Rare Element: Coalesced Aether
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It is a dense, unnaturally cold chuck of glowing rock. Despite its metallic silvery surface feeling absolutely solid and hard, your eye registers a constant, shifting pattern of light and dark across the material, creating the insistent illusion of internal fluid movement. When you turn the block, you can see bright pinpoints and streaks of white and blue suspended within the substance's deep, dark core, giving the appearance of trapped starlight and diffused moonlight.
There are as many potential uses as there are rumors about such aether.
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It has curable properties. Lord Veridian Blackwood, human noble, once suffered a terrible malformation after a spell went awry, leaving his hand twisted and withered under an uncurable and grievous wound. Applying the aether from his manor in Waterdeep, he apparently made his hand whole.
Its remedial properties extend far beyond the usual. The hunter Brodus Stonehand, a werewolf from the Spine of the World. He crushed the aether into his drink, and drank deep, and he had not changed into a beast since, even under the brightest moonlight.
After his encounter with a Lich beneath the High Moor, the moon elven wizard Seraph Moonwhisper found his soul was fragmented, broken, and scattered across the region. His apprentice used the aether to draw his master's soul back into one piece.
It is also a reverred stone of transmutation, capable of changing one's very nature. Seeking entry into the royal court of Cormyr, the halfling beggar Kaelen Swiftfoot used the aether to transform her body, granting her the height and noble features of a queen from a faraway land.
Born with skin of fire and a bitter temper in the city of Calimport, the tiefling Ignis Salamand was scorned by many. A shaman purified the Aether in sacred water, and upon drinking it, the demonic taint receded, leaving her fully mortal.
The aether is apparently also capable of piercing the most protective of anti-scrying shields. The druid Lorna Halfleaf used the aether to locate a legendary white stag, which was enchanted by potent and unpierceable anti-scrying protections.
It also allegedly grants sight beyond sight. The sage Alarion Greysteel needed to find the floating fortress of a rival over the Sea of Fallen Stars. By using the Coalesced Aether, he was able to peer across the planar boundaries and pinpoint the tower's exact location in the Elemental Plane of Air.
It can severe the ties of demonic and planar influence. When the shepherd Tomas Oakenshield in the Dalelands was afflicted by demonic possession - the demon having wormed its way deep into his psyche - the village elder used the aether to permanently expel the entity, leaving the man's mind now and again fully his own.
An enclave of Netherese wizards and solar priests, far in the northeastern provinces of Narfell, once combined huge chunks of it and spoke archaic words of power to permanently weaken, misfigure, and banish the armies of their enemies, including those of the titanic frost giants.
It can also remove arduous curses. The merchant Davos Ironhill fell under a hag's curse; he knew only misfortune, darkness, and woe that followed not only him but everyone he knew. After he acquired the aether, he used it to remove the curse, and he could again smile, earn his keep, and live his life without fear of darkening those of others.
It is considered sacred by certain members of the clergy of the Moonmaiden, and considered by some to be a fragmant -- a mere fraction, severed chunk or chipped piece -- of the so-called "Tear of Selune." It is as prized and worshipped as it is lamented as evidence of Selune's profound sorrow and melancholy.
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The many rumors and stories about such aether and its magical properties have given it a reputation. It is an apparent panacea sought after by many, but exceptionally rare.
It is said it can be used only once, and is always consumed in its entirety during any one given use.
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[Plot Item: Calligraphy of the Sky]
[DM Eternal / Xanatos Gambit]
