Eiquereus Marcasite

The Eiquereus Craglands are known mostly for their massive cubic blocks of pyrite and vast wealth of iron-containing compounds in general. Marcasite is one such material found in the Craglands which, while still sometimes lumped into resource processors, is more often used by miners and agri-miners as a natural indicator of soil acidity.

Properties

Geology & Geography

All soil in the Eiquereus Craglands is acidic as a result of pyrite weathering and leaching out sulfuric acid, but particularly acidic regions are prone to acid mine erosion and may be dangerous to miners and equipment - insofar as the mine operators in the Craglands actually care about worker safety. Under particularly acidic conditions, sulfurous iron compounds preferrentially crystalize as marcasite rather than pyrite, and arid conditions help to keep the marcasite from then breaking down into simpler sulfide compounds over time. Thus, the presence of large marcasite clusters in a mine beneath the Craglands might indicate the presence of a hollow nearby where acidic runoff or a hotspring once flowed, presenting a variety of potential dangers: poorly-supported cathedrals, hot trapped gasses, or even places where pockets of dangerous Distal creatures might hide.

History & Usage

Everyday use

The cultures of the Manifold Sky setting - at least those long-lived enough to have learned from their past mistakes - are not prone to turning up their noses towards unexpected sources of raw materials. Marcasite deposits are often processed together with other iron sulfide compounds at the in-situ processing facilities to create useful industrial byproducts, such as iron oxides and sulfuric acid.
Marcasite will sometimes find its way into the precious stone market because of less than knowledgeable resellers, as it does have an attractive golden lustre and sometimes grows in aesthetically pleasing clusters. However, the mineral will eventually decay under the more humid conditions of other tesseracts and the products will then go on to stain or corrode surrounding materials. Samples found outside of the Eiquereus Craglands are more often found at assay offices, museums, and educational institutions.

Type

Mineral