Red Magicite

Red Magicite is a form of Magicite that has recently appeared and caused a lot of problems for the magicite trade and for its users. Red Magicite is highly illegal, due to its harmful longterm effects and its unregulated trade in Terragard.

## Effects

Red Magicite is more potent than magicite, and thus is more useful and desirable for mages, but it is highly addictive and its longterm effects include insanity and physical mutation. Those who survive such effects will begin to start growing red magicite on their bodies, though red magicite grown from a live body is benign until the body is fully absorbed by the growths, then it gains its powerful magical effects.

## Cultivation

Red Magicite grows much faster than the regular form of Magicite, and thus is becoming more plentiful and more widespread, despite it legal status. This has led to a booming underground trade with mage cabals and cults that use magic, it powers spells as much as the Gods themselves some say, and others say that red magicite is the blood of a God itself, and its growth on the mortal plane is just the power of this God seeming through the cracks in the planes. Indeed it seems that red magicite does serve to weaken the veil between planes wherever it is prevalent.

The growth and harvest of Magicite is almost impossible, requiring powerful magics and special rare metals made into tools. Magicite and Red magicite are both extremely heavy when in its natural growth state, and since red magicite can grow anywhere, it quickly gets heavier and heavier when left unchecked. There are some new harvesting methods that have surfaced, some divine spells can break apart the magicite easily, but the divine spells also turn red magicite inert. Blood magic can be used in a ritual to soften the magicite deposits making it much easier to collect with Blood Iron tools.

## Trade

Red magicite is traded and smuggled more and more these days after its discovery, no one is sure who discovered it, but its high demand has made it a problem for the powerful Merchant's Guild, as well as a concern for the Great Divination Wizards, who use magicite in their spells. Some rumors have arisen stating that some of the great diviners have turned to experimenting with red magicite and some have died or even killed while using it.

Regular magicite fetches a high price on the legal and illegal markets, as it is rare, takes centuries to grown, and cannot be cultivated or 'grown' by any known means. Continuous expeditions deep underground and decades of dangerous scouting have made it quite expensive. Red Magictie however, will grown almost anywhere, including underwater.

Transportation of Red Magicite is tricky, due to its accelerated growth rates, some who underestimate its growth or have improper magical barriers in place, often end up finding the magicite has overgrown its container and sometimes even fused with the cart or raft its being transported on, and eventually the cart or raft will be too heavy to support itself. This leads to wild deposits of red magicite growing off the beath path, where smugglers run their carts, and in shallow rivers and streams, abandoning the red magicite has a profoundly negative effect on its surroundings where it is eventually found. Some reports of even seafaring vessels unknowingly carrying red magicite in its holds have been sunk due to the weight of the growing crystal.

## Eradication

The Order of the Cleansing Promise is a group that has dedicated themselves to eradicating all red magicite in Terragard, 'the promisers' as they are called, are made up of a diverse group of people who have seen its effects, been ruined by it, or known someone who succumbed to its foul temptation.

Other organizations, such as the Merchant's Guild and the Great Divination Wizards have a keep interest in seeing this illegal magicite disappear and spend a considerable amount of effort to try and accomplish this. They will not work with the Promisers however; their methods are a bit more extreme and the Guild and Diviners are not keen to mar their delicate political standing just to protect their profits.