So one of the key elements of Zenith is that in the broader world, it holds the esteemed position of being the only place on the planet that can produce and refine Dragon Essence, which powers much of the magic through artifacts and throughout the world. While Zenith is a “magic punk” type of setting, generally speaking most people cannot do magic on their own, but instead rely on artifact based magic to support their daily lives. And that magic is powered by refined Dragon Essence.
Dragon Essence – The lifeblood of the Veil:
Dragon Essence, is a mineral resource that is the foundation of Zenith, and the broader world in total. Dragon Essence is mined beneath Zenith, and then refined within the city limits. After being refined it is used to power much of the technology that makes the city run, things like the communication services, city maintenance services, and especially transportation.
Why is it called Dragon Essence:
Dragon Essence is a mineral with a deep purple and blue color to it, in it’s raw form it has veins of purple flowing through the mineral. The mineral gets it’s name because of many legends that connect it’s formation to the formation of the earth and specially to the site of Zenith.According to the world myth, people believe Zenith sits on top of a battleground where all the major ancient dragons fought to determine the fate of the world, and they believe the mineral was created from the dragon blood that flowed through the ground after their death.
What are the states Dragon Essence can be found in?
Dragon Essence can be found in a variety of states when it goes through the process, and those states are:1. Raw: The raw form is what is commonly found within the ground and the mines. The mining process requires care and very specific tools to support, and if it is incorrectly mined it can become volatile and explosive. 2. Extracted: After the essence has been pulled out of the ground, it sits in an extracted state. In this state it is a little bit more stable, but is still very volatile, and ultimately can’t be use for anything until it’s been refined. 3. Refined: The first step of the process is that the Dragon Essence goes through a process where it is ground up, and refined. The first part being the breaking down into a fine powder. 4. Processed: The next step in the process is when that powder is compressed under pressure into orbs. 5. Stable: After the processed dragon essence is then charged with a current on lightning while under pressure, and then it leaves in it’s most stable state.
Mining Process:
The first part of the process, is that the dragon essence must be mined. And this is highly dangerous work requiring very specific tools. The process of mining Dragon Essence involves extracting the veins of the mineral carefully from the rock wall, and then placing the shards into mining carts to be brought to the surface. Shards are generally unstable and must be moved carefully, and this can cause mining accidents.
Exposure Stage Progression:
The stage progression happens the following way: Breath Lung: Prolonged exposure to raw dragon essence is not safe for many races, specifically Dragonborn, and Goliath’s seem to have a natural resistance to it, but other races like Humans and Elves are high susceptible. There are multiple levels of Exposure to the dragon essence: • Stage 1 – Dragon Lung: At this point a creature gains a permanent 1 level oof exhaustion until they can successfully detox from the Dragon Essence. They also develop a constant cough which further impacts stealth checks. • Stage 2 – Dragon Madness: At this stage, the affected creature develops, a consistent paranoia. At this stage, an affected race gets everything from stage 1, and then a disadvantage on insight, perception, and investigation checks. • Stage 3 – Dragon Veins: At this stage, the affected creature gains the previous issue, but now starts to develop a permanent set of purple veins that will never go away. With this stage they are prone to violent outbursts, and must make a DC 15 wisdom save to stop lashing out at people.
Detoxing Dragon Essence:
To detox from the Essence, the first step is to get away from the dragon essence, and after 2 days of no exposure, the affected creature makes Con saving throws for each day (DC starting at 18, and going down 2 points per day).Example being: Day 1-2: Resting Day 3: DC 18 Day 4: DC 16 Day 5: DC 14 Day 6: DC 12To successfully detox from Dragon Essence, you need 3 successes. Each failure, the DC remains unchanged.If an affected creature has multiple stages, the above cycle must be repeated for each stage, with a required 3 successes per stage.
Refinement Process:
The first step of the process is that the shards are collected, and put into what they call a “Essence Forge”, which are in actuality very large and high pressure forges that heat the shards, and then smash them into a fine powder.After that, the powder are collected into what are called Embers. The embers are then put into a compression chamber where the powder is compressed into orbs which are the final refined state.
Transporting Dragon Essence:
The process of transporting Dragon Essence is a very dangerous process, requiring highly specific equipment that is designed to insulate it from shocks. Generally they are using carts that are pulled by larger beasts of burden. They are then moved using a separate drake rail, which is only for getting it to the foundry.The refined and stable version of the Dragon Essence is then transported using either Sky-Ship, Azure Gate, or Naval ship.