Sunstone¶

Sunstone


Kind	A sacred glowing stone
Found	Only in Aldoria, at the Sunstone fields in the Marches foothills
Licence	The Order of the Sun, by charter (before the conquest)
Held now by	The Kiln (Ghost-3), warlord of the fields
Uses	Sacred; refined into explosive and light-based reagents

Locked A sacred glowing stone found only in Aldoria. It was the root of the Church's power, it can be refined into volatile, explosive and light-based reagents, and after grain it's what Kaelen wants most.

What it is¶

Sunstone is quarried from glowing seams in the terraced Sunstone fields of the Marches, the only source in the world. To the faithful of the Light it is holy: the sun's own fire, held in rock.

A real-world comparison

Think of saltpetre and frankincense rolled into one. Like frankincense, it's burned and honoured in church. Like saltpetre, the raw stuff of gunpowder, the right hands can turn it into something that explodes, and whoever controls the supply controls who can.

Sunstone reagents¶

Locked Refined Sunstone gives explosive and light-based reagents. They're established setting tools, free to reuse in play, and part of Tristen's kit alongside the Lotus poisons.

Open How refining works, what it costs, and how dangerous it is to the person doing it.

Who controls it¶

When	Who held it
Before the conquest	The Order of the Sun, which held the Sunstone licence by royal charter and quarried under it
Spring 900 AP	The secret accord of Solaris and Vane would have opened the Sunstone trade to the Empire and ceded the Marches. See Ledgers and papers
Spring 902 AP	Gorath, under Kira, tried to steal the Sunstone bound for Oakhaven with Syndicate-hired bandits. Trevor broke the ambush. See The road to Oakhaven
Since the conquest	The Kiln (Ghost-3), a hedge-arcanist and alchemist, rules the fields as a Lotus warlord

Why Kaelen wants it¶

Kaelen is rich in silk, steel and spice but poor in farmland, so grain comes first. Sunstone comes second: it's the one thing the Empire can't make or grow for itself. The only road east runs through Hollowpass, and the stone comes out of the same hills.

At the table¶

An alchemist can work Sunstone reagents with ingredients and time. A hedge-arcanist might read omens in its glow. Nobody throws fireballs (R-009).
A raw chip of Sunstone outside Aldoria is contraband, a relic, or a bomb waiting to happen, depending on who's holding it.
Draft A Sunstone-smuggling ring is a ready-made small, local story that only later touches the wider war.

Sources¶

The Aldorian Codex
Campaign handoff (Campaign Two), §2
Campaign Three handoff, §2