Spiricubus (Sp-ih-rih-cube-us)

Spiricubus (also known as Poprocks, Spark Lotus, Stairfalls, and Ainfijar--Exploder in Dwarvish) is a highly volatile substance found exclusively in the mines on the outskirts of the subterranean Demoor region. Spiricubus is highly valued as a component of arcane foci and artificing.

There is wide disagreement in the scientific, arcane, and mining communities about the nature of Spiricubus. Is it a mineral? A unique fungal growth? A subterranean plant? A creature of some sort? The characteristics of Spiricubus are the root (no pun intended) of this disagreement, as well as the fascination many have for it.
Most scholars align on the language crystal for the actual harvestable material, and entity for the large host that spawns said crystals in the mines of Demoor.

Properties

Material Characteristics

Spiral + Cube

Spiricubus is aptly named for its spiraling cubic appearance. The crystals grow in what are known as a hopper or skeletal crystal formation, wherein the crystals form cubic, concave spiraling shapes due to the arcane energy racing along the crystal is fastest/strongest at its edges, causing it to grow more quickly on the outside. This causes the inside to be more tightly knit together, with wider spirals outside as the crystal grows. These curious spiraled, right angles may be be less discernable when beholding a cluster from far away, with the overall shape growing in helixes, curls, or large arcs; up close, however, the crystal formations are unmistakable.
The crystals are semi-translucent, though the tight-spiraled bands mean one cannot really see "into" the crystals, only into the individual tiny bands.

Pretty in Purple, Glowy Glitter

The crystals are varigated purple hues, with elements of hot pinks, magentas, and even the very rare spark of amber pulsing and racing along the lines of the crystals.
The Spiricubus mines are constantly aglow with a soft bio(?)luminescence, glowing in the dark like softly pulsing nightlights (or armed explosive charges). This glow is the main "tell" of a dangerous crystal versus one that has been rendered inert through ritual means.

Protective Pods

Something only commonly known by miners or science enthusiasts is that Spiricubus actually naturally grows a protective shell around itself. In addition to being a helpful tidbit for miners to know to avoid striking the wrong explosive geode, this is a key trait cited in the "rock or organism" debate. These protective rock sheaths grow like (and are consequently referred to as) petals in some sort of "bloom" with the crystal sheltered at the core.
The petals are the same color scheme as the crystals inside (a key reason they are detectable at a glance) and are of smooth crystal. While they do not necessarily glow themselves, thin trickles of the glow from the resource inside sometimes leak through. These petals average approximately one-half to one inch thickness in ovular shapes like the petals of a flower, including coming to a point at the end--similar to the shape of a lotus or water lily's petals.
There is still research being done as to when these petals begin to "grow" in relation to the crystal's growth cycle. Spiricubus "buds" (crystals surrounded by petals) seem to be most common in larger crystal formations, leading researchers to hypothesize they are a defense mechanism to protect the larger crystal collection from the worst explosive radii. Harvesting larger crystals from inside these pods involves carefully chiseling away the "petals" to reveal the "fruit" of the crystal inside (without striking the crystal itself).

Geology & Geography

Spiricubus has thus far been located in a single hyperspecific area of the Demoor Region, located under the desert of the Stronghold of Broken Worlds.

The Bloom

In fact, all of this Spiricubus belongs to a single collection, colony, root, or entity (depending who you ask). The Spiricubus mine in the Demoor region is centered around a single mine shaft or vertical tunnel housing a "stem" or "trunk" of a truly gargantuan column of crystals and petals that spiral, helix, and fractal off the main body into the surrounding walls, caverns, cracks, and offshoots.
At the top of this "stem," a town-sized "bloom" of protective petals have thrust through the earth of the Stronghold of Broken Worlds like a massive flower. Here, the stone spikes curl up to the sky, stretching wide for miles like many steles with smaller petals and blooms found throughout. Each "bloom" (presumably) houses a large crystal, though none would dare trying to harvest such large caches. Instead, they are left to stretch toward the sun, the protective petals doing their job well enough to avert disaster but unable to protect the area from a fear of disaster, so that The Bloom is widely credited as one of the reasons even desert-loving folks don't populate the region.
Beneath the ground, at the bottom of the primary shaft housing the "stem" of The Bloom, new "blooms" have taken "root" and continued to grow, spiraling off in their own miniature colonies all descended from the primary system. In this, Spiricubus truly does feel more like an organism, some large plant or even fungal colony like those that characterize greater Demoor.

Life & Expiration

As far as discovered thus far, the length of time a Spiricubus crystal can hold its arcane "charge" is directly proportionate to the size of the crystal, with the smallest lasting the least and the larger maintaining potency (and danger) for much longer. The average Spiricubus crystal one will encounter in society is approximately 3 inches in diameter and can maintain a charge (including being used as a focus that trades power and is recharged) for 50-70 years. This number is impacted by how often the charge is drawn upon or refilled, much like a battery.
A crystal that has not been tempered by ritual means shatters in a contained explosion (about 3 feet for a 3 inch crystal), leaving nothing behind. A crystal that has been tempered will disintegrate. No attempts to extend a crystal's duration, preserve the shards to reform, or capture dust from a disintegrating crystal has succeeded so far.

History & Usage

History

The largest "petals" of the Spiricubus colony, collection, or entity (depending who you ask) began breaking through the earth of the Stronghold of Broken Worlds desert around 870 PB. This coincided with ancient reports of earthquakes devastating the region and is hypothesized to be the origin of Calliope Cut, the great chasm to the west, as the aboveground region shifted to accommodate the new growth.
The use of the crystals as a power source and subsequent mineshaft utilization would not come until much later, around 314 PB. Many priceless artifacts from the time before The Breaking feature Spiricubus, allowing this date estimation.
Predictably, mining of the crystal all but stalled in the time immediately after The Breaking, with people loathe to add mining disasters to their concerns, though harvest went through several resurgences as dedicated research staff sought to unleash the arcane power of Spiricubus to help "jumpstart" their connections to The Web before the Finite Architects were able to come to their conclusions around Godcrafting.

Cultural Significance and Usage

The curious nature of Spiricubus, including its mysterious classification, leads to great cultural fascination with the substance. There are even scattered rumors of those in the Demoor region that have formed a pseudoreligion around this fascination, with further factions in this pseudoreligion advocating for Spiricubus to either have free reign of Ostelliach and never be harvested or for it to be a staple of worship in every home altar setup.
Sharminds are especially drawn to this theology and whether or not they "worship" the crystals, they revere them as a very important symbol of their strength. Dwarves, rock gnomes, trolls, and those who are commonly miners (especially those who actually work in the Spiricubus mine shaft) are also prone to strong opinions on the substance, either adoring it or reviling and fearing it for how hard it makes their lives and its relative untrustworthiness.

Refinement

Spiricubus theoretically could be refined into different shapes or even states (crushed to powder, etc.).
However, given the extremely volatile nature of it, Spiricubus is almost entirely what-you-see-is-what-you-get once it leaves the mines. Those who harvest the crystals from the earth are most trained, skilled, and protected from the consequences of if an errant crack detonates the material. Any attempts to carve, cut, cleave, shear, or shape the crystals must be done with the most care possible, and almost no one outside of the Spiricubus miners want that risk. This is why the smallest crystals are the most prized--they have the most buyers. The larger the crystal, the more expensive, and given you pretty much have to use it at the size and shape you bought it at...most people don't have interest.

Ritual Tempering

In order for the crystal to be of use to most people, a sort of magical warding must be done to temper the explosive nature of them. This ritual is readily shared with would-be artificiers, crafters, and spellcasters in pretty much every alchemist lab or spell supply store and is relatively simple to complete.
The ritual does have limitations: the larger the crystal, the more often it needs to be redone, and the less reliably it penetrates the core. This is another reason the smallest crystals are most valued--the ritual usually lasts the lifetime of the crystal.
It is also the reason spellcasters have not simply used the ritual to mollify the entity known as The Bloom, rendering it impotent by sealing its destructive power. If there's a version of the ritual strong enough to cover the gargantuan-sized crystalline tree-esque structure spiraling underneath western Ostelliach, it's yet to be found and certainly the caster(s) strong enough to do it are also as of yet unknown.

Homebrew

Spiricubus Tempering

1-level Abjuration

Ritual - does not require spell slot, takes 10 minutes longer

Casting Time: Ritual, 10 minutes

Components: Somatic, Material

Materials: Handful of quartz dust

The user sprinkles quartz dust over a Spiricubus crystal and seals the inate arcane energy of the crystal to only flow through controlled (voluntarily opened) channels, rendering the crystal safe for general use without concerns of explosion. This is visible in the crystal as its glow-in-the-dark luminescence is diffused/hidden when tempered.
The lifecycle of the spell depends on the size of the crystal, where a 3-inch crystal may never need retempered before the end of its usable span (~50-70 years) but a 5-foot diameter crystal would need retempering every 5-6 months.
Only usable on Spiricubus crystals.

Manufacturing & Products

Spiricubus is most well-known as an arcane focus. The best staffs and staves in Ostelliach come with a Spiricubus crystal at the center, and many bewitched pieces of jewelry carry the stone at their hearts. The crystals have a remarkable ability to absorb, preserve, and provide magical energy to those who know how to commune with them; it is this ability that makes them so volatile, being pretty little arcane bombs themselves, but also what makes them most valuable.
Crystals sold to the public in this manner are, of course, expected to be sold with the tempering ritual already performed for them--or in the case of custom wands or other foci the ritual may be done in front of the customer or by the customer under supervision if they feel the strong desire to "bond" with their new focus in this way. Those that seek to sell the crystals by unregulated channels that do not provide the tempering ritual (or worse, pretend it was performed by muting the bioluminescence by other means) are charged with immediate imprisonment. Untempered Spiricubus is akin to a terroristic weapon, a bomb threat to anyone nearby, and there is zero tolerance for playing with this risk.

Byproducts & Sideproducts

Though there is no "runoff" or byproduct so to speak from Spiricubus, there have been reports of water puddles found in the Spiricubus mines being arcanically charged: those who drank the water (whether on a dare or for science--"science") demonstrated symptoms similar to radiation poisoning. Additionally, this water was found to be corrosive in nature and caused potholes in the rock much more quickly than anticipated.
This effect seemed to take a long time to develop, only observed in standing water located in shafts not disturbed for periods of months or years. Tests to replicate this aboveground in labs or studies have yielded no results, reinforcing a hypothesis that the phenomena is a result of either the location the Spiricubus grows in (correlation) or the effect of such concentrated Spiricubus growth in one place (causation).

Hazards

The explosive nature of Spiricubus is well-known and well-documented. The arcane energy residing inside each crystal is highly volatile and prone to detonating if disturbed errantly. This disturbance is most commonly caused by breaking the crystal, including breaking a part of the crystal off.
Spiricubus crystals are not necessarily fragile--they have a hardness comparable to quartz, meaning they are relatively resistant to scratches. They are not brittle (prone to crumbling/turning to dust) and instead splinter in a sectile manner (splintering into shards) akin to selenite.
However, sharp implements like a chisel, pick, or knife are the most reliable way to damage the crystals (and send yourself straight to the afterlife).
These explosions are able to be chained together, meaning one crystal in a mine detonating may send its shards (and arcane energy) outward in a way that damages the next crystal enough to trigger its reaction...and so on. This is the crux of the danger of mining them.
Roughly speaking, one inch diameter crystal yields one foot diameter of explosive energy.

Environmental Impact

The Bloom's impact upon the western side of Ostelliach cannot be understated, if only in highlighting the true risk it represents. Were The Bloom (and its accompanying horde below) to be detonated, experts estimate the explosion's reaches would stretch past Arnun-Ohx and nearly to the Cities of Mercy and Wrath, obliterating a large portion of the continent.
This looming threat is coupled with the truly prolific spread of the crystal: Spiricubus grows extremely quickly for a crystal, the mineral(?) equivalent of the invasive kudzu vine. As such, mining is important for resources, certainly, but arguably more important as a method of trying to limit the spread of the crystals from their central vent.
Additionally, Spiricubus explosions of even small caliber are responsible for many a cavern collapse, making the area around the tunnels unsafe for all but microorganisms to live in. Above and belowground, an instinctual protection has apparently driven most wildlife away.

Distribution

Storage

Spiricubus is transported using the Bubble spell, specifically developed for this purpose. Each Bubble is to have a tag attached to it detailing the exact time the spell will end, as well as the size/weight of the crystal enclosed.

Homebrew

Bubble

1-level Conjuration

Components: Verbal, Somatic

Duration: 8 hours

May be cast as a ritual to preserve spell slots.
The caster encases a nonliving object in a pocket dimension bubble, where the object floats in a space unoccupied by anything else, preserving it from harm. The object may be up to 5 ft x 5 ft in size, though the bubble will always appear to be 6 in. in diameter. This bubble is impervious to damage and can be held, weighing approximately 1 pound; the bubble feels cool and smooth to the touch, similar to plastic, and is translucent to depict the item inside.
The item may be accessed by any person (not just the caster) by repeating the Verbal component of the Bubble spell while touching the bubble. This releases the item and dissipates the Bubble, depositing the item in the closest unoccupied space. Each cast of the spell may only be released once, meaning items cannot be interacted with without ending the spell.

At higher levels: For every level over 1st, the user can extend the duration by 2 hours.

Law & Regulation

Harvest

Participating in the mining/gathering of Spiricubus is done only after completing a hybrid academy/apprenticeship program in Cubispirine. This program typically takes 8-12 weeks, but there is little pressure for one to rush through it and some may voluntarily put off graduation for up to 6 months to ensure they feel confident and their hands are steady.
The program includes teaching students how to recognize the crystals and their pods, how to anticipate a detonation beforehand, the chemical and arcane behavior and applications of the crystals, and more. In addition, the program includes an extensive hands-on mentorship where students spend supervised time learning how to shear away "petals" and extract the crystal within as well as how to follow safety protocols in the mines.
Finally, students that have completed their Godcrafting are taught the cantrip used to "bubble" harvested crystals for safe storage and transport. These students may also learn the tempering ritual if interested, although this is more of an elective than a requirement considering in the instance of a detonation the ritual would be of little use, given how quickly the explosions happen.

Marketing and Trade

The sale of Spiricubus crystals is closely watched by local trade groups, as well as the mages' guild Ilbechid, to ensure that crystals are not traded without following all safety precautions (largely enforced by expecting 90% of crystals to undergo ritual tempering before being distributed).

Type

Organic

Value

250 gp / 1-inch diameter

Rarity

Exceedingly rare, unique to one area

Odor

Sharp, ozone tang (like lightning)

Color

Varigated purples, with interiors of pinks and magentas

Boiling / Condensation Point

Unknown

Melting / Freezing Point

Unknown

Density

Lightweight, with the "casings" or "shells" nearly hollow

Common State

Only ever located in solid "crystal" form

Reference: Hopper crystal examples

by Artstonetics

by Museum of Natural History, Kensington

by Spirifer Minerals

by American Chemical Society

by Source: Stephen Wolfram