Phenomenon
Description:
Warm Blue Glass That Always Smells of Citrus
Lightning flashes, but never the same color twice. Thunder rumbles, but in seemingly deliberate chords. And rain falls, but it is not made of water. A product of a bizarre meteorological phenomenon, warmglass is a vitreous substance the cerulean blue of a well-polished sapphire with a number of strange properties.
Quirks:
When is a Storm Not a Storm?
Although the fall of warmglass is always accompanied by similar atmospheric events which many call “storms,” it’s unclear as to what these “storms” actually are, since they seem almost completely unrelated to temperature, atmospheric pressure, and current cloud cover, having been reported in conditions as varied as clear and arid deserts to tundras blanketed in bitter cold and oppressive altostratus clouds.
(One factor that does seem to affect warmglass storm manifestations is the presence mundane precipitation—there are no verified reports of warmglass falling at the same time as rain, hail, snow, or any similar weather conditions. Based on how the substance reacts to cold water, however, this is understandable.)
Another odd feature of these storms is that they only take place after sunset—and thus, in regions where the sun never sets, warmglass never falls—and while people may speak of their “thunder” and “lightning,” the process which creates these disquieting tones and kaleidoscopic flashes of light remains a mystery.
Warm Ice or Liquid Glass?
As for the substance itself, warmglass falls as a cloudy liquid that slowly hardens and deepens in color until forming a solid cerulean material with similar physical properties to untempered glass (including density, translucence, and smoothness), as well as a few differences. Warmglass has a much higher resistance to scratching, for example, a tendency to fracture into near perfectly tessellated pieces, a fragrant citrus odor, and is always only slightly warm to the touch (around 70° F/ 21° C), no matter the temperature of its surroundings.
This last fact makes warmglass essentially unworkable by any means available to normally glass smithing, which means that those who wish to use the gorgeous blue material for sculpture, decoration, or tools must lay out trays or molds at night and hope that a storm comes. Common warmglass objects made this way include windows, bed warmers, cooking utensils, edged weaponry, surgical instruments, decorative tiles for mosaics, and more.
Want to Get Rid of Warmglass? Just Add Water!
While warmglass is essentially impervious to heat, it is by no means indestructible. Beyond simply breaking into (regular tessellated) pieces, one can completely destroy warmglass by bringing it into contact with water that’s been chilled to at least 60° F (15.5° C). In fact, a single drop of water seems to—for lack of a better word—annihilate nearly ten times its volume of warmglass, causing it to simply vanish without a trace. This provides one explanation as to why this phenomenon has never been reported alongside regular precipitation—it’s possible that it does but no warmglass survives the journey to the ground.
Taking this attribute into account, it is understandable that warmglass is rarely used in situations in which it would come into contact with cool water. One is thus more likely to encounter it as an interior roof decoration or the hull of a lava-traversing vessel, for example, than as roofing tiles or a ship’s figurehead.
Adventure Hooks:
Thought Thief Burgles Killer Krik’ini’arktokra
“Goldleaf” the Krik’ini’arktokra merchant is known for many things: a cutthroat attitude towards business, a habit of applying gold leaf gilding to the spines of their chitinous thorax each time they survive another bout in the House of Pain, and a burning passion to become the central hub of the warmglass trade either side of the Breach. And if the rumors of Goldleaf’s latest acquisition are true, the Krik’ini’arktokra is going to be unstoppable.
When the PCs come to town, they learn that rumors are in fact true—Goldleaf recently came upon a recipe mentioned off-hand in an ancient record, one that essentially “cures” warmglass, protecting it completely from even freezing water, and expanding uses for the material a thousandfold. Obviously, this recipe is incredibly valuable, and so obviously, Goldleaf instantly destroyed the record after memorizing it so that it would exist nowhere else.
But a few days ago, Goldleaf passed out in their favorite bar, which is suspicious, as Krik’ini’arktokra metabolism can normally handle more than a dozen drinks without issue. Even more suspicious is the fact that Goldleaf can no longer remember the recipe for the curing process, and when they try to call it to mind, all they get is a snatch of a song they’ve never heard before, a vision of a place they’ve never been to, and the feeling that someone is laughing at them.
Goldleaf hasn’t told anybody else about the missing memory, so if the PCs can figure out who stole the recipe and get it back, the Krik’ini’arktokra will give each of them 3% of the profits. (And if they manage to kill the thief—or even better, bring them back alive—Goldleaf will pay them a bonus up front.)
A Drug-Related Moral Quandry
On passing through a small settlement familiar to the PCs, they find that tensions are brewing between the human and newly arrived non-human townspeople. Apparently, the humans are blaming their Sephexadon neighbors (who look a bit like six-legged pygmy hippos crossed with a cuttlefish and a ceramic tulip) for the warmglass-derived drug problem that’s been plaguing their town. As a part of their daily meditation, the Sephexadons harvest the effervescent sap from a particular plant that they cultivate which, if chilled and mixed with finely ground warmglass, allows them to create a potent recreational drug called Void.
While humans and Sephexadons’ positive reactions to Void are similar (a sensation of calmly floating through the universe and connection to a greater cosmic oneness), Sephexadon physiology has methods of mitigating the harmful effects of the compound that humans do not. Frequent use of Void essentially causes baseline humans to slowly crystallize from the outside in, a reaction that occurs only rarely in Sephexadons, and even then, only to very elderly members of their species.
The issue seems to be that the Sephexadons revere this kind of transformation as a visible sign that one has achieved permanent connection with the cosmos and believe that the consciousness of a Void-crystallized being is preserved eternally. Thus, they are morally opposed to any sort of prohibition towards the distribution of Void, even to children. The human townsfolk, on the other hand, view such an action as equal to poisoning their loved ones, and if the PCs don’t figure out a way to resolve the problem soon, there’s liable to be a riot.
The Sharp-and-Shattered Sea—A Mafioso’s Vacation Destination
The inland “sea” known as the Sharp-and-Shattered is the result of a storm that rains warmglass in a single spot every single night, which has accumulated for who knows how long. For generations, harvest-clans have ventured out into the Sharp-and-Shattered, gathering the cerulean material during the day and working with it at night to make decorations, tools, and other items, some for their own use, but most as goods sold to tourists. As it turns out, one such tourist was a cybernetic mob boss the PCs know as “Forgiveness” (short for “Forgiveness Does Not Compute”). The PCs owe Forgiveness a pretty significant debt, but if they solve the mafioso’s problem, that debt will be cleared.
It seems that Forgiveness quite enjoyed xir time at Sharp-and-Shattered, so much so that xe brought home a little warmglass figurine to remind xir of the place. However, ever since xe brought the figurine home to xir mansion, an incredibly localized warmglass storm appears to have set up shop in the skies above, with warmglass falling on Forgiveness’ property almost every night. The unseasonable nature, unusual frequency, and limited area of effect all suggest deliberate action against Forgiveness, which cannot stand.
The mafioso consulted a truthseeker, who gave Forgiveness information xe passes along to the PCs. Objects of certain configurations—such as the figurine Forgiveness got from the vendor at Sharp-and-Shattered—are precious to the everlasting storm, and those who take these objects away are cursed by the storm’s wrath, no matter how far they travel. The only way to break the curse, the PCs learn, is to: First, take the figurine back to the warmglass sea. Second, locate the vendor from whom the mafioso got said figurine. Three, kill this vendor and put the figurine into their corpse. Fourth, throw said corpse into the Sharp-and-Shattered just as the warmglass begins to fall. If all goes as planned, once the warmglass hardens over the merchant’s body in the light of the next day, the curse should be lifted.
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