Article 41: Mahoucite
Mahoutechnology is the word for both the process of creating technology that takes advantage of magical properties and the results of that creation. By the strictest definition, a spellbook counts as this, as the pages were likely manufactured or otherwise technologically created, but for those of us who want to be less pedantic about the meaning of the word, the most common property of truly mahoutechnological items is the presence of Mahoucite in either the finished product or the construction of the item. Since its discovery in the formative days of the Golden Alliance, this incredible mineral has driven countless innovations in both fields, as magicians and scientists both work feverishly to play catch-up with the advances in the others' domain.
On a molecular level, Mahoucite is simply quartz, one of the most common minerals in the galaxy. It can be cut, polished and set as gemstones, and in this manner can be utilized simply by mages to help bolster their abilities. On planets with negative belief in magic or where there is otherwise a void of magic, there is no way to tell the difference between a mahoucite crystal and a plain quartz crystal. In fact, some planets have quartz deposits that later turn out to have been inert mahoucite, and when magic is brought to the planets items made with that quartz suddenly begin reacting in strange ways to the belief systems introduced nearby. In the presence of even the slightest large-scale amount of willed magical belief, however, mahoucite gains a slew of new and useful properties.
Elven mages on Mythar II long held the belief that crystals could be use to refocus magical abilities, and while they weren't aware that Mahoucite did this without the fuel of their beliefs, they were aware that both the occasional meteor crystal from their moon was immensely powerful in this regard and the shells of Fairies, which were birthed from that moon, could be similarly used to fashion a number of items. When the surviving Terran scientists of the disastrous Terra I mission were given a chance to study the substance under the lens of their scientific minds, they quickly began to understand new properties of the mineral that led to a series of breakthroughs. First and foremost among these properties was its ability to melt and reform when treated with fire magic, or a mundane fire spread from fire spells. This, combined with the magically conductive abilities of the mineral, allowed metallurgists to create mahoucite traces, tiny threads of circuitry that could carry magical charge from one place to another. This in turn led to the proliferation of spellcasting devices, culminating in the BioWarp drives we use today. When used in different concentrations, mahoucite can be formed into resistors, capacitors, and various other components that alter the potency, range, and duration of the spells they cast.
Not all deposits of mahoucite were pure, and often the mineral is found with other crystals and gems that encase the precious material. These other minerals can filter the magical charge, and it was eventually discovered that most gems the Mytharian mages were using were holding in their center a heart of Mahoucite that made them magically effective. When in contact with mahoucite, these minerals will melt and reform along with the mahoucite, normalizing their filtration properties and helping devices that utilize them block off the effects of certain spells or energies within a network of magical effects. The colors of the minerals seem to be more important than the actual gem type, and which colors filter out which elements have been used to determine the common color coding of spells when presented in spellbooks. This "Compound Mahoucite" is much more widely available to civilians than the pure kind as it can limit the potential functions of a mahoutechnological device and the process of separating it back out is not widely known and incredibly expensive. Multiple filtering gems can be mixed with mahoucite, but the results begin to produce diminishing returns as more elements are blocked out. The lone exception to this is what is referred to as "Antipodal Mahoucite", which is Compound Mahoucite created with two gems that filter opposing elements. The process to create this is very time-consuming, but it allows spells cast with it to take on properties otherwise considered impossible by magical standards. It's not a hard rule because gems can vary by coloration, but the most common gems used for filtering various elements are as follows: Topaz for fire magic, sapphire for water magic, amber for earth magic, emerald for wind magic, diamond for light magic, kunzite for sound magic, opal for purity magic, amethyst for entropy magic, ruby for body magic, and nephrite for mind magic. The mineral does not have to be extracted along with the mahoucite to mix; minerals from other dig sites or even planets can be used to create Compound Mahoucite.
Once it was realized that Mahoucite can be mixed with other crystalline minerals, blacksmiths took it upon themselves to find a way to do the same with metals. The resultant Mahoucite Alloys, as hoped, confer unique properties to the metals that they synergize with, but only when wielded or worn. This is apparently due to either the strain of working for the mahoucite having increased for its new purpose or some ingrained belief relating to the purpose of the alloyed materials, but in effect this means that, say, a door made of mahoucite alloy would be weaker than whatever its component metals would normally be, but a shield of that same mahoucite alloy being carried by someone would be much stronger. Mahoucite alloys have some degree of the magical conductivity property that mahoucite grants, but not nearly enough for a mage to channel spellcasting or even just pure magical energy through. Instead, for these items to be used in that way, channels of pure or compound mahoucite must be woven into it, making mahoucite alloy weapons and armor that also allows channeling abilities incredibly delicate and expensive pieces of equipment. Some high-end starships have mahoucite alloy hull plating, but this is prohibitively expensive and so all but the most valuable ships use this type of plating only for protecting the most vulnerable areas of the ship.
While Mahoucite will, under normal usage, maintain the same capacitance and ability to channel magical energy as long as it's around, there are certain strenuous spells and channeling abilities that can revert a piece of Mahoucite back into magically inert quartz. This process is referred to as "burning out" the mahoucite, and very few things require this, all of them incredibly important or impactful. It is also possible for someone to turn inert quartz back into Mahoucite, but this requires an incredible expenditure of time and energy and is only a worthwhile pursuit for the most powerful mages--or the most desperate. Quartz which is completely synthetic cannot become mahoucite, only that which has formed naturally.
There are other uses for mahoucite than those described in the article above, but these vary from mage to mage and from planet to planet. It is the more concrete functions that have cemented its value as one of the galaxy's most important commodities. There is nothing else quite like it, at least as not as far as we know, and it is incredibly difficult to fully comprehend, but its proliferation throughout the cosmos is one of our greatest strokes of good luck.
