Nihlertrium

Nihlertrium is an ore that seems to possess innate magical suppression properties.

## Description

Breaking easily into jagged shards akin to that of the lamellar structure of slate, Nihlertrium is a vitrified ore with a blue-black crystalline shine. A small deposit was uncovered by accident at Broken Hill Quarry, and subsequently was provided to the alchemist Perrin of Bellcroft for further study. It seemed to attract the so-called Beast of Breakstone, a construct that seemed to serve a singular purpose towards its acquisition for an unknown purpose.

## Research

### Completed by Roderick Reman & Arnica

Contained as narrow veins of mineral within the surrounding mundane stone from which it was lifted at Broken Hill Quarry, the edges of the shard recovered from the laboratory of Perrin show the obvious signs of their haphazard mining with picks and shovels. Small scraps of cloth have subsequently caught upon the sharp fractured edges of the crystalline contents, many of which are capable of easily drawing blood in spite of no obvious efforts made to shape or hone the substance. As such, handling the Nihlertrium is an awkward process, further complicating its close examination and study. Nonetheless, the composition is not dissimilar to other glass-like crystals such as obsidian, although clear infused with an arcane aura.

Most confounding of further study is that of the sporadic suppressive properties of the Nihlertrium, which appears capable of producing a highly localised aura of antimagic at seemingly random intervals. During these brief moments, which may last anything between a fraction of a second or the best part of a minute on one occasion during research, though typically lasting somewhere between two and five seconds, creatures in contact or otherwise within roughly one foot of the substance find themselves divorced from the arcane. While a creature may go through the process of casting a spell, or utilise the properties of an enchanted object, the results are nullified, and the efforts required still expended. Summoned effects such as illusionary images, created entities such as familiars and other lingering magical effects also find themselves suppressed during these uneven surges, and fail to return once the substance grows dormant once more, requiring resummoning or recreation to replicate what was lost. As such, arcane study by means of spells such as *Identify* and *Detect Magic* proves a fickle and challenging task.

Even after a short period of exposure to the Nihlertrium, individuals find themselves subjected to further physiological effects too, with rashes and blisters blooming upon the skin of those with a connection to the Weave and thus capable of casting spells, whether through arcane or divine means. Those wielding psionics are seemingly unaffected however, both by the suppressive nature of the aura, and the unpleasant side effects. Prolonged exposure produces feelings of nausea that passes relatively promptly with time spent away from the substance. Nonetheless, all research seems to point towards a need for purification and refinement, a process that seems to go beyond simply extracting the crystalline aspects of the ore, and thus is beyond current research comprehension or capabilities at present, whether by nature of resources and equipment readily available, arcane knowledge and experience or a combination of both.

### Completed by Roderick Reman

Through further funding and interest on behalf of the crown, the research into the mineral has accelerated greatly, seemingly yielding functional results. Recreations of Perrin's research into the effect of alloying with mithral were recreated, in which binding of the two primary reagents was achieved in a stable, forgeable manner - albeit it resulting in the nullification of both the famed property of the former in terms of its lightweightness, as well as seemingly muting the Nilhertrium's potency, surely by simple means of dilution. Nonetheless, confirmation of similar results proved worthwhile, giving a sense of standardisation to the ongoing experimentation. Instead, through a great presumed level of expense given the rarity of both metals, most progress was achieved in use of alloying the mineral to that of purified adamant ore and/or novanite, known sometimes simply as starmetal.

Curiously, each of the metals seems to create a differing effect when combined with each in turn. Adamant in itself is highly brittle, prone to catastrophic fracture with even moderate pressure, but when smelted becomes amongst, if not is, the strongest material in mundane existence. Inclusion of Nilhertrium in this process seems to bolster the innate properties of the material, as if concentrating it within the alloy. This applies to all aspects, nullifying antimagic and physiological adverse reactions alike. Fortunately however, the preliminary results of this seemed concentrating by combination reduce the range of the effects so that contact, or very close to, is necessary to evoke such an effect. Novanite, said to be forged in the heavens and cast down to fall to the soil and stone by the footsteps of the gods, instead has the opposite effect upon alloying with Nilhertrium. Like with mithral, the process does mollify the effects of the mineral somewhat, but not nearly as greatly, and thus the functional uses of the substance remain at least somewhat intact. Even less potent, shields made of the alloy may offer additional protection against spells, perhaps even nullifying those cast flippantly or without need for particular inordinate effort. Weapons might handily disrupt the power of spellcasters upon piercing their defences, sapping some of their magical potential as well as inflicting physical wounds.

Thus far though, either would be prohibitively expensive to produce en masse - and the matter of sourcing further Nilhertrium proves an immediate hurdle.