Gem Magic

Gem magic, also called gemstone magic, was an application of magic involving the use of gemstones. There were two commonly used, broad types of gem magic: the first type involved attuning gemstones to store or affix spells for subsequent use, and the second type involved tapping into the natural magical properties of different types of gemstones (such as Beljuril for Trains and Gem Carriages)

Gem Attunement:

This form of gem magic was meant to affix a spell to a gemstone for later use. The gem could only be activated—and the spell released—based on some trigger specified by the creator at the time of the gem’s attunement. The trigger could be that the gem was touched, that a certain amount of time had passed since its attunement, or that a certain manner of creature was present or came near the gem. These gems could also be attached to other items, in which case their triggering could cause the stored spell to affect or empower that item. When affixed to doors or other large objects, the gems could serve as traps. When affixed to weapons or other pieces of equipment, the gems could provide instant enhancements to the item or protections to its wielder. A common application was to create a gem ward which provided emergency protective spells in response to a nearby enemy. Common wards were empowered with protection from evil, feather fall, protection from arrows, or stoneskin. A practitioner of this kind of gem magic generally had to be trained in both gemcutting and arcane spellcasting. More powerful spells required bigger and more valuable gems. Alternatively, wizards with the proper ability to modify their spells could produce a similar effect simply by casting the spell into a malacon gemstone, while clerics could store healing spells in topaz gemstones to be released upon contact with an injury.

Natural Gem Magic:

Many gems—whether precious, semi-precious, or otherwise—were known to have potent magical abilities, either on their own or when used properly in the casting of spells or creation of magic items, potions, etc. The innate magical properties of gemstones were sometimes unclear, however, so a select few with known abilities are the most often used. Harnessing natural gem magic was known to be imprecise, and would often yield "flawed" results—in much the same ways that gemstones themselves could be flawed. Ancient Osturg (now called the federation of Alara) created Gemstone Golems in an attempt to take over the Commonwealth of Gratform. However, the unstable magic of flawed gems made them unruly, and difficult to control, thus loosing them the war.