OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To codify an iconic mineral from a Star Wars video game
Image Source:
- Drawing and header (image is a in-game screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws) by
Elias Edo
- Text and lines added to drawing by me via Canva
Canon Link: Yes; it doesn't have a Wookieepedia page, but it's a mineral on
Toshara that appears in
Star Wars Outlaws
Permissions: No permission
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Naturally occurring mineral on
Toshara
Affiliation: None
Market Status: Open-market; mineable with mining rights (and without; I don't judge)
Model: Not applicable
Modularity: No
Production:
Materials: Various elements
- Silica
- Oxygen
- Sodium
- Aluminum
- Sulfur
SPECIAL FEATURES
- When dry
- Tenebrescent
- Good conductor of heat
- When hydrated
- Good insulator
- Moisture-resistant
- In both states
- Sharp
- Brittle
- Fireproof
- Prized for its beauty
STRENGTHS -
WEAKNESSES -
DESCRIPTION
c. 6 billion years ago - The protoplanet Toshara incorporates more material into itself as it cleans up its orbit around its sun. Layers begin to differentiate according to atomic mass and density, with heavier and denser materials moving towards the center of the planet and pushing the lighter, less dense mass towards the surface. A core, mantle, crust, and ultimately continents are formed as planetary layers. The comparatively light elements that form amberine are caught up in heavier magmas and brought into the core, where it then solidifies.
c. 4.7 billion years ago - The oldest known amberine vein emerges on the newly-solidified Tosharan surface. It takes likely takes only a few decades for the the harsh winds to erode away the gabbro rind in which the amberine cooled.
c. 9,450 years ago - The first known arrowhead made from amberine is made and used by prehistoric sentient species to hunt and wage war.
c. 702 ABY - An Iskalonian acquires three large hand samples of amberine from a Tosharan merchant stranded as she travels the Mara Corridor.
900 ABY -
Efret Farr
is gifted one of the hand axes that were made from the material by a family descendant of the Iskalonian. In an investigation into the source of the mineral, she travels to Toshara. After finding an unaltered outcrop of amberine on the planet's surface and comparing it with the hand axe, she enlists the help of Dr.
Asori Soto
to publish a mineralogical paper on amberine. The main finding are summarized below.
Name: Amberine
Formula: 70–75% SiO2 + Na8Al6Si6O6S22
Classification: Sulfur sodium aluminum silicate
Color: When dry, bright orange; when hydrated, darker orange
Luster: Glassy
Transparency: When dry, translucent; when hydrated, opaque
Hardness: 5/10
Fracture: Conchoidal
Crystal system: None; plutonic glass
Optical properties: When dry, tenebrescence
Type locality: Toshara
Occurrence: Ubiquitous, normally as massive, flowing veins; both surface and subsurface
Outcrop-scale texture: Aukahi (like taffy candy being pulled apart; Genetian: smooth, clear)
Mineral associations: Plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene plus olivine, hornblende, and/or orthopyroxene as the rock gabbro
Formation: Amberine's elemental components spontaneously separate from magmas in Toshara's core and solidify to produce plutonic glass (similar to volcanic glass except volcanism is not involved); the process that allows this is not know but current theory suggests that the chemical reaction of a gabbro melt with an amberine melt is massively endothermic, which cools the amberine quickly enough so that crystals are not formed; the gabbro then forms over time and envelops the amberine
Uses: Many:
- Ornamental (mostly when dry)
- Sculpture
- Jewelry
- Mirrors
- Artistic material
- Tools (mostly when dry)
- Scalpels
- Facial care implements with microneedles
- Construction (when hydrated)
- Duracrete alternative or additive aggregate
- Polymer or other binder media
- Insulation
- Soil amendment (when hydrated)