Arcane Residue
Properties
Material Characteristics
Brittle yet resonant. Unrefined Residue flakes into fine motes when disturbed but resists destruction by mundane tools. It vibrates softly in the presence of magic users.
Physical & Chemical Properties
Each subtype amplifies, reflects, or channels a specific school of magic. When used improperly, Residue creates wild arcane surges or misfires. The raw material is dangerously unstable when exposed to spellcasting without proper containment.
Compounds
Residue can be bonded with threadsteel, shimmerglass, and aether-moss ink to create arcane batteries, wands, or spellscrolls. Advanced compounds include Loomcrystal matrices and soulglass, both highly regulated.
Geology & Geography
Arcane Residue Veins form in high-saturation regions such as Shimmerhollow, Skyreach, and Gravesong Glade. Each region tends to produce Residue aligned with its dominant ambient school—illusion in Shimmerhollow, necromancy in Gravesong.
Origin & Source
Arcane Residue is a byproduct of the Loom’s interaction with high-magic events. When spells rupture reality or when divine-thread interference occurs, Residue crystalizes as the Loom attempts to mend itself.
Life & Expiration
In open air, raw Arcane Residue begins to decay within 3–5 days unless stabilized. Refined Arc Dust maintains potency for decades if kept sealed. Arc Gems can last over a century, though their alignment may shift subtly over time.
History & Usage
History
First identified in 7 DV after the Fracture Cascade, when Loomshorn salvagers encountered crystallized strands glowing in broken archways. Thought to be cursed at first, it was later refined and integrated into scrolls and containment devices by Caelum’s disciples.
Discovery
The Kinbound Archive originally denied its legitimacy until an illusion Residue sample was used to recreate a lost voice-recording of Naerilith Veyrien, proving its utility in arcane memory preservation.
Everyday use
Used as a spell component substitute, focus enhancer, or stability amplifier for rituals. Essential in crafting of scrolls, wands, and arcane constructs. Arc Dust is used in daily spellcraft by trained casters, while Arc Gems serve as high-value foci.
Cultural Significance and Usage
Among Loomshorn, refining Arcane Residue is a rite of passage. Among Kinbound historians, it's sacred and treated with caution. Some Eclipseborn believe Residue to be the voice of the Loom remembering past spells, and they weave it into prophecy threads.
Industrial Use
Used in Tirani Core stabilization, temporal threadgates, and the construction of airships powered by emotion-reactive engines. Shimmerhollow’s infrastructure is laced with layered Residue for phase-resonance support.
Refinement
Residue is carefully harvested from Veins, soaked in memory salves, and purified in resonant crucibles. Threadwrights then categorize it by arcane frequency before shaping it into Dust or Gems.
Manufacturing & Products
Arc Dust, Arc Gems, infused ink, soul-fused thread, temporal chalk, glyph-stabilized bricks, and Loomglass threads.
Byproducts & Sideproducts
Low-grade slag called “arc rot,” which emits disorienting pulses and is dangerous to handle. Rare byproducts include wild glyph bursts—residual effects from spells long past.
Hazards
Exposure to raw Residue causes hallucinations, memory bleed, or spontaneous spell-discharge. Unaligned users may accidentally trigger opposing magical effects.
Environmental Impact
Excessive mining destabilizes local Loomfields and may provoke thread-slippage or spiritual echo accumulation. In extreme cases, Residue mines have collapsed into “null zones” where magic no longer functions.
Reusability & Recycling
Spent Dust can be recharged in Loomstone vats or repurposed into ink or glowstones. Spent Arc Gems often become ceremonial relics or alchemical seed crystals.
Distribution
Trade & Market
Legal trade is controlled by Aetheron Conglomerate and sanctioned Loomwright circles. A thriving black market exists, especially for emotion-bound or forbidden schools like necromancy.
Storage
Kept in thread-sealed boxes, crystal phials, or resonance-cooled vaults. Improper storage leads to contamination or wildcasting events.
Law & Regulation
Aetheron enforces mining licenses, handling permits, and Loomfield zoning restrictions. Illegal refinement or hoarding is punishable by unthreading exile or confiscation. Use in constructs or cores is tracked by Conglomerate sigil registry.
Value
Arc Dust ranges from 10–50 gold per dram depending on type. Arc Gems fetch hundreds to thousands per carat. Necromantic and divination types are most valuable due to scarcity.
Rarity
While small traces are common near magical ruins, pure Residue Veins are rare and often guarded by law, guild, or spirit.
Odor
Faint but complex—protective (abjuration) variants smell of scorched parchment, while illusion variants carry the ghost of lilac and ozone. Each type carries a metaphysical scent imprinted in memory rather than air.
Taste
When touched to the tongue in raw form, evokes a metallic bitterness followed by a sharp elemental aftertaste, which shifts depending on the school of magic it embodies—abjuration burns cold like warded silver, while evocation stings with a flash of heat
Color
Each school manifests a distinct hue: shimmering gold for enchantment, deep cobalt for evocation, shadowed green for necromancy, crystalline white for divination, and so on. Unrefined, the residue pulses with internal light like veins of breath-held magic
Boiling / Condensation Point
Evaporates or destabilizes magically at extremely low temperatures when removed from its Loom anchor, making traditional boiling points meaningless. Instead, magical saturation dictates phase change.
Melting / Freezing Point
Solidifies below -100 degrees Loomscale and liquefies rapidly when exposed to resonance triggers or Thal’Sylin vibrations. Necromantic and conjuration forms melt faster than abjuration or transmutation.
Density
Highly unstable in natural state; when refined into Arc Dust or Arc Gems, density stabilizes between 0.9–1.3 thaumograms per shard.
Common State
Typically found as crystallized streaks or dusting veins within Loomscarred zones, hidden deep within Arcane Residue Veins in ley-cracked mountains or the ruins of collapsed spellfields.
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