Garlfin Oil

Garlfin Oil is a natural substance and is a thick fish oil, a deep amber in color and of an interesting viscosity. It is less thick than most commonly used oils or lubricants and greases but also is thicker than water.

Garlfin oil has a few unique properties. It is actually, despite having oil in its name, for it is an oil, not exceedingly flammable or combustible like most substances of that family. It is actually notably heat resilient and spark resistant, at least in liquid form. If you manage to get it airborne as a fine mist, a difficult task given its viscosity, then it becomes far more willing to burn, however the fumes from such a fire would be far more dangerous and immediately so, than the fire itself.

Another odd trait and why this substance is so important and so heavily used despite the risks and struggles with its smell, is it is a thinner oil, however it is a very strong filament oil, that is when flowing over surfaces, particularly metals, it picks up and grabs any sort of unwelcome protruding substance, such as dirt, grime, sludge or otherwise. Between this and its natural heat resilience these are the reasons why it is the premier lubricant and in such high demand world-wide for the complex gearworks of steam machinery, such as locomotives, various types of heavy equipment and more.

Garlfin Oil is harvested from a specific oceanic fish, a scavenger found in shallow waters often near cities, that feeds on garbage, waste and perhaps most notably, fats and greases. This makes any cities with large scale whaling operations, like many of the cities on the coastlines of Suranth for example, hotspots for Garlfins, however they can be caught and their oils extracted in the bay and shallows of almost any port city across the world and in this current day and age, Garlfin processing facilities can be found in most every coastal city out of necessity as this age of Industrialization has taken swing.

Stories as to the discovery of its properties vary however once known it wasn't long before a variety of industrious dwarven steam-tech engineers realized the theortical potential as a lubricant and cleaning agent for efficiency and to lengthen life spans of vital engine parts, as well as providing longer lengths of time between necessary lubricant drains and refills. Sure enough once they put it to the test, success!! After a few decades of use its clear, the switch has helped see a near twenty-five percent increase in the lifespan of gears and pistons as well as other high impact and high motion parts in such complex machines. Furthermore this fluid lasts nearly thirty percent longer before a drain, flush and fluid change is needed.

It is also remarkably easy to 'refine' such as it were. And sustainable. Garlfins by virtue of the let us say unique mix of their diet, naturally produce this viscous bile like oil and it fills large glands under their pectoral fins. The fish are three to five feet long, and normally weigh some anywhere from fifty to seventy or so pounds, they are long but not normally robust. These sacs, these glands when full can add nearly fifteen pounds to their weight if they fill to bursting, which if they do burst, it almost inevitably leads to the death of the animal before they can heal.

They do naturally use this fluid of course, however it is only released as a defense mechanism if something bites down on them. They are remarkably hardy fish otherwise, even capable of near amphibian like regeneration, able to regrow fins, hunks of itself, even small bones and all. The way this defense works is if something bites down on them, releasing the oils into the water, it gets the vile substance into the mouth of the predator in question. The predator tastes it, and it is so abhorrently vile the predator will let go immediately, and might even forcibly regurgitate anything else currently in their stomach before fleeing, which the Garlfin will gladly eat, stomach acids and all. They do not release the fluid out panic however, it seems to be specific to being bitten, or grabbed by something like an octopus, there seems to be a pressure threshold. The fish seem to lack any natural fear instinct towards potential predators, yet they do not seem to need it.

So to harvest it, fishermen simply catch them, putting them in tanks of sea water, and once they've appropriately geared up, they simply carefully extract each one from the tank, and then squeeze them out of the water gently, until the fluid erupts out. In air, unlike underwater, it comes out as a forceful stream always from directly under the fish, so the vat simply needs to have an appropriately sized opening. It is a task that takes skill. Garlfins seem to, for their part, not mind this, having nearly no negative reaction, at least not for many minutes, out of water, though they are a gilled fish so they clearly cannot breath in the air. No flopping, no classic fish face as they seem to suck for air even though they can't breath air. They seem entirely unbothered. Once the fisherman has extracted the oil, they will put the fish in a different tank, with some appropriate waste and such in it, to let the fish eat for a while and kickstart the process to make more oil, and then about an hour later, simply toss them back out, water and fish, back into the sea.

It takes roughly six months for a Garlfin to fill its glands to the point of bursting an admittedly lottery like request in domain of Nature, under the watchful eyes of Talia and Boran. However it does and can happen, we've found them washed up with burst glands before, there are documented cases of this. These cases have notably dropped since the discovery of Garlfin Oil being such an amazing machine lubricant.

However furthermore exposure to the scent for long enough can start to cause confusion, memory loss and even blindness, permanent orbital damage. Furthermore the oil reacts with iron, specifically rust, and thus must only be used on steel and tacturnium alloyed machine parts. Which all steamtech engine parts are made of, more or less. Some higher end machines use a mithrium-steel alloy because its lighter. This means it must be stored in steel vats. More robust operations often actually line the inside in a layer of mithrium or tacturnium out of an abundance of caution. The reaction with iron, specifically iron oxide, so rust, turns the oil more gelatinous, and also makes it exothermic. The exact nature of this slow reaction is unknown however how it ends is a jellified explosion, misting this substance into the air, which makes the dangers of its smell and taste more potent due to higher concentration being taken in.

Furthermore the scent of this substance is so strong and violent, it seeps into most everything. To work with it, those whom would drain and fill the lubricant resevoirs for example, have to wear a full four inch thick sealed body suit, complete with gloves and boots that join together. This suit is mostly leathers, but with a thin outer layer of light steel and a thin layer of mithrium chain inside the leather. This is in case of splashes. The fume hood utilizes two filters of triple layered charcoal with one inch thick pucks of cinammon, cloves and then lavendar in between to filter out the gases and fumes and even with that fume hood, those whom do this for a living will still tell you when pumping, they can smell a hint, just a suggestive hint, of skunk smell.



Yet this substance is such a huge win given the cost of manufacturing metal parts en masse at this time, and how easy this substance is to acquire and refine, it is seen as the preferred solution. Perhaps one day such components for these machines can be made easier and more cost effective, however currently, Garlfin Oil is a worthwhile venture and a vital substance in the world of steam-tech.

As noted it has actually seemingly proven a net positive for the Garlfin, with numbers notably and provably dropping of the fish that would wash up and be found dead from ruptured Gar glands.

Strangely once its time to change a resevoir's oil, the oil you take out is actually not dangerous. The scent, the chemicals that cause it have perhaps come apart or altered due to the contaminants introduced. But the thicker darker oil that comes out is quite tame and near harmless, though one shouldn't ingest it of course. Beyond that, mixed with one part water and two parts Ghel to every one part Garlfin it makes a robust and bright burning lantern fuel that sees a lot of use in cities particularly across Suranth.

Trading at 2 Wastonian Chaillings/liter as of current day, this translates roughly as follows;

Country and Currency	Price/Liter
Suranthi Solar	2 Suns and 4 Stars (2.04)
Depenwood Leaf	2 Leaves, 4 Bark and 2 Roots (2.42)
Raechin Highline Mark	2 Mark, 2 Checks, and 6 Pins (2.26)
Roharan Flaxxen	2 Flaxxen, 8 Stems and 2 Roots (2.82)
Valewyrian Crowns	2 Crown, 3 Jewels, 9 Pennies (2.39)
Susman Casks	2 Casks, 1 Flask, 4 Cups (2.14)
Chorathian Scale	2 Scales, 3 Claws, 1 Flake (2.31)

As noted it needs to be stored carefully, utilizing steel casks and specialized copper and steel lines, seals and taps to be transferred and handled.

There are a great many laws in regards to its storage, handling and the necessary equipment and protocols any business handling such a substance must have in place and on site. Most of which has been covered of course. Businesses refining and/or storing the substance in large quantities are generally subject to city inspections every three months or so months anywhere on Valerick so the specifics of this might vary nation to nation.