Lore:Aetherial Fragments

Overview | Aetherial — Crystal — Metal — Other

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This article is about the material. For the book, see Aetherial Fragments (book).

Samples of Meteoric Glass

Aetherial Fragments are pieces of Aetherius which become dislodged and fall to Nirn from the heavens. These are commonly observed by the people of Tamriel as 'shooting stars'. These otherworldly materials are known for their magical power, and have often been utilized to great effect by those who manage to recover these fragments. Most notably, the Ayleids made significant use of Aetherial fragments due to their reverence for starlight.

Crystalline residue found on ancient Yokudan prayer lamps seems to indicate that worshippers of Ruptga used some kind of meteoric fuel to generate light resembling starlight.

Aetherium

Aetherium is an incredibly rare, luminescent blue crystal found deep underground. The crystal has a strong magical aura, but it is alchemically inert and harmonically volatile, and no known conventional process can enchant, smelt, mold, bind, or break it. It was discovered by the Dwemer of Skyrim in their deepest mines some time in the First Era, and it is only known location where it is found. Based on its name, the crystal may have some connection to Aetherius and the Aetherial Fragments which sometimes fall to Nirn, such as the meteoric glass harnessed by the Ayleids.

The Aetherium is embedded in Gold and Dwarven Metal to create Aetherial artifacts. Other materials such as Malachite, Ebony and Sapphire are also used. Crowns, shields and staffs can all be crafted with Aetherium. The artifacts have unique and powerful enchantments, such as the ability to turn enemies ethereal, summon Dwemer Animunculi, or harness the power of the Standing Stones. An aetheric lodestone is a perfectly round orb that is highly magnetic and threaded with veins of glowing blue Aetherium.. Certain Dwemer Animunculi are imbued with Aetherium crystals.

Culanda Stone

Culanda Stones are luminescent golden crystals used by the Altmer and usually only found on the Summerset Isles. The stones are pieces of cut and enchanted Meteoric Glass, a rare form of Aetherial Fragment. Alongside Malondo Stones, they are an attempt at creating magical crystals similar to the Welkynd Stones and Varla Stones produced by the Ayleids.

Culanda Stones provide a bright golden light and are therefore mostly used as a light source. They can also trigger magical effects or store magicka, but are always destroyed upon depletion, similar to Ayleid stones. Some scholars insist that the Culanda Stone improves upon Ayleid methods and can be cultivated like the Welkynd Stones once were, although others believe the Altmer simply discovered a more reliable method of recharging the original Ayleid stones. They are commonly seen on Auridon, in the ruins built by the Ancients. Culanda Lacquer is used to create armor and clothing for the College of Sapiarchs.

Jewel of Fire

The Jewel of Fire was a rare gem that was said to be a fallen star which still glowed with an inner flame. The Jewel played a large role in the Imperial Simulacrum during the Third Era.

In 3E 389, Jagar Tharn used the Staff of Chaos to imprison Emperor Uriel Septim VII, as well as killing his apprentice Ria Silmane so word of his betrayal would not reach the Elder Council. To ensure no one could free the Emperor, Tharn attempted to destroy the staff. However, as the Staff of Chaos was indestructible, it was instead split into eight pieces which he then hid in dangerous locations throughout Tamriel. As a final failsafe in the event that the staff was reassembled, Tharn rendered it useless by draining the magic energy of the Staff into the Jewel of Fire, which was in turn hidden beneath the Imperial Palace.

Magna-Geode

Magna-Geodes are glowing, roughly oval-shaped crystals of varied sizes with a polyhedral structure, typically golden in color. They bear a resemblance in appearance to fragments of meteoric glass.

They are commonly found in places of worship dedicated to the Daedric Prince of Light, the fallen Magna Ge Meridia. One such location where multiple Magna-Geodes have been found was the ruined Ayleid settlement of Garlas Malatar. Another notable location was the Kilkreath Temple, located on Mount Kilkreath and built in the ancient Nordic architectural style. It housed a particularly special magna-geode.

Two of Meridia's artifacts, her Beacon, and Brilliance, are shaped like magna-geodes.

Malondo Stone

Malondo Stones are golden crystals used by the Altmer and usually only found on the Summerset Isles. The stones are pieces of cut and enchanted Meteoric Glass, a rare form of Aetherial Fragment. Alongside Culanda Stones, they are an attempt at creating magical crystals similar to the Welkynd Stones and Varla Stones produced by the Ayleids. Unlike the Ayleid stones, which crumble to dust when harnessed by modern mages, Malondo Stones can be recharged and can be tapped by spellcasters as a source of magicka replenishment or to restore charge to enchanted items. Some scholars insist that the Malondo Stone improves upon Ayleid methods and can be cultivated like the Welkynd Stones once were, although others believe the Altmer simply discovered a more reliable method of recharging the original Ayleid stones. Vitrified Malondo is used to create armor and clothing for the Psijic Order. Altmeri artisans were known to craft cameos with likeness of people carved into the glowing malondo stones. One of known people portrayed that way was Queen Ayrenn. They were a royal gift for the High Elf youth. Royal Battlereeve's Command Batons were crafted from yellow sunwood and crowned with a radiant Malondo Stone.

Meteoric Glass

Meteoric Glass (also called Aetherial Crystals) is a variety of Aetherial Fragment. Compared to the more common meteoric iron, it rarely falls to Nirn. The glass is crystalline and comes in various colors. It is prized for being magical in nature and highly enchantable.

The Ayleids, known for harnessing Aetherial Fragments, used the glass to create artifacts like Welkynd Stones and Varla Stones. The crystals were also used as a source of light in Ayleid settlements, likely due to their abhorrence of fire, which they saw as an impure and primal form of light. Skyshards were believed to be shards of Aetherial magicka that carry the essence of Nirn. They are sometimes linked to Lorkhan or Anu. Vakka Stones are a type of meteoric glass found in Murkmire, while Culanda and Malondo Stones are a variety of meteoric glass used by the Altmer. The Maormer use beads of meteoric glass in their jewelry crafting, harnessing the arcane potential of the glass using an unknown crafting technique.

When properly cultivated, meteoric glass crystals are able to grow and multiply. The Ayleids were only beginning to cultivate the material when they were wiped out by the Alessian Slave Rebellion. Naturally occurring meteoric glass is a common sight in Ayleid ruins, and can often be seen growing on the crumbling limestone walls of these underground structures. Enchanted pieces of meteoric glass, such as Welkynd Stones, can grow in the same way.

Stormhold Crystals and the seven Star Teeth are similar in nature to meteoric glass, but it is unknown if they are made of the material. The origins of the Jewel of Fire also suggest a link to the glass.

Meteoric Iron

Meteoric Iron is a variety of Aetherial Fragment. It is the most common fragment to fall to Nirn. All known samples of the metal are a rusty brown in color. It is prized by armorers and enchanters for its properties in the forging of enchanted weapons and armors. The Ayleids, known for harnessing Aetherial Fragments, incorporated the metal into their architecture. As such, it is a common sight in Ayleid ruins. Meteoric Iron is resistant to most elements, and it's believed to have been used by the Akaviri Dragonguard to forge bulwarks against the Dragons' elemental breath.

Skyshard

Skyshards and Sky Prisms are a rare type of meteoric glass. Sometimes called "Shards of Aetherius", skyshards are shards of Aetherial magicka that carry the essence of Nirn. They are sometimes linked to Lorkhan or Anu.

Like other aetherial fragments, Sky Prisms fall to Nirn from Aetherius through the stars, although only during specific lunar alignments. As they fall, the Prisms can be seen splitting into three shards. If three skyshards are subsequently brought together, they reform into a silvery prism and confer the magical energy to any nearby being. As well as allowing mortals to become more powerful through the creation of prisms, absorbing the power of even a single skyshard allows a Soul Shriven to be re-attuned to Anuic magic and thus return to Nirn from Oblivion.

Although usually found outdoors, skyshards are often discovered and brought underground by hoarders. The Ayleids were known to harness skyshards in some way. They can also be summoned through ritual, even in Oblivion. Realms such as Coldharbour and the Clockwork City have a significant number of inexplicable fallen skyshards. It is believed that Breton warriors used to incorporate skyshard slivers in the hilts of their swords.

Space Core

This article or section includes content from a crossover with Portal. Therefore, its canonicity within The Elder Scrolls is inherently ambiguous.

Space Cores, also known as Space Spheres or Spheriphem, are moonstone constructs native to the void above Nirn. Similar to Aetherial fragments, Space Cores occasionally fall to Tamriel, although the experience is apparently unsettling for them. They will therefore attempt to cajole passing adventurers into helping them return to the void. They are seemingly sentient and possess a single eye. Space Cores can be used in Conjuration rituals at the Atronach Forge in place of a Sigil Stone.

Star Teeth

Star Teeth is a term usually used to refer to a group of seven magical prismatic crystals taken from the skies by airships during the Merethic Era. The term is also used to refer to the material they are made from, which even in small shards is considered valuable. These shards have been used in things such as armor. The denizens of western Craglorn use star teeth decoratively to create extremely valuable studded clothing such as belts.

Stormhold Crystal

Stormhold Crystal is a magical type of crystal found in the tunnels beneath the Black Marsh city of Stormhold. There are two types of Stormhold Crystals: Filled Crystals and Hollow Crystals. Filled Crystals have many different enchantments, such as healing, magical buffs or teleportation; some crystals can also be used for offensive purposes, killing opponents instantly. Hollow Crystals are used to store evil and corruption. The Storm Crystal is a large Stormhold Crystal which glows with distilled power and has the ability to hold vast amounts of corruption.

The origin of the crystals is a mystery. They were created by the priests of a nearly forgotten religion. Given Stormhold's origins as a Barsaebic Ayleid city, the priests were likely Ayleids, a race known for harnessing Meteoric Glass to create magical crystals. Similar crystals include Welkynd Stones, Varla Stones and Star Teeth.

Some time after the extinction of the Ayleids, the Empire set up a prison in the old ruins beneath Stormhold. In the late Third Era circa 3E 427, Warden Quintus Varus learned of the Storm Crystal and used the prisoners as slave labor, forcing them to dig in the tunnels. Varus made a large profit extracting the Stormhold Crystal, and planned to locate the Storm Crystal and use it to store all the evil in the Empire, titling himself the Slayer of Evil. The prisoners who dug in the tunnels, nicknamed "tunnel rats", kept some of the crystals for themselves, for use in smuggling or exploring the dangerous undead-infested tunnels. Varus overlooked this theft as long as tunnel rats were not greedy.

Over time, prisoners and their overseers began to go mad, fleeing into the tunnels and attacking workers clearing the ruins. Digging in the tunnels caused corruption to infect the workers, which led to madness and lizard-like deformities over time. Varus attempted to cure this by removing evil from one man to place into another using the Hollow Crystals. Varus afflicted far too many, and the prison camp's healer, Helga, was unable to cure all of them. This resulted in the earth itself oozing corruption. Many of the overseers began to show horrific deformities, and prisoners weren't expected to survive long.

Varus, driven insane in his search for the Storm Crystal, continued to open new tunnels and eventually tracked down the Crystal. A prisoner nicknamed the "master tunnel rat", with the help of Helga and several other prisoners, gathered enough equipment from the ruins to defeat the overseers and confront Varus. The two fought for the Storm Crystal, and the prisoner was victorious. Although the Crystal was unable to hold the evil of the Empire, the prisoner was able to use it to clear the prison camp of corruption, letting the inmates go free.

Vakka Stone

Vakka Stones (literally "Sun Stones" in the Jel language) are bright yellow crystals used by the ancient Argonians to store the raw magicka that falls from the Sun. They are only known to be found in Murkmire. The stones are pieces of cut and enchanted Meteoric Glass, a rare form of Aetherial Fragment, glowing with arcane power. They are believed to be magical crystals similar to the Welkynd Stones and Varla Stones produced by the Ayleids in Cyrodiil, and rival that of the Kajin-Jat Crystal. Prior to Duskfall, some tribes of ancient Argonians were directed by their Hist tree to worship the sun or even to collect its power. Known as the Sun-Blessed, they were eventually betrayed by their Sithis-worshipping brethren, and the practice faded into obscurity.

Varla Stone

A Varla Stone (Aldmeris for "star stone") is an enchanted shard of cut meteoric glass, a rare type of Aetherial Fragment. The luminescent crystals of white or blue hue are remarkably powerful, enabling untrained users to restore magical energy to any number of enchanted items. The stones were most notably used by the Ayleids, but are believed to date further back to the mid-Merethic Era when High Lord Torinaan used them drive off the native beasts of Auridon. Because of their great value and utility, many of these artifacts were looted from Ayleid ruins after the Ayleid diaspora. As such, intact Varla Stones are also extremely rare, but since they are small and easily concealed, diligent explorers may still occasionally come across them. Defective variants are known as "clouded" Varla Stones, and can occur if the meteoric glass forming the stone had some flaw. Over centuries, magicka ebbing and flowing through the stone heightens the flaw, causing the glass to cloud and its magicka to radiate irregularly.

When used, a Varla Stone will crumble to dust; there is no known way of recharging or preserving the stone, although scholars believe that their magical power may have originally been maintained by the Great Welkynd Stone of an Ayleid city. Varla Stones are usually found atop pedestals in Ayleid ruins, sometimes protected behind a remotely-opened cage. Flawed Varla Stones can be used to contain a trapped soul, and can thus be used to recharge enchantments, although to a much lesser extent than the unflawed stones, roughly equivalent to that of a common soul gem. When used this way, they do not crumble to dust like usual.

Welkynd Stone

Welkynd Stones (Aldmeris for "sky stone/heaven stone"; literally, "sky child") are luminescent aquamarine crystals created by the Ayleids. The stones are pieces of cut and enchanted Meteoric Glass, a rare form of Aetherial Fragment. The stones contain the concentrated power of Mundus and were used as a means of storing magicka. The Ayleids also used the stones as keys to magically open locks in their cities.

Magically talented individuals can draw the power from the stone to restore their own magicka. The means of restoring power to a drained stone was lost with the death of the Ayleids; without this knowledge, the stones simply crumble to dust after being used. Welkynd Stones are prized by mages, and many remain to be looted from Ayleid ruins, where they are often placed atop pedestals for illumination.

Like other types of meteoric glass, Welkynd Stones have the ability to grow and multiply if correctly cultivated. The Ayleids mastered the art of creating the crystalline structures and were beginning to cultivate them outside of their underground communities when they disappeared from history. Uncut Welkynd Stone crystals can occasionally be seen growing on the stone walls of subterranean Ayleid ruins. Lithnilian, an Altmer scholar, was the first to discover the crystals growing in a natural cave. Bramblepoint Cave was located in the Nibenay Basin. The discovery proved that, with the proper materials, magic, and research, the Welkynd Stone could adapt to any environment.

Great Welkynd Stones

A Great Welkynd Stone (Oblivion)

Great Welkynd Stones are exceptionally large pieces of enchanted meteoric glass. A Great Stone was once located at the heart of each Ayleid city and acted as the source of the settlement's magical enchantments. Scholars speculate that the Great Stones were linked to the lesser stones, restoring and maintaining their power. Great Welkynd Stones were highly sought by mages following the downfall of the Ayleids; in time, all of the stones were plundered from their cities. What was supposedly the last Great Welkynd Stone was taken from the Ayleid city of Miscarcand in 3E 433, to be used by Martin Septim in a ritual to create a portal to Gaiar Alata. The stone acted as the polar opposite of a Great Sigil Stone and was destroyed in the ritual.

Dark Welkynd Stones

Dark Welkynd Stones were used by the Ayleids for security. The black crystals glow with red light, and cast powerful elemental destruction magic at trespassers who get too close. Many of these ancient traps continue to function, presenting a dangerous obstacle to adventurers exploring the ruins. Some Dark Welkynd Stones will power down if the intruder stops moving, although this method is unreliable.