Black Pearl
Black Pearl
Black Pearl is used by mages, mystics, and scribes for Magery and Mysticism spells, as well as by alchemists for Alchemy.
Contents
Lore
From Ultima lore:
Black pearl is a common reagent in spells that involve travel, distance, propulsion or projection.
The Black Pearl is the most highly prized of all the pearls: Well-formed ones command a price from jewellers that would bankrupt a score of wizards. Yet Black Pearls are vital in the casting of spells that are hurled from the mage's person and must travel to a final destination. Fortunately for our profession, even rarer than a normal Black Pearl is one that is perfectly shaped. Most are lopsided and lack symmetry - the very quality that makes the jeweler desire them so highly. This ensures a ready supply for the thaumaturge - the weaver of magic. It is said that, unlike the ordinary pearl which is formed inside an oyster when it seeks to protect itself from a piece of sand or grit, the Black Pearl only forms when the seed of the great pearl is yet another pearl of much smaller size cast adrift by the death of another oyster.
A rare version of the standard white pearl, a black pearl is a forceful reagent in the creation of kinesthetic magic, that is, projecting objects.
One oyster in ten thousand will yield a black pearl suitable for spellcasting purposes. It is usually crushed to a fine, iridescent powder before being combined with other reagents. The black pearl is used as kinetic propellant.
- - Compendium, (Ultima VI)
Black pearl is an exceedingly rare commodity; fewer than one in ten thousand pearls is black. They have been found at the base of tall cliffs on Buccaneer’s Den. While a less than perfect pearl may be perfectly acceptable for decorative purposes, the black pearl of a mage must be perfectly formed or it is virtually worthless. Black pearl is ground up into a fine powder.
Though ultimately crushed for casting purposes, the rare black pearl must be perfectly spherical when collected. The powder is that element which gives some spells their propelling energy. Here on the Serpent Isle, the fishermen in Fawn find the only known supply.
Born of an oyster bathed in water magic, a black pearl channels energy of projection in matters both forceful and absurd. Like the water from which it was born, black pearl can bind spells of thrown magic. In equal measure, it can make quite a mess. As a young apprentice I sought to bind a Fireball spell and, in poorly performing the Ritual of Binding, engulfed my spellbook in flame. A few mages have found steady sources of Black Pearl, yet they are loathe to reveal them.
