Realmstone
Realmstone, or Cursestone are concentrations of raw magic, a disparate collection of substances that can be found in the Mortal Realms. It is the most sought-after resource in the Realms, it is of such value that a rich seam might start battles or call the attention of the gods.[1][6a]
Contents
Creation
When raw magic meets reality, which might be from a natural process that takes a long time or a great metaphysical process, and solidifies into realmstone.[6a]
When a Endless Spell is unbound it leaves behind a piece of Realmstone highly desired by wizards to make powerful objects. If the Endless Spell has claimed many lives the objects made from these pieces of Realmstone are far more dangerous.[6b]
Properties
While most magical energies are invisible to those without witch-sight, the concentration of raw magic that is the realmstones is visible to those without it. Each type of realmstone embodies the realm which it is found, not only in appearance, taking a physical appearance related to the fractional color of magic which is solidified from, but also embodying the traits of that realm and magical colour.[6a]
There is no way of knowing the true potency of each individual realmstone, and while each piece will still produce impressive quantities of energy, the resulting output can still vary to an incredible degree. The smallest of fragment can power dozens of the most complex spells known to mortals or it can be exhausted after one spell. There are many theories in the Collegiate Arcane on how to discover the strength of a individual realmstone, but most focus either on different levels of magical concentration or the rate of arcane degradation.[6a]
Regardless of type, all realmstone eerily calls disasters with its use, specially those who use it so heavily they come to rely on it, earning it the sobriquet of Cursestone. There are many whispered tales of what happened to those sorceres who used it, deranged killers, disturbing mutants, addicts that were soon seduced into becoming servants of the Dark Gods. Despite these tales there are always those willing to risk for such power. [6a]
Uses
The value of the realmstone, more valuable than any precious metal or gemstone, comes from it many magical properties able to raise, power or destroy cities. Regardless of the size of a shard of realmstone it can empower spells and magical abilities to enormous proportions. Many artefacts are either forged through magical process or wrought of alloys that need realmstone to give it's exceptional abilities.[6a]
A single wizard can use a fragment the size of a fingernail to achieve in an hour eldritch feats that should take a coven of sorcerers a whole day.[6a] Many wizards try to experiment it in order to release it's power, like:
- Grinding it into powder.[6a]
- Harnessing energy with arcane electricity.[6a]
- Burning it.[6a]
- Consuming it(most notoriously done by Skaven sorcerers).[6a]
The genius architect Valius Maliti was the first to make the intuitive leap of using these dangerous and volatile materials as a power source, making history with the aelven enchanters and Ironweld engineers by building the Greywater Fastness by tapping into a deposit of Ghyran Realmstone.[1]
Types
Azyr
Celestium, also called the Giver of Celestial Visions, is the realmstone of Azyr, manifesting as twinkling white and blue particles, stardust that looks like gleaming sand. It manifests most often in the contrails of the meteors and shooting stars that travel the heavens, drifting from the sky into the realm below, differentiating it from other realms' realmstone which more commonly form on it's surface.[6a]
They are desired by seers for it's ability to give boost precognitive abilities. A single speck of this realmstone can fuel the celestial orreries of Azyrheim and the Sigmarabulum.[6a]
Many in the Collegiate Arcane believe that this realmstone has a relationship with Dracothion, as many claim to see him weave across the stars through the truth is unknown.[6a]
Ghyran
The Realmstone of Ghyran, most commonly called the Cyclestone, but also known by many other names like Jadeite or Swirlstone, is in constant change a perfect representation of the natural cycles of that realm, often described as shimmering jade tendrils of vitality. It is most often recognised in it's solid form of jade ice, but it will quickly melt into a lurid emerald puddle that will then turn into a greeinsh cloud and eventually condense back into intricate frozen shapes. All these processes happen regardless of temperature.[1][6a]
This substance is extremely desirable as a ingredient in healing and growth potions. The Sylvaneth have been known to incorporate deposits of this material into their waystones to strengthen the spells that hide their groves.[6a]
Many of the battles of the War of Life was fought over these deposits as many nurglites and their skaven allies sought to corrupt this realmstone.[6a]
Ghur
The Realmstone of Ghur, often referred as Bones of Amber looks like the fossilised remains of well-gnawed and cracked bones, that occurs in the rock of the realm. It is often mistaken for the real bones, unless inspected closely for its subtle amber glow and unusual heaviness that weights less like bone and more like rocks. They can be as small as the smallest shard of a mouse's skeleton or a finger bone, to largest found on the Realm's Edge that look like they came from a long-dead Godbeast.[5][6a]
This realmstone is sought by shamans and ambermantic sages for it's ability to empower spells that transform casters into beasts, primal predatory versions of themselves or to unleash their hidden savagery. Maniak Weirdnobs and Wurrgog Prophets often use this rock to make staves of amber bone or unusual piercings.[5][6a]
Chamon
Most commonly referred as Chamonite, but also know to have other names like Wyrdgold, Transmutational Gold or Changestone. It is soft, malleable, very similar to quicksilver and no matter how the substance is cut or stretched it will morph back into a globular shape.[5][6a]
This realmstone has near-limitless alchemical potential, mutable properties and the notorious ability to ignore gravity. It can be used to create new alloys, by forging with other metals, with powerful traits.[5][6a]
It is specially favoured by the mortal Tzeentchians for it ability to empower their change-magic subtantially. Arcanite Cults search the Realm of Metal for it, Tzaangors stalking the wilds, while Kairic Acolytes search the cities.[6a]
Aqshy
The Burning Stones of Aqshy are known by many names including emberstone, ragerock, brightstone and aqthracite. It appears as burning coal with eternally glowing embers or blue-hot prisms of crystallised anger. It not only produces heat, but it also provokes primordial anger or intensify other emotions in those who linger too close to it.[1][6a]
While Khornates detest spellcasting, they value this stone for its essential role in forging peerless weaponry.[6a]
Shyish
Realmstone from the Shyish is known as grave-sand or the Hourglass of Mortality is a granular crystalline substance, that appears like grains of sand, ranging in colour from black to mauve.[6a]
Legends say that rivulets of this material is linked to a living creature. The lifespan is tied to the numbers of grains in that stream. Capturing one's own grains in a hourglass will prolong their lives.[4][6a]
This magical substance contains incredible power over life and death and it can be used to power amethyst magic that can nullify the ageing process and reanimate the dead.[6a]
Ulgu
The realmstone of Ulgu is known as Shadowstone or Lies Given Form and it shares it qualities of secrecy, duplicity and illusion with its realm. Those without witch-sight when looking at this material will only see unremarkable illusions, like pebbles, fallen logs or patches of nondescript mud, but those with it can see it's true form, that of hovering mist with the consistency of billowing cobwebs, like a nearly-intangible grey gossamer like shroud that undulates with an unfelt breeze.[5][6a]
The realmstone is almost sentient, actively disguising itself to remain hidden and once discovered it will release hallucinogenic waves to confuse one's perception of reality. Sometimes only being in its vicinity can cause mystic hallucinations.[6a]
Hysh
The prismatically pure realmstone of Hysh is different from the other as it does not exist naturally in solid form, instead taking the form of beams of yellow-white illumination that travel the realms. Their movement is so quickly that they could not be trapped or siphoned until Teclis taught the seers of Hysh how. After being captured the light turns into magical translucent material, often called Hysh Crystal or Aetherquartz. It that can take the shape of runes-like symbols, mysterious symmetrical patterns that are often referred as quartz-like prisms or geometric deposits of enlightenment and only the aelves of Hysh have made sense of the esoteric configurations.[1][5][6a]
It has strange prismatic powers which can concentrate, dissipate, absorb or dispel magical energies. A property Teclis used when he built the Tower of Prios out of it to use its purifying beam to lessen the effects of Nagash's Necroquake in the realm of light. [5][6a]
Chaos
Warpstone is a realmstone of impossible impurity, typically darkest black in appearance surrounded by an eerie green aura. It is the crystallisation of magical energy corrupted by Chaos. It's magic is powerful that it eats the light that surrounds it leaving a supernatural pall or shadow around it.[6a]
Because of its unrivalled mutational energy and reality-bending properties, it is the most dreaded of all realmstone. But it's also the most desired by the skaven clans, who scour the realms to use it to fuel their unstable inventions, their abominable flesh-grafting mutations and consumed by their sorcerers to generate enough magic to power their spells.[6a]
Eightpoints
Varanite also known as Bloodrock, Octarite or Archaon's Gift is the Realmstone of the Eightpoints. It is a magical material suffused with the energies of Chaos that resembles red-hot, bubbling gore in its natural state and are found in veins running in gushing channels below the crust of the Eightpoints. It causes rapid mutations similar to warpstone but to a far greater and more unpredictable extent. When solidified through a hazardous process of extraction and sorcerous purification, Varanite can be forged into weapons that can flood the bodies of enemies with pure, unalloyed corruption, allowing even a slight wound to reshape itself into horrific configurations such as razor-toothed mouths that devour their host alive. However due to its extremely hazardous nature even compared to other realmstone Varanite weapons are extremely rare even among the armies of Archaon. Varanite can even corrupt those that are immune to the taint of Chaos such as the structural foundations of a realmgate.[7a][8]
Fused Realmstones
The Arch-Domini of the Agloraxi Empire had in their time stolen realmstone fragmanets from all the Mortal Realms, and fused them together into compound-artefacts of unfathomable and uncrontrollable power. The most 'successul' of their experiments that have endured into the present were produced by combining elemental opposites.[9a] These artefacts include:
- The Evershroud: A blinding crystal of aetherquartz and falsestone that turns its bearer and invisible except in direct sunlight. It also makes them ethereal and impervious to attack, and incapable of attacking. Prolonged exposure makes it impossible for the bearer to age and no one will be able to touch or hear the bearer, dooming them to an eternity of impenetrable isolation.[9a]
- The Immortal Bind: A jewelled band of fused cyclestone an grave-sand that snaps around its bearers wrist before summoning Chainrasps bound to the bearer's will. Should these chainrasps be somehow harmed, the bearer will endure the damage. Prolonged exposure may transorm the bearer into a Chainrasp Dreadwarden.[9a]
- The Comet Unholy: A pendant of a thrice-tailed comet formed of celestium and warpstone. It ties together its bearer's sense of willpower and dread together, and prolonged exposure will transform its bearer into a Chaos Spawn.[9a]
Notable Realmstone Deposits
- Ghyran
- A large deposit of this realmstone in Greywater Reach was used to power the arcane machinery that made the city of Greywater Fastness.[1]
- Aqshy
- The Red Crater was created when Sigmar defeated An'ggrath during the Battle of the Burning Skies and from the scalding heat and trauma of the impact the largest deposit of this Realmstone was created. During the Age of Chaos this deposit was exploited by the competing Bloodbound tribes.[6a]
- In the Shimmering Abyss there are large veins of this ore. Strangely they take the form of vaguely humanoid accumulations of powerful, volatile matter burn with a furious sentience. It takes skilled miners, aided by the latest eldritch technology, to gather them.[3]
- Shyish
- The largest deposits of this realmstone were found on the Realm's Edge of Shyish, trickling down on dunes of lonely deserts. However Nagash moved a substantial ammount of it to it's center, eventually resulting in the creation of the Shyish Nadir and the subsequent Necroquake.[6a]
- Ulgu
- Chaos
- Blight City, the skaven capital, is said to have been built on a warpstone bedrock, which does not hinder their greed for more.[6a]
Notable Realmstone Objects
- Great Black Pyramid: Built upside down at the heart of the Realm of Shyish, its draws death energy to it.[4]
- Stone of Falling Skies: A shard of pure realmstone corrupted by a Chaos Sorcerer that radiates gravity-twisting powers.[2]
- Tower of Prios: An enormous tower built by Teclis out of Hysh's Realmstone. It's purifying beam was used to lessen the effects of Nagash's Necroquake on Hysh.[6a]
See Also
Sources
- 1: Season of War gaming aid from the WH AoS app - A New Power.
- 2: Spire of Dawn guide, pg 1
- 3: Season of War: Firestorm Rulebook (2017)
- 4: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Malign Portents - Realm of Syhish, pg. 28-29
- 5: Age of Sigmar: Core Book (2nd Edition) - Ghur, Realm of Beasts, pg. 112-113
- 6: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Malign Sorcery
- 7 Soul Wars: Wrath of the Everchosen
- 7a: Domain of Archaon, pg.12-15
- 8: Broken Realms: Morathi - Molten Blood, pg.12-13
- 9: Soulbound: Brightspear City Guide
- 9a: Legendary Vault: Realmcrust Laboratory, pg. 39
