Magichem

"It's a pernicious nasty poison that's killing the entire human race. There's nothing good about it. Nothing could be good about it."

— Carson Lively

The Stuff of Nightmares

Magichem is the name given to the material infused with magic and spread in rock and dust form like a blanket across the entire known world. Magichem is toxic to humans - not toxic like water or sugar which if you ingest reasonable amounts of is perfectly fine, and even healthy and needful for the body.

Magichem is definitely not that.

Doses as low as a teaspoon consumed over a 6 month period is sufficient to bring on acute Magichem Poisoning which results in death. The only life saving intervention is the innoculation of the victim with Stela Ond, and this remedy can only delay death for several years once Magichem has built up in the body.

What it is

Everyone knows that Magichem comes from the Jordbani - and the eruptions of the volcanoes and earth leylines that occurred in Jorathar City. Everyone knows that it spead in dust clouds across the face of Eryia. But what is it?

Magichem in solid form is simply a rock - a rock with very high tensile stregnth, but which is very brittle. There are two types of Magichem - Type one is a solid, glass-like rock, the second is a very porous stone. They earth leylines flow and pool through seams of Magichem which occur in certain regions of the world. Type 1 Magichem acts as a protective barrier to the vast beds of Type 2 Magichem which can form huge reservoirs of earth magic power under the crust of the world. The earth magic stored in Type 2 Magichem can exist under enormous amounts of pressure. The Jordbani itself occurred when workers broke through the protective, containing sheath of Type 1 Magichem surrounding a highly charged bed of Type 2 Magichem.

Type 1 Magichem shatters into tiny sharp crystaline shards of magic infused dust and stone. Type 2 Magichem explodes into a fine, soft, powdery, clingy dust. Both are deadly. Type 1 causes severe bleeding in addition to the normal symptoms of Magichem Poisoning , while Type 2 simply clings to everything it touches, mixes with any sufficiently fine particulates, and is impossible to remove from an environment or contain.

Uses

As odd as it seems, with all the intense human attempts to remove Magichem from our environment, Magichem could be an extremely useful material and beneficial for humankind. It is an extremely rich source of earth magic, which is a very versatile form of magic. It is easy to handle, and pervasive everywhere. Though toxic to humans if breathed in or ingested, it is not explosive, and with proper precautions can be gathered from virtually anywhere, and concentrated through very simple processes to power magic items. Unfortunately, humans are so deadly afraid of Magichem, and the handling of it is such a major taboo, it is unlikely that this rich, cheap source of power to improve the lives of all humans will ever be exploited.