, during his research, he discovered that it could be synthesized from certain living organisms. All these organisms had to have innate magical abilities. Though the Arcanite that was extracted was minuscule and very in-pure. These discovery's where so momentous ,the grate Contanian Philosopher and Alchemist Zaraphas called it in his one of his many essays on man and magic he wrote this "This discover is as momentous to magic as learning to walk is to a child, and we are now that child we are learning the most basic and yet most important thing." This discovery accounted for the long-time history of magic items made from the body parts of these creatures. With the discovery of Synthetic Arcanite during the subsequent century's as the information spread across the continent, magic and enchanting saw a large boom. This boom was almost like how enchanting used to be before the Great Cataclysm.
But with all the good that came with this so did many horrors. First of those is the over hunting of fey which disrupted the natural order of things in many provenances and allowed for more malicious creatures to fill the gap the local fey left. Second is the Sorcerer Hunts that took place in many nations most notably the hunts of 580UB and 625UB in the Kingdom of Dallion. Finally, the natural Arcanite became even more valued as lands where striped for the pure crystals.

Everyday use

As a Magic Catalyst

This is the most common use for the materiel as almost all enchanted objects from a self-heating tea pot to a bag of holding this mineral is the most basic and most important ingredient of any enchanter’s pantry. Though there are other minerals and compounds that have a similar effect to Arcanite this is the still the most used of all of them. It is used as a catalyst between the magic enchantment and the weave allowing the object to interact with the weave. It is also used in the making of inks for spell books and scrolls though the latter is more common.

As an Arcain Power Source

Used my mages for thousands of years this mineral has operated as a power source for extremely potent magic objects. Though other minerals are far more potent then this when it comes to a power source this is still one of if not the most used power source as it is so readily available. It has been used to power large floating buildings, magic golems, and even a large self-heating bath for a king. Since 810UB the Gergite Dwarfs have been experimenting with powering large vehicles with the substance.

Refinement

Pure Arcanite

The refinement of Pure Arcanite is a relatively simple posse. It first needs to be backed in an oven for a few hours to remove impurities. Once it is done in the oven it is crushed into a fine powder using a special rock crusher. After it is crushed it is backed again for another few hours after its second backing its sifted through a very fine mesh. After the sifting, its ready to be used.

Synthesized Arcanite

This possess is far more difficult as it requires the parts of a dead animal to be broken down into Arcanite this can also be very dangerous. First the animal is skinned, and the vital organs removed, these are at minimum the heart and liver. After that you take the organs and you mash them into a fine paste which is then placed on large baking sheets. The sheets are then sprinkled with iron powder and backed for a day or more in a well heated oven. After the baking, the sheets are taken out with a brown solid sheet which is then crushed unto large chunks. These chunks are water soluble allowing them to be made into a kind of soup. This soup is heated for three to five days after that it is left out in the sun to dry into a salt like powder which is the final product.

Type

Ore/Mineral

Odor

Citrusy Acidic

Color

Commonly Fire Red (but it is know to be many different colors)

Boiling / Condensation Point

5,738° Fahrenheit (3,170° Celsius)

Melting / Freezing Point

4,560° Fahrenheit (2,516° Celsius)

Common State

Solid Crystals