Blood of Babel

A putrid scent traveled across the desert plains. Beneath the sands bubbled not water, but a turquoise sludge. A slimy filth which broiled within the geyser, until the pressure finally gave in. The sands opened up into an explosion of corrupted oil, showering the area with a liquid that is deceptively pleasant to touch.

    They call it the Blood of Angels, yet there is little which is holy about it. Allegedly, the liquid was created when the corrupt blade of Babel struck the heart of Ophalmitrus and shattered the physical form of the angel. Killing them in body, but not in spirit.   Even now, somewhere beneath the dunes his corpse slumbers. His wounds perpetually leaking with unholy gore, which spreads across the ancient tombs that rests beneath the Orincian sands.     In its dormant state, the Blood of Babel is harmless to touch, and will give someone horrendous nausea and stomach pains upon consumption. It is not necessarily lethal to eat, as the holy and eldritch components neutralize each other’s abilities. From a glance, it makes the liquid look like some weird and useless slag product. One where the greatest danger that it possesses, is to be caught above an active geyser.     The Blood of Babel is a highly sought after resource, which has brought countless conflicts to the shores of Orincia. From beastkin tribes, to mercenary warbands, to internal cults. They all crave the potential of the strange oil.  

• Palefire

    Through the burning of the turquoise oil, the liquid reacts not to the heat but to the loss of oxygen, as if it is alive and breathing. This process is the simplest way to refine the Blood of Babel, which gives the compound an intense ice-blue glow, with azure flames that lick across its surface.   When one bathes in the Palefire, they do not die, but transform. Their offal is cleansed yet putrified. Replaced with an eldritch flame, which functions just as a disease. Known as the Scourge of Babel.
 

• Essence of Brilliance

    A sanctified version of the Blood of Babel. It is created by boiling the oil in holy water, crushing silver into the mixture, and adding blood freely given from the alchemist.   This process enhances the divine part of the oil, which allows it to overpower and cleanse the eldritch component. The result is a radiant azure and pure liquid with a gentle mist rolling above its surface.   If one consumes the Essence of Brilliance. One of two things will happen. Those not pure of heart will start burning up from the inside and eventually succumb to the flames as they are turned into ash. Those that are pure of heart, will be given a new form which is considered to be perfection. Or at least, what perfection is perceived as to the followers of Ophalmitrus
 

• Essence of Insanity

    A fully corrupted sludge made from the Blood of Babel. By pouring acid into the oil, it starts to spurt like an open wound while thickening to a turquoise slime that writhes by itself. When this slime comes into contact with any creature, it starts to burn at their skin, seeking to meld into their muscles and overtake their bloodflow. Infecting the being with a disease known as the Twisted Scourge.

    Throughout Orincia, the Blood of Babel can be seen harvested through large pumps that rest on the desert sands. As both the local region of the Golden Empire and some of the nearby beastkin tribes collect them for their own purposes.   These strange oil platforms have been, and still are, prime targets for mercenary companies from far away factions that want a hand on the liquids. Especially as the Blood of Babel isn’t explosive in the traditional sense.