Ichor

A thick, luminous fluid with a consistency between blood and sap. Its color, glow, and scent vary wildly by source, golden-bright for divine ichor, dark green for cursed strains, deep crimson-black for predatory beasts. Some ichors shimmer like oil in moonlight, others pulse with a slow internal rhythm like a second heartbeat.

Excellent conductor for magical energy. Malleable, absorbs properties of substances mixed into it. Reacts differently depending on source, divine ichor burns cold, infernal ichor thickens under light. Settles into layers when left still, forming reflective membranes. Magickal flow from the Arcane shapes its behavior more than any natural law.

• Highly conductive of magickal energy.

• Mildly corrosive to mundane materials.

• Becomes inert if exposed to prolonged direct sunlight.

• Emits low-grade heat when near leyline activity.

• Bonds uniquely with items or flesh exposed to its source.

• Cleric’s Salve - A common battlefield regenerative unguent using diluted ichor derived from blessed creatures. Stabilizes the blood and quiets nerve death.

• Hexmire Ink - A caustic ichor compound used in spell-scroll etching. Absorbs ambient spellcraft, allowing runes to last indefinitely when treated.

• Thornwine - A dangerous brew of infernal ichor and grave herbs, used in poisons meant to corrupt magickal pathways. Often banned in major cities.

• Marrowblaze Syrup - Combines elemental ichor and powdered Forge Spice to create a thermal accelerant used to ignite alchemical weapons.

• Blessed Tourniquets & Healing Balms - Applied to wounds to accelerate healing, works best when matched to the patient’s race.

• Cursebreaker’s Salves - Alchemical anti-hex ointments relying on ichor’s magickal volatility to “burn out” curse bindings.

• Spell-Ink Scrolls - Spell-anchoring parchments written with ichor-infused ink that temporarily binds magick into a sigil or written phrase.

• Blood-Linked Talismans - Enchanted trinkets bound to the ichor donor, allowing tracking, communication, or protective wards directly linked to the user’s vital essence.

Ichor is not geological in origin. It is biological, and can only be harvested from recently deceased or still-living creatures with strong ties to the Arcane. Some regions, such as Axebreak or Grandgleam’s border villages, specialize in lawful ichor extraction, while others operate black-market “drain farms.”

chor is the direct result of magick coursing through living matter. Its existence reflects a foundational truth of the world: that magick, like blood or air, permeates and shapes every living thing. The more magick a creature wields, or endures, the more potent the ichor extracted from them. In rare cases of Magebane, a caster’s soul or essence becomes so saturated with Arcane power that it begins to shed or distill ichor even before death. In the most extreme cases, these essences can be harvested, giving rise to what alchemists call burn-born ichor, a violently unstable but unimaginably potent form.

Stays potent for 3-10 days once harvested, depending on purity and source. Holy ichor degrades rapidly in unblessed containers, while infernal variants can sour the vessel instead. Stabilizers like frost-rune glass or silver-threaded vials extend life. Once expired, ichor may turn into inert sludge, useless to alchemists, but still feared by some. Though it's inherint, specific colorization depending on the creature it was harvested from does retain it's hughes even after its magickal potential is rendered useless. Making for unique decorations or paints.

Ancient texts describe ichor as the “blood of the old world”, used by Elves to seed sentient weapons and by warlocks to craft soul-binders. After the Schism, its study was regulated by the Arcane Coalition, but its importance could not be erased. Even now, field medics and hedge-witches rely on diluted forms to treat wounds or empower charms.

First recorded in use during the early Civil Age, though its true history stretches into myth, the true circumstances of its origin lost to time and the Schsim. Early collectors died attempting to harness it, not realizing how personalized its reactions could be.

Used in apothecaries, enchantment, midwife rituals, and curse cleansing. Some barbers even use refined ichor to numb flesh before surgery. Typically to bolster a mag's artifacts or spells where their own magickal powers would fail them, but used in the hands of a powerful enchanter, the arcane bolstering properties of ichors can forge a godlike force of magick power.

• Found in basic apothecaries and midwife rituals.

• Used by barbers and battlefield medics to numb, cleanse, or stimulate healing.

• Commonly applied in enchantment rituals to stabilize volatile magick.

• Urban witches ink it into tattoos to bind low-grade enchantments like warmth, good luck, or minor shielding.

To alchemists, ichor is life made fluid and volatile. Some call it "the Fifth Humour." Religious orders treat divine ichor as sacrament. In low villages, “black ichor” is feared as a sign of possession. Street magickers use it in tattoos to anchor minor enchantments.

• Among alchemists, ichor is life unbound, a volatile second blood that responds to thought, soul, and memory.

• To religious sects, divine ichor is a holy substance, used in rites of resurrection or communion.

• To layfolk, ichor is both miracle and myth: used to save children, feared when it flows black.

• In cities like Middleglade, it’s a sign of wealth if kept purified and preserved.

• In towns near the Bog of Lies, it’s a sign of possession.

• Enchantment Anchoring - Ichor amplifies enchantments by providing a living conduit between spell and object.

• Potion Suspension - Used to stabilize potent brews like draughts of tongues, memory tonics, or shapechanging.

• Magickal Tattooing - Used to bind temporary or permanent effects to skin, often seen in black-market combat brands.

• Curse Removal - Binds to cursed matter, allowing safe extraction.

• Surgeon’s Stabilizer - Dampens magical surges or feedback during internal surgeries on magick-sensitive patients.

• Strained through blessed bone mesh or consecrated cloth.

• Cold-distilled in Guild-approved alchemical chambers.

• Volatile strains are soothed with star-ash or ley-balm to prevent magickal echo.

• Some variants are neutralized with personal blood or ground bone to bond it to specific casters or patients.

• Healing Salves & Dressings.

• Scroll Inks & Rune Papers.

• Magick-Charged Ammunition (ball bearing size to arrowheads).

• Binding Charms & Sigils.

• Undead-Containment Seals.

• Soulfilm – a thin, iridescent membrane that forms atop stored ichor. Often used to coat charms.

• Whisperfume – vapor that escapes from improperly sealed vials; causes hallucinations or momentary “soul-drift.”

• Arc-Bloom – strange organic crystals grown from expired ichor, used in meditation relics.

• Improper contact may trigger spell echoes or seizures.

• Highly reactive with blood and saliva, consumption fatal unless refined.

• Prolonged exposure causes Ichor Sickness: fever, blurred vision, uncontrolled empathy.

• Some ichor types attract magickal predators.

Leaked ichor seeps into the soil, occasionally causing low-yield mutations in crops or wildlife. Some fields where ichor was spilled never grow the same plant twice.

• Seeped ichor warps local flora/fauna.

• Tainted farmland yields shifting crops.

• Rivers touched by wild ichor may grow glassy algae or crystal-bark trees.

• High. Ichor can be distilled, recooked, or repurposed if properly stabilized. Burned ichor leaves behind Ashglass, a minor reagent used in ghost-wards.

• High. Ichor can be “burned down” and recondensed into lesser elixirs.

• Ashglass from spent ichor used in ghost-wards or phantasmal barrier chalk.

• Opportunists sometimes gather trace ichor from surgical waste or public spittoons, an act technically legal, but unsavory.

Ichor straddles the line between staple and luxury. In its most diluted form, it is a common sight in certified apothecaries and battlefield clinics, sold by licensed alchemists, church physicians, and even traveling hedge-witches. These lesser strains are priced modestly, considered vital to certain healing rituals, minor enchantments, and surgical procedures. However, rarer ichors, such as those drawn from divine-touched beings, apex predators, or Magebane victims, are exorbitantly priced, circulated only among elite enchanters, nobles, or Coalition-sanctioned researchers. The black market, particularly in wartime or border regions, thrives with illicit ichor trade disguised as perfume oils, bloodwine tinctures, or “blessed ink.” In such circles, the substance becomes a currency of its own, valued not for coin but for what it can do, curse, heal, or empower.

Due to its reactive nature, ichor must be stored with utmost care. Standard containment involves heat-resistant glass phials etched with grounding runes or bone flasks lined with null-matter. In institutional settings, ichor is kept in warded cabinets or cold-cellars dampened by silver filings and blessed ash, which suppress resonance and spontaneous interaction. For mobile transport, field alchemists rely on tightly braided salt-crystal cubes, which both mask and stabilize the ichor’s presence. Improper storage may lead to spoilage, violent reaction with organic matter, or even possession-like effects if the ichor is spiritually “tainted.” Thus, all licensed storage must be registered with local Arcane or Apothecary authorities, especially in cities under Coalition oversight.

Legally, ichor falls under the classification of volatile yet permissible, a rare middle ground in a kingdom as tightly regulated as Everwealth. Civilian use of refined ichor is permitted under guild license or apothecary certification, while unrefined ichor is considered a restricted substance. Medical professionals, alchemists, and recognized enchanters may transport or administer ichor only with documented provenance and dosage records. Special strains, particularly divine ichor, warlock ichor, or residue from the afflicted, require both written justification and an Arcane Coalition scribe’s approval. Unauthorized use in enchantment or physical harm qualifies as magickal subversion, a crime punishable by death. Despite its semi-legality, ichor remains one of the most trafficked substances across both legitimate and black-market channels in Everwealth, especially during times of war or plague.