[World Lore] Frost Salt and Salium

[Zarsies 6027]

A hunk of frost salt.

 

Material Name and Description (Raw form)

Frost salt commonly appears as crystalline chunks akin to ice or broken as a rough powder ranging in color from alabaster, pale blue-green, to deep teal and emits a distinctly salty odor. It can be found in deposits across the snowy north of Almaris, the Saltpeaks and Rimelands, exposed to the elements on cliffsides or in caves or buried under snow but never beneath earth as if an ore. Its sprinkled presence throughout the north has affected the boreal environment there, all snow and ice possessing a mild salty flavor. It is vaguely durable in large hunks but can easily be broken down by an average person with a tool and ground finely with a mill or mortar and pestle; it has the same weight and density of salt.

 

Raw frost salt has a unique and potent effect, a small handful of its ground form or an equally sized rock of it acting as a dose. When ingested the user will experience a sickness known as salt shivers, named on account of it inducing shivers, the paling and/or greying of skin and hair, and mild depression. As well, it causes the user to become resilient to the cold and allows them to survive otherwise dangerously frigid environments. These effects last for 1 IRL day or 1 narrative month after being taken. Frost salt in rock or powder form is acutely salty and slightly bitter and tolerably less when diluted in a drink, clouding it with the frost salt’s color.

 

Frost Salt Addiction:
After 3 consecutive doses or a single 3x dose the user will find frost salt addicting, craving it daily. Once addicted, the user becomes immune to the cold and can reliably live in a freezing climate and no longer experiences chills. Addicts commonly gravitate towards the northern regions so they have easier accessibility to the material. Its danger becomes apparent when quitting for frost salt withdrawal leads to crippling depression and strong suicidal ideation and users must be weaned off it to successfully go clean. Physical symptoms of withdrawal include profuse sweating and overheating, nausea, blurred vision, fatigue, and stiffness of joints. Should a user be under the effect of frost salt for longer than 1 IRL month or 4 narrative years the effects of depression will intensify, leading to higher risk of self harm. 

 

As well, frost salt has the following alchemical properties:

 

Signs:
Aether
Water

 

Symbols:
Impediment x6
Coldness x4
Lethargy x2
Freezing x2

 

Applications (Raw Form)

The applications of raw frost salt are straightforward; it can be ingested to ease travel through harsh, arctic land with the side effects of chills, paling, and melancholy. Its use must be mindfully moderated lest one become addicted.

 

 Red Lines (Raw Form)

-Frost salt will not induce its effects if taken in too small a dose. In turn it may function as a unique cooking ingredient.

-The paling/greying effect of frost salt is a slow transition that occurs over the course of 1 IRL day and continued use does not intensify its desaturating effect. It will not turn a person completely snow white or stone grey, only tinge them. 

-The depression effect of frost salt will stack with existing depression (natural or magically-induced) and its effects should be roleplayed appropriately. It is highly recommended that players research depression in order to roleplay it accurately and not portray something stereotypical or offensive.

-Frost salt addiction is not itself inherently dangerous but becoming sober is; to wean from it a user must lower their intake over the course of at least 2 IRL weeks during which they will experience profuse sweating and overheating, nausea, blurred vision, fatigue, and stiffness of joints. Should they attempt to quit without weaning they will experience these symptoms severely accompanied with crippling depression and strong suicidal ideation. Not roleplaying these effects is powergaming.

-Frost Salt resistance to cold is akin to being unaffected from dry, frigid environments, though magical frost and cold would effect the user as normal.

 

 Harvesting Method

Frost salts can be harvested from large deposits with a pickaxe or other such tool by striking the crystal and breaking off chunks to later grind. The act of breaking frost salt of this size is dangerous because it may produce a spray of dusty frost salt which if inhaled through the nose will cause a steady nosebleed and if it contacts the eyes they will sharply sting and be effectively blinded for up to 1 IRL hour, a risky position to be in when deep in a boreal tundra. As such collectors tend to wear some kind of simple visor or mask in order to avoid harm. These effects will end prematurely (30 IRL minutes) if the face is flushed with water.

 

 Harvesting Red Lines

-Frost salt cannot be harvested without some sort of implement as strong as ferrum to strike it.
-The eyes are more vulnerable to frost salt dust but exposure commonly results in both temporary blindness and a strong nosebleed. A visor or mask will prevent exposure.
 

Spoiler

Name: Frost Salt
Item: Prismarine Crystals
Rarity: Exquisite (T4)
Lore Link: [this]
Environment: Found in the frozen north of Almaris.
Item Desc: This small fragment of greened ice emits a strong, salty odor like an ocean shore. Its surface is irregular and rough, marbled with white veins. A simple process of grinding will yield a sparkling, rough powder ready for use.

 

Exquisite (T4)
1-50 = Nothing (frost salt dust is scattered)
51-80 = Fragment
81-90 = Shard
92-100 = Cluster

 

 

 

Material Name and Description (Refined Form)

Frost salt can be added in the forging process of any material, sprinkling throughout the object and giving it a number of properties in addition to the material’s original properties. Ferrum coated with frost salt is referred to as salium, otherwise such materials are called “frosted [name]”, e.g. frosted slayersteel, frosted aurum. To coat an object it must be laid into a bed of frost salt, rolled, and left to fuse undisturbed for 10 narrative minutes. The slight frost salt composition gives the object a blue-silver sheen and is cool to the touch. Prolonged contact [2+ emotes) with bare skin will cause increasing levels of frostbite and therefore most weapon handles are bound in leather or are wielded with gloves and most armor is padded. Frosted metals are extremely vulnerable to rusting, rusting at six times its normal rate, and should they get wet they will soon require a blacksmith’s attention to be mended with their base material. Additionally, this fusing compromises the durability of the metal and makes it twice as susceptible to damage wherein it may crack, chip, or even shatter akin to ice and is vulnerable to strong bludgeoning.

 

Armor (chainmail, half plate, scalemail, etc.) coated with frost salt has a resilience to frigid environments, absorbing frigid temperature easily and preventing escape of heat- allowing its wearer to withstand wintery conditions as if they were tightly wrapped in thick fur.

 

Weapons (anything that would pierce or slash) gilded with frost salt stick into wounds when used akin to a tongue frozen to metal. The weapon will become affixed inside the wound and will be difficult to remove, requiring a strenuous effort to rip out which will inevitably cause tearing of the muscle, sinew, tissue, and skin of the immediate area and cause excessive bleeding. The metal also stings akin to salt while in the wound. The combination of excessive cold and bleeding will with certainty disable the limb, preventing it be further used in Combat. With such traumatic wounding, the limb will require quick medical treatment, ‘lest it be lost entirely. 

 

Applications (Refined Form)

Frost salt coating is useful for making conditioned gear for cold climates and unique weaponry intended to make its target suffer, be it a knife meant to be wrenched out after a stabbing or an arrow that’s difficult to remove. It is majorly useless on trinkets and jewelry and like, making them needlessly susceptible to rusting.

 

Red Lines (Refined Form)

-Frost salts can be coated onto any material that is forged, requiring heat to melt onto the object via sprinkling.

-Frost Salts when gilded/sprinkled would last at maximum 8 strikes against hard objects of steel-strength/durability or greater before breaking (This can include blades, armour, etc.). 4 If the frosted metal is lesser in durability than Steel (e.x. gold or slayersteel).

-Forging with Frost Salts, under any method, is considered common knowledge and is not required to be learned from another in roleplay.

-Frost Salts, in tandem with Starsteel, may endure 16 total strikes as opposed to 8, before the material begins to wear and rust.

-Coating frost salt does not bear any sticking effects or durability hits, such requires the salt to be embedded into the metal (Thus, gilding/sprinkling, not coating.)

-Frosted materials are first cool to the touch but progressively become colder the longer contact is maintained, becoming dangerous after 10 narrative minutes. Frosted materials must be handled with some form of protection, most commonly leather padding.

-Frosted materials are half as durable and twice as likely to become damaged through use and are acutely vulnerable to strong bludgeoning which will crack, chip, and/or shatter under extreme duress (If the "8/4 Strikes" clause does not come to effect.)

-Frosted armor does not grant immunity to cold, merely resistance equivalent to tightly wrapped and thick fur attire. This protective effect is negated underwater or when wetted by water.

-Frosted weapons can be removed from wounds with 1 emote of strained pulling but the pain of the act causes individuals doing so on themselves (Self-harm or undoing harm done) to require an additional emote.

-Frosted weapons leave tingling, sizzling wounds that sting as if salted. When inevitably removed the weapon will tear out flesh and meat along with it, sticking to its surface. This sticking effect can be negated by pressing hot metal to the area and pulling the weapon out, not dissimilar to cauterizing a wound.

-One crystal of Frost Salt will affect [2] ingots worth of metal when applied in any manner.

 

Purpose (OOC)
The material list needs more common and simple materials to work with and as such I wanted to make a part of Almaris’ region lore to be present as an interactive asset available to those in the area that offers unique yet simple effects.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[DISCOLIQUID 1962]