Aetherite

"Oh, I tell ya---up and down the streets there were these floating lanterns, casting the sweetest sunset glow I've ever seen. And they shone all through the rain, too. I heard the mages in their towers are busy tinkering away on all sorts of wondrous contraptions like these. I can't wait to go back and see what they make next."

— An account of the city Bhunyar

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This crystalline substance builds up in areas of the world with high magical activity known as arcane spiles. Whether it is a by-product of magic or magic itself in a physical form isn't fully understood, but this stuff sure does pack a punch. Magic can easily be focused through the crystal to perform certain tasks, but it dissolves from existence once used, leaving no material residue. Although aetherite was discovered in small quantities before the Wake, it never occurred in large enough amounts to be used or studied thoroughly. Now it continually builds up at spiles at fast enough rates to be broken off and used.

Besides being used raw to cast spells, aetherite can also power magical items, and its use in this regard is sparking the development of many wondrous technologies.

Manufacturing process

The process by which spiles form aetherite is not understood, but most deposits form a regular lattice around the globe, with a handful of other seemingly random locations that are usually weaker than the geometric ones. Breaking off usable chunks is as simple as taking a pick to it, but most take special care in the harvesting process to reduce waste. Aetherite crystals broken off a cluster can continue to grow, but not by much when outside a quarter-mile radius of a spile.

Significance

For their raw magical abilities and their refined application in technology, aetherite is a very valuable substance, making their deposits very valuable areas to control. Spile cities originally built around them to mine and trade aetherite are now looking into creating infrastructure based around the renewable magic source, such as public transportation or flameless lighting.

by Krystal Ng

Item type

Magical

Rarity

Small (1 level) --> Uncommon Medium (2 levels) --> Rare Large (3 levels)--> Very Rare

Dimensions

Raw chunks for magic consumption are roughly 5-8 inches in diameter

Base Price

75gp for one level, 175gp for 2 levels, and 300gp for 3 levels.