Caphorite

Caphorite is a crystalline mineral found throughout the Darklands that emits a strange, orange-purple glow equal in power to a candle. It can naturally be found in small lodes of up to several tons. It is frequently called drowstone because of its association with the drow who frequently plant fungal farms and other plants near the ore, as it seems to enhance the growth rate of their crops.

Radiation

Radiation from caphorite seems to have no long-term effect on living creatures, but does seem to possess a faint aura of transmutation that can affect a large variety of plants. In some cases, it is also rumored to impart sentience to molds and fungi, such as with vegepygmies, violet and phantom fungi, and fungal crawlers. It also has the strange ability to reduce the effectiveness of other light sources in its vicinity, and can even make it more difficult for spellcasters to create magical light. The drow take advantage of this phenomenon by collecting deposits of caphorite, and placing it in strategic locations near their settlements, in order to foil surface races who depend on light.

Weakness to sunlight

Direct exposure to sunlight, whether natural or artificial, causes caphorite crystals to darken and dissolve into a sticky ash.

Additional uses

Caphorite crystals are also pulverized into a powder and then melted before being used as an additive to many metals smelted in the Darklands.

References

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