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Glow Gel

Illuminating the dark...

Harvested from creatures that reside within the Riftlands, glow gel is a well-valued resource. As the name suggests, the gel glows vividly and may be found in many a colour depending on its source though more commonly blue than anything else. Its light is often used to illuminate the houses of the wealthy or in some lands, a common torch. With a short expiry date, the gel is often combined with wax to create beautiful, glowing candles...though its method of harvest is perhaps less desirable.  

Characteristics

While the gel is most often seen glowing, this only occurs when exposed to the environment around it. When sealed from the air, it remains a dull grey, utterly colourless. However, when the atmosphere can reach the gel, it glows. Blues, more commonly, but in certain instances, purples, pinks, whites and reds and the rarer the colour, the more costly the gel.
Its feeling is a gelatinous one, similar to jelly and its odour is distinct...almost like honey but not quite as strong with a slight milky scent. Candles made with Glow Gel are much more fragrant than regular wax ones and often used by the wealthy who can afford them. Tyraq's High Temple for example has a great array of these Glow Candles on both its eastern and western walls.
 
Light the Temple's beacon, Jerin. Today we mourn our King...
— Veriman Ironil, Flame of the Temple of Tyraq
 

Origin

While Glow gel has existed since the first sightings of the creatures found in the Riftlands, its use by modern civilisations has only recently come to be. With the invention of Glow Candles only a few decades ago, hunting of its source animals has become ever more common.   One such animal that is under threat is the Harlin; a terrestrial animal the size of a deer that grazes on Rift Grass and all manner of berries native to the Riftlands. While animals such as the Faerwin are not only more difficult to hunt down, due to their ability to fly, but also have much smaller bioluminescent sacks, while the Harlin has one large sack that runs down the length of its neck filled with pink Glow Gel. While Harlin are fast, a single arrow to the head or anywhere on its torso is enough to bring the animal down if not cause a devastating bleed.   The most highly-priced of the Glow Gel would be the red kind though, harvested from the great Vhayl. A magnificent winged fury that inhabits the dense Agarn Forests with a collection of many flashing red bioluminescent sacks down its belly.

Type

Organic

Rarity

Rare

Value

300,000¤ / m3

Odour

A sweet honey-like smell though not as strong.

Common State

Semi-solid

Related Species

Mantaere
Faerwin

Related Locations

Rifts

Tribal Usage

While in the more urban lands of the Central Plain Glow Gel is used for items such as candles, off the eastern Coast of Cenath lies a great mountainous island with an expansive plain of both green and glowing Grass. The Island of Ern. It is here, that the tribal people that live off the land use Glow Gel in their daily lives.   With fierce hunting methods and unique domesticating skills, the people of Ern use the Glow Gel they harvest to create beautiful body paint that dances across their entire bodies. This art may depict a variety of wonderous images from animals to patterns to mountains to depictions of sexual display that are all illuminated by nightfall.

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Comments

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Jan 10, 2023 00:23

I have enjoyed every article I have read of yours and look forward to whatever content you put out for this world. I really enjoy the details and feel like I'm part of this world when I'm reading your articles.

Jan 10, 2023 09:44

I have a real soft spot for any sort of bioluminscence and this hits that spot perfectly. Excellent stuff :D   In your setting, how much money is 300,000¤? The price-tag, combined with a short shelf-life, seem like it'd definitely make it a real luxury item... Or maybe that's just true for the candles? :O


Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.
Jan 12, 2023 00:13

Hi, thank you for leaving such a friendly comment! I plan to go into greater depth on the economy of Qerth with various currencies used by different groups. However, for all articles, I think I'll use the one I've used here which is used by much of Cenath - a continent I'll be soon writing more about - though I've just put a placeholder symbol in for now.   But so you know, Glow Gel is a very luxurious material/item and the candles are even more so and typically used only by wealthy nobles and rulers as well as religious organisations such as the Temple of Tyraq (the name will likely change).

Jan 15, 2023 09:55

A very concise yet very informative article, that communicates the feel of luxury and rarity of the item well.   I'd be interested in sources for all the various colors of glow gel: which species are hunted for the more common blue color? There's mention of Harlin's pink gel and the Vhayl's red, but which species would yield the purple and white? Can the same species yield different colors of gel or do all specimens of a species use single color/hue?