Exotic Materials

Woods

• Soarwood, rare even in the most abundant and ancient forests of Edras, possesses a magical buoyancy. It is also rumored to grow in greater number on certain skyfells - though if true, these floating islands are likely well-hidden and protected. Boats made of it skim effortlessly over the surface of the water, and it is a vital component of the Aressean airships.
• Saelarin is the wood of the rare saelas tree and is known for a peculiar set of qualities. Not only is it extraordinarily flexible for days after harvesting, making it easy to work with, but items made from it will grow back to repair any damage they suffer. This is because saelas tress, when felled, do not die. Many an item made from saelarin has later been discovered to harbor a dryad or other tree spirit.
• Gloomgnarl, so named because the tree it comes from seems to absorb light and the space in its canopy appears to be in magical darkness. This wood is normally only found in Mourn, the Fell of Shadows, though occasionally grows in areas of Edras where there are thinnies to Verathrox's realm. Extremely difficult to cut down, a gloomgnarl tree can dull an axe before it has even bitten through the outer, dead bark layer. Gloomgnarl's most notable property, however, is that when burnt it gives off darkness rather than light.
• Rimewood, also called glacial spruce, is semi-petrified version of an arctic ash. When magical cold weather moves in too fast and forms a massive cold front freezing everything in its path, trees sometimes become permanently sealed in icy coating and infused with arcane energies. These trees will continue to flourish and spread, even turning green and remaining warm inside their icy shells. Harvesting one requires serious luck and no small amount of skill.
• Agolint is the prepared wood of the ssilbough tree. Ssilbough trees store most of the sunlight they absorb externally in their wood and leaves, using it in conjunction with their strange glittering bark to create a silvery bioluminescence that attracts nocturnal insects. The wood of a ssilbough tree retains this bizarre property even when cut from the tree, leading to it becoming a highly prized material for furnishings, as well as the grips and hilts of various weapons. It is rare and, as far as is known in the current time, is only found in a few forests on the entire continent.
• Lacrimori, more commonly known as ghostwood, is a dull grey wood that grows in areas tainted with the essence of death and undeath - cemeteries, battlefields, the forests of Kharagess and Noz Gorroth. Infused with ethereal energies, lacrimori exhibits the strange ability to both effect things which are incorporeal and itself become incorporeal.

Metals

• Cold iron is a type of iron ore mined deep underground. Demons and many fey creatures are particularly vulnerable to it, as are certain other magical creatures such as jackalweres. Weapons and armor made of cold iron generally cost much more than the normal price, and are more complicated (and costly) to enchant. It is forged at a lower temperature than normal iron or steel, in order to preserve its properties.
• Mithral, also spelled mithril and known as truemetal among the dwarves, is found in rare veins and pockets in the Upside Down, and below some mountain ranges. When properly refined and forged, it becomes the shining silvery-blue metal so favoured by elven craftsfolk—hard as iron, yet light and flexible. Items cast from mithral weighed only half as much as similar items forged from steel. Since pieces of armor made from this valuable metal were very light, they allowed the wearer to make better use of their natural agility and were less restrictive on spellcasting.
• Arandur is found as streaks of blue-green ore amid vitreous glass and igneous rock on Vishatra, and some active volcanoes in the lands of Edras. When properly refined, forged, and tempered with the blood of a blue or red dragon by gnomish smiths, the result is a distinctive silver-blue metal with a green reflective shine. Arandur is famous for both holding a sharp edge, and partially absorbing arcane energy (especially magic missiles).
• Dlarun, also known as icesteel, is a bone-white metal that takes a very high polish and is often mistaken for ivory, but has a highly visible green sheen under candle-light or magical illumination. Dlarun is a little known metal of the halflings, who are very secretive about it, often giving misleading descriptions when asked or feigning ignorance. If a piece of magical jewelry or other decorative item made from dlarun came into contact with the wearer's skin, it would confer to the wearer a limited ability to see through illusions and ignore certain psionic effects. Armor crafted from the metal offered limited protection from fire, and weapons would strike with an icy frost.
• Fell Iron comes from Ereshkigal—the Ascendant Realm of Magog, the Throne of Sin—where cataclysmic battles have raged for eons, laying down a sediment of metal, ichor, blood, and magic. Fell Iron is mined from these thin deposits of ferrous material, then cold-forged to preserve its innate powers. The finished metal looks like dark steel, except for any cutting edges, which are wickedly sharp, and crimson as freshly spilled blood.
• Starmetal refers to a group of metals that come from distant planets and fallen stars. These metals are extremely rare and very expensive, such that the impact of a meteoroid can cause gold rush-style events. There are seven known starmetals, each with its own particular properties.

Starmetals

• Feverstone is a blue-green starmetal that gives off a great deal of energy. This energy sickens those who spend time around it. Feverstone is rumored to have certain mystical properties, as portals made of the toxic metal that lead to the Upside Down have been found beneath ancient city ruins. It is also known to be associated with conjuration magic, and some claim that its source of power is the Abyss itself, hence the name. The starmetal can be used in place of steel in weapons and armor, causing them to glow as bright as a candle but sickening those who carry or wear them. In ancient times, the wealthy of Namhala had manacles fashioned from feverstone to keep their most important prisoners docile. The method of harnessing the inherent power of feverstone and using it to power potent magic items such as golems, traps, or massive magical devices was once thought lost but has recently been rediscovered by scholars studying ancient Namhala. Alchemically powdered feverstone can also be distilled into a potent poison known as fever powder.
• Adamantine is the most common of the extremely rare starmetals, and is known for its incredible hardness, strength, and ability to hold an edge. It is sometimes loosely known as Isillian steel, after the land where the largest known deposits are found. Weapons made of adamantine are incredibly hard and durable, and adamantine blades can cut through almost any material with ease. It can also be fashioned into incredibly dense, protective armor. Manipulating the metal requires special forges capable of reaching extreme temperatures due to its high melting point.
• Djezet, sometimes called quickiron, is the least understood starmetal, largely due to its unusual form: it is a liquid at all temperatures. The rust-red substance is a sought-after spellcasting component, as it amplifies magical power above and beyond natural spellcasting abilities. It is associated with enchantment magic, love, and lust. Because of its naturally liquid state, djezet is rarely used in making weapons and armor, although in ancient Vorgaria it was rumored that certain powerful spellcasters had developed djezet alloys.
• Horacalcum, the rarest of the starmetals, has the amazing property of warping time around it, either by slowing it down or speeding it up. Possessing the weight and density of steel, horacalcum has a dull, coppery appearance that can deceive ignorant examiners into believing that the starmetal is instead a far baser substance. Due to its extreme rarity, it is unusual for horacalcum to be found in quantities greater than a pound, although weapons and (fearsomely expensive) armor made from the metal allow the wearer to both react more quickly and also to perceive time around them moving more slowly. Horacalcum is associated with illusion magic, humility, and pride.
• Inubrix (also know as geist ore) is a starmetal capable of traversing iron and steel without touching them, warping reality around it. Despite its unique properties, inubrix is notoriously difficult to work with due to its softness, doesn't function well as armor, and creates fragile weapons. Weapons made of inubrix cannot harm anything made of metal. Inubrix can be used in the creation of magic items, and is associated with necromancy, temperance, and gluttony.
• Noqual is one of the rarer types of starmetal and has magic-resistant properties. It appears as a pale green crystalline metal, but can be forged like iron, and has half the weight of iron yet is just as strong. Noqual is associated with abjuration magic, charity, and envy. The mages of the First Age are believed to have learned how to suppress the starmetal's natural anti-magic properties long enough to create noqual golems.
• Siccatite is a silver-hued starmetal that emanates either intense heat or cold, igniting other substances or encasing them in ice after enough contact. Scholars disagree over whether it is two different, but similar-looking metals, or a single type of metal that determines its temperature through some yet unknown process. Smiths who work with siccatite can forge it into weapons and armor that take on the metal's properties. Weapons made of siccatite inflict extra damage, while armor made of the metal wards the wielder against exposure to either hot or cold. It is associated with evocation magic, wrath, and kindness. On rare occasions, larger objects are made of the starmetal, or else a thin covering is used to plate other metals.

Minerals

• Auracite, also known as holy stone, is the magical material that the Brisingelion and the Shining Ones brought with them when they arrived in Edras. At a glance, it can be mistaken for high-purity marble, but closer inspection reveals that it is oermeated by liquid veins of precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum. It is notable for the ease with which true magic items can be crafted from it and the immense amounts of energy - arcane, divine, or otherwise - that can it can store. Auracite is exceedingly rare in the Age of Kings, though there are supposedly vast stores of the stone in the vaults of Sanctum.
• Heartshift is a metamorphic rock usually found in island-chain volcanoes. The precise effects of different heartshift stones vary, but they are all capable of channeling, influencing, and amplifying thoughts and emotions. 'Younger' heartshift is a translucent stone with a multicolored sheen not unlike opal. Prolonged contact with younger heartshift muddies one's mind and makes it very malleable. Thus, it is commonly used as a brainwashing and/or interrogation tool or, in powdered consumable form as a part of many date-rape drugs. After the infamous Cult of Sh-nevri was revealed to have used younger heartshift to recruit its massive army and facilitate its bloody coup d'etat, many governments have banned possession and distribution of heartshift altogether. As the years pass and natural geological processes push deposits of younger heartshift upwards, they begin to mature into elder heartshift, which eventually takes on a certain, fixed color. In comparison to its younger variant, elder heartshift only channels and amplifies emotions based on its color. Small quantities of pink heartshift, for example, are sometimes used in jewelry for its lust-inspiring properties, while entire wars have been fought over greed-inducing yellow heartshift mines.
• Elascyr is a hard, yet fragile crystalline mineral of distinct violet color and a slight translucence. It's most famous property is how it reacts to the presence of magic, namely that it explodes violently and with such force that shards of elascyr have been known to penetrate full-plate armor. Elascyr explosions are strangely directional, tending to cause the most damage in the direction of the magic's source, as if attracted by it. Elascyr is vital to the city-state of Bastion, as it is used to create the ammunition for their alchemical firearms.
• Amaratha, also known as shieldstone, is a rare mineral that occurs as nodules on old rock strata—canyon walls on the surface exposed by time, or below in the Upside Down—and often in groups of a dozen or more. When rounded and polished into spheres, shieldstone is a sparkling pale green to greenish white. Shieldstone gets its name from its ability to attract and absorb electrical discharges - magical or otherwise.
• Warpglass is a bizarre substance fashioned from the raw, chaotic quintessence of Vishatra. It can be fashioned into weapons and items, but is too unstable to make into useful armor or shields. Raw warpglass is an opalescent glassy material with surprising strength. When worked, its appearance can change—though not its properties—to appear as random striations of other metals and types of stone.

Plants & Herbs

• Iskillon, a magical reed, has only ever been found growing along the banks of the Nulukkhur Mire and has has resisted all attempts to grow it elsewhere. Turned into papyrus, this material only allows for the truth as the writer knows it to be written, and as such is useful for affidavits and other legal documents. Turned into incense, anyone who inhales the smoke cannot speak a lie for as long as the reeds still burn. It's abilities have given it the street name of the Truth-Flower, despite the complete lack of any flowers on the plant.
• Bubble Lily is a large white flower encased in a delicate bubble. The nectar of the Bubble Lily is sweet, and known for its healing and rejuvenation properties. However, if the bubble is popped, the flower shrivels and dies, spoiling the nectar. The only way to harvest the nectar is with a long needle capable of piercing the bubble without popping it. However, it is said that their is a rare insect that drinks from the Bubble Lily.
• Bittermourn is a rare, colorless lichen that grows on rocks beneath year-round ice. When crushed and strained, it creates a clear gel at freezing temperatures that melts into liquid when warmer. Imbibing a pint slows the aging process and grants a lifespan of twice normal length, though gathering enough to achieve this effect is no small feat. If imbibed by someone near-death, it will place the person into a deep magical coma for up to four weeks.
• Nimriel's Caress is a rare rose that is easily identified by its black, velvety flower and long white thorns. The thorns are hollow and absorb liquids at a rate of a pint every few minutes, which is then stored in the plant's fibrous roots. The black rose's roots are often used to draw poison from wounds or, placed under the tongue, to absorb alcohol and prevent intoxication. Sometimes victims are tied down and pierced with the thorns to cause prolonged and painful exsanguination.

Other

• Djinnsblood is a rare black tar, mined from deep crevices in heavily volcanic regions. When ignited, djinnsblood burns until it is deprived of oxygen; the substance itself is never consumed by burning. Djinnsblood is a valuable commodity throughout the world, especially in cold climates. It is also the active component of everburning torches and other such items. However, the burning temperature of djinnsblood is lower than that of most woods and oils, making it inefficient for cooking and useless for metallurgy.
• Stonerot is a grey, viscous liquid found in the digestive tracts of monsters that feed on rock and stone. When properly preserved, stonerot aggressively dissolves most forms of rock or metal. It can even eat its way through many stones and metals that are normally resistant to corrosion, such as glass and gold, though it is completely harmless to most organic materials. Some cultures spike their food with stonerot, though its intensely bitter and vitriolic flavor is repulsive to most.
• Angelsk, sometimes called angel's skin, is the carefully flayed and preserved skin of a celestial creature. This celestial leather retains a portion of Vohamanah's essence, granting it increased durability and powers of both restoration and divination - depending on the creature it was taken from.
• Blue Ice is a dark blue, opaque ice that sparkles as if coated with tiny gemstones; caused by a thin layer of frost that forms over its surface. So cold that it burns flesh, blue ice only thaws under direct heat that would also melt iron. Found only in the depths of the most ancient glaciers, veins of blue ice are sought out and mined by those races that make their homes in the frigid north. Those who mine this material from the ancient glaciers often do so simply by melting away the surrounding ice; this is a dangerous procedure, though, since it can rapidly destabilize the surrounding ice.