Lightening Orbs

Grapefruit sized balls of glass that emit a crackling, blue-white light, Lightning Orbs can be found across Kelbonnar, illuminating underground spaces, especially those where there is dangerous industrial, especially mining work being carried out. However, no living person in Kelbonnar has been able to make one, instead they are salvaged pieces of technology taken from the ruins of the The Lost Civilisation of Zastral, who appear to have used them as their main light source. To this day, it has not been possible for Imperial mages or engineers to replicate the technology successfully, so the supply of Lightening Orbs is limited to those that can be salvaged from the ruins of a dead civilisation.

Utility

What makes Lightening Orbs so useful is their ability to emit very strong, bright light without the need for an open flame that needs to be fuelled. This means that they are highly desirable for use in mines, particularly Blackpowder mines, where the presence of open flames is incredibly dangerous. The underground structures of all Blackpowder mines operated by the Empire of Turelion are illuminated with lightening orbs. In addition, the entire underground portion of the mining town of Kazskmal is lit by lightning orbs as the presence of so many Blackpowder deposits around the area of habitation means that the use of open flames is banned except to those that have special licenses.

Inventor(s)

Whilst the actual inventor of Lightning Orbs is not known, archaeological evidence indicates that they were made and probably therefore invented by crafts people belonging to the Lost Civilisation of Zastral.

Access & Availability

As they cannot be manufactured by anyone currently alive in the whole of Kelbonnar, Lightning Orbs can only be found in the ruins of the Lost Civilisation of Zastral. A whole salvage industry has been built up in the Imperial Colonies of Zastral dedicated to finding the orbs, which fetch a high price on the market and are always in demand.

Complexity

Researchers from the Imperial College of Arcanists have worked tirelessly to try and replicate the spells that are placed on the orbs, to both enable the consistent trapping of lighting in the vessels and to strengthen the glass surround so that it works effectively. Whilst the capturing of the lightning has been replicated to a high degree of accuracy, so far any attempts to replicate the technology of the surrounding orb perfectly have been fruitless.
Either the glass surround has been too thick or opaque to provide much if any light, or the surround has been too thin, which allows the contained lightning to emit the same level of bright light, but has not been strong enough to contain the power within.

Discovery

The first Lightening Orb to be found by a modern humanoid was discovered by one of the crew members of the Seacrake, the vessel that was shipwrecked on Zastral and which rediscovered the continent. This Lightening Orb was one of the many curios brought back to the Empire of Turelion and since then they have been found in almost all of the ruins of the Lost Civilisation of Zastral so far discovered.