Riftstone

Riftstone is a crystal substance found throughout the Brass realms.

It is a rare and expensive ingredient valued by sorcerers and other mages.

Description:

Riftstone is crystallized Aether, that is to say crystallized arcane energy.
Riftstones are of a blue colour, varying from light or sky blue to a deep azure. The colour is largely determined by the purity of the material, with a deeper shade of blue being more sought after. The purity of the material largely determines not only its utility but also its value.

Riftstone is hard and durable, akin to glass. The material gives off a slight glow, usually only visible in dim light or complete darkness. It is non-toxic so long as one does not breathe in the dust.
Riftstone is highly stable in its natural state. Only when its structure is disrupted does the material come undone. This is most easily achieved by a great influx of heat or other kind of energy, at which point a variety of unpredictable effects may occur. Effects may be some minor sparks or flashes of light as a riftstone is split, or it may be so extreme as to blossom impure riftstone from nearby surfaces or cause the riftstone to detonate. The more pure a sample of riftstone is, the more volatile it is.

Creation:

Riftstone is created from the remains of deceased Stars.
As these celestial beings die, their bodies fracture into pieces, and those pieces often find their ways onto various realms.

There the riftstones rain down from the skies as shooting stars. Often these are not singular shooting stars but entire small meteor showers.
Upon impact, the riftstone within a shooting star will mix with the soil of the impact zone as the molten riftstone solidifies after its crash. The impact crater of a shooting star will thus usually be covered in a layer of riftstone crystals of varying purity.

If an impact site is covered by dust and soil due to geological activity, it capable of becoming a subterranean deposit. Thus ancient meteor showers have created many riftstone deposits on many worlds.
Some Scholars speculate the way that riftsones fall from the sky is not natural, that there is an an intent and design behind their origins and behavior. This is disregarded by the scholarly community, as the stars are clearly deceased once their pieces drop unto a world.

Artificial Riftstone: It is possile to artificially grow riftstone. This is a time and resource intensive process and it is very difficult to create high-purity riftstones so it is rarely done. It also risks aether depletion.

Use:

Riftstone is of great use to sorcerers and other practitioners of order magic.
Riftstones are crystallized collections of arcane energy. They are usable as power sources for sorcerers, either to power their own spells or to allow for constructs and spells to continue functioning without their continued interference. Riftstones are thus a necessary component of any magic item that functions by arcane means.
Every enchantment and convenience made possible by arcane magic also needs riftstone.

Additionally riftstones can be turned either into single-use containers for spells or arcane foci, expanding a sorcerer's options in combat and making their spells more efficient respectively.
Only certain spells can be engraved into a riftstone, and only from arcane magic.

Appearance

Riftstones are of a blue colour, varying from light or sky blue to a deep azure. The colour is largely determined by the purity of the material, with a deeper shade of blue being more sought after.
The material gives off a slight glow, usually only visible in dim light or complete darkness.