Demon Jade

Full Item Description
Demon Jade is a translucent stone of moderate hardness that comes in a variety of colors. This material is easily worked and can be made into beads, coins, and if the case of larger pieces, axe heads, armor plates and inlays and other heavy weapons.

History
On rare occasion, deep clathrates are corrupted by infernal magics. These magic resevoirs are closed off from the normal flow of essence in the manner of an oyster creating a pearl, or the body rejecting a piece of piercing debris. Cut off from the normal essence flow, the clathrate fractures into an amalgam of pieces that slowly work their way towards the surface.

Very deep mines are often contaminated by demon jade, which gives rise to the stories of haunted shafts, mutants lurching from the dark, and undead things lurching about unseen and unheard of in the deep places.

Magic/Cursed Properties
Like a normal clathrate, pieces of demon jade cause magical mutations in those exposed to them for too long. A ritual can be used to seal the material which protects the bearer from it’s emanations, but reduces the stone’s innate power and doubles it time to regenerate it’s essence store. The mutations caused by the jade are generally associated with demonic traits, such as scaly skin, leathery wings, half dead appearance, rotting, claws, hunger for carrion, or the stench of brimstone.

Also like clathrates, this jade comes in elemental ‘flavors’. Green Jade is by far the most common and is elementally neutral. Red demon jade has a sulfuric stench and burns with a sickly reddish-green color. Blue demon jade smells of rotting flesh and is always cold to the touch. Black demon jade is the hardest form of the material and infects bearers with greed and atavistic urges, White demon jade, the rarest, smells of incense and at first can be mistaken for a more benign magical material until the bearer becomes homicidaly intolerant.

As a side note to the elemental aspects of the demon jades mentioned above, such ‘flavored’ demon jades are the youngest of the stone type as the original aspect of the clathrate that was corrupted has not been completely wiped away by the infernal taint that infected and later destroyed the clathrate in question.

Uses of Demon Jade
While the material is certainly suited to the task of being carved into weapons and plates of armor, it is rare that such large pieces are found. The more commonly found small pieces are more useful being made into amulets, pieces of jewelry, and stone inlays for magic weapons and tools.

Swords and Blades - A piece of demon jade placed in the pommel or tang of a bladed weapon will grant the weapon a minor bonus in attacks and damage, as well as giving it the status of being a magical weapon for terms of creatures that cannot be harmed by mundane weapons. Such weapons radiate faint to moderate magic and have an aura of evil or malice about them.

Arrowheads - with red and white demon jades being the most popular, arrows with heads shaped out of this material deal extra damage, or if properly enchanted make excellent arrows of slaying. Enchanting a demon jade arrow is a considered quick and dirty magic, easily done. It is also expensive as most arrowheads will break if striking metal armors. Fragments of demon jade fester in wounds and are hard to remove.

Armor Inlays - A piece of demon jade can be used to Fortify a suit of armor, granting it a minor boost in protective ability, also giving it the status of being magical armor. Like weapons, the inlaid armor will radiate both magic and evil in respective amounts.

Jewelry - sealed demon jade is most commonly used for this purpose. Such pieces function as aids in sorcery, providing essence to fuel magic spells or as foci in the use of infernal magics. When polished and cut like a gemstone, demon jade most resembles peridot.