Liquid Ether

The vial shimmered in the darkness, like mercury bubbling over itself, turning over and over; flowing endlessly. It was as if I had bottled the surface of a sunbright, sparkling stream. I can feel myself slump to the ground, content.

Blinding opalescent light refracted over the cave walls like liquid gold, a rainbow of vibrancy dancing across the cavern and soul in equal measure. It shifted about in perfect centered stillness; its silence eternally trickling. I am enraptured by this single miraculous drop that I have captured. I hold more power in this glass than any other, yet with every slowing blink, my jaws salivate. I am... starved for its delicious, beautiful light.

— Firsthand account of collecting a huedrop

Ether are magical particles akin to an atom, but what happens when ether is so pure, its magical energy overflows? It becomes liquid ether, unable to steadily hold its shape around a single condensed point. An infinite source of magic, a single drop pools endlessly upon itself as if it were a freshly tapped water vein that never runs dry. Its radiant crystalline light pieces even the darkest abyss. Even underwater, its strange, intoxicating scent is unmistakable. Liquid ether has two known types, the harmoniously balanced Huedrop, and its imperfect imitation, Resihue.   The purest form is the building block of all life, the harmoniously balanced huedrop is extremely rare.   Etherials flock to it, eager to consume its power for themselves and draw its overwhelming surge of energy into their core.   When magical conditions are in perfect alignment within a leyline, ether condenses into huedrops. These drops are swarmed by etherials, ever starving and drawn to ether's potency. It's rare that a huedrop slips through to the material plane uneaten, Ancient etherials (eons old) are rare and difficult to distinguish, but the longer they age, the more their magic stabalizes within the leylines and their core reaches equilibrium.

Molecular Structure

Each huedrop pools endlessly as if it were a freshly tapped water vein, its radiant, crystalline light shimmering brilliantly in the darkest of abysses. Known as a huedrop. Perfectly contains one molecule of each of the kinds of ether. This refracts light of every color, all at once, in a miraculous display. It somehow appears one blinding, yet ever shifting opalescent white-gold. Though some have said if you blink you can catch glimpses of color in the swirling light.

It is exceptionally rare to come across a huedrop and access its potent, raw magic. So rare, that some have taken to hunting etherials to harvest its distilled, less powerful variant, resihue. To the untrained eye, they are hard to distinguish, but resihue, while still astoundingly beautiful, shimmering with color, does not contain a perfect equilibrium of ether. its aura is much easier for wolves to visually comprehend, as the refracted light only reflects the specific ether that it contains, and may contain more than a single molecule of a given strain. Interestingly, a drop of resihue is capable of containing the same number of ether particles as a huedrop. However, whereas huedrops are always composed of the exact same quantity and type of ether, resihue may have as little as a single particle of one type of ether, or any combination of particle quantity and type. Thus, resihue, while not as omnipotently applicable, is significantly more useful in application. It is theorized that the etherians understood this fundamental law and applied its science to their technology(link to relics) to great effect. Wolves today are still working to emulate these practices with hints of passed down knowledge, distressed by centuries of retelling, deciphering fragmented ancient texts, and experimentation.

When resihue or huedrops are within the core of an etherial, they are impossible to find by scent, however, the rare occasion a hue drop is found in the material plane, as well as resihue, it smells utterly intoxicating to wolves. For some, it is so overpowering it causes side effects akin to  drunkenness. With huedrops, the effects of handling the substance are more pronounced, and strangely, instigate vivid, insatiable hunger. Those who are not careful to minimize their contact over time risk temporary hunger turning to voracious starvation, an intense desire to consume ether.

Unlike Wraithes, wolves who comfortably subsist on ether, these wolves have not transitioned into etherial form and develop insatiable lust to consume magic. At first, this urge is directed towards resihue, attacking Etherials whenever they are lucky enough to find ones that have crossed the veil of the etherial plane into theirs. But it rapidly gets out of paw and sufferers lose control as waiting for each meal becomes unbearable. Unable to reliably satisfy themselves, they turn their wild eyed gaze to other wolves, violently draining them of their magic. Vampire myths have been attributed to such attacks.