|
Chalcedony is a semi-translucent stone that varies in
hue between white and pale grey. It has no fire when faceted, and
most people prefer to display chalcedony as cabochons or in small
carved forms instead. Chalcedony is mined in
the southeastern and southern sections of the DragonSpine mountains.
Certain difficulties in translation between Common
and Dwarven resulted long ago in some confusion over what precisely
the term "chalcedony" should cover. Dwarven jewelers say that
chalcedony, carnelian, sard,
bloodstone,
onyx, sardonyx, chrysoprase,
agate, and
jasper are all essentially the
same kind of stone, varying in hue and location, and they use the
Common word "chalcedony" to encompass all types. Like agate,
chalcedony is useful in casting spiritual spells, providing some
support to the Dwarven argument. Native speakers of Common use
"chalcedony" only to refer to the white form of the stone in
question. As the literal word "chalcedony" is elven in origin,
matters grow even more complicated when elven definitions are
included, and jewelers try to be extremely precise in cross-culture
trading to avoid winding up with a shipment of onyx and agate when a
shipment of white chalcedony is intended.
Chalcedony is not unknown to the giantmen, either,
and it holds a place in their culture reaching into the distant
past. Ancient daggers, arrowheads, and axeheads crafted in the
giantman style have been discovered at multiple sites in the
southeastern DragonSpine, and it appears as though chalcedony was
the material of choice before the giantmen mastered bronze.
A human legend says that if you find a chalcedony
egg in the nest of a bird, you must touch it and whisper your name
to it. Then, the egg will hatch when the other eggs hatch, and the
bird that comes from it will have stars for eyes and lead you to
your heart's desire.
In Ta'Vaalor, chalcedony is associated with the
spirit Leya, and her followers often wear amulets made from
chalcedony instead of the ivory dagger amulets that are more
commonly worn elsewhere. While most followers of Leya agree upon the
events in her life between her birth and the hour she left Egan's
tomb, the tale fractures beyond that point into a hundred retellings
and variants between one sect of Leya and another.
According to one version told commonly in
Ta'Vaalor, Leya wandered grieving for a great period of time after
Egan's death, noticing little of the world around her, and her
footsteps drew her back to the elven lands where she had been
raised. In those lands, she encountered a Vaalorian woman who caught
her eye. Leya asked for the woman's story, and the young Arkati
learned that the young woman was a sculptor's wife. In a sudden fit
of bravery, the woman had seized a discarded shard of chalcedony and
slain her abusive, brutal husband. Afterward, shaken with fear and
guilt over ending the life of someone that she had once loved, the
woman set out to turn herself in to the Captain of the Guard. Not a
stranger to feeling lost and guilt-ridden, Leya purportedly asked
the woman to travel with her for a year and a day before giving
herself up to elven justice. During that time, the young Arkati
supposedly taught the elven woman many skills, including the arts of
crafting and wielding various blades. Together, the mortal and the
goddess transformed the chalcedony shard into a crude dagger,
promising one another that it would never be used unjustly.
At the end of the year and a day, the woman did
not leave Leya's side, and myth says they traveled together until
the hour of the woman's natural death. Because of that story, the
members of one sect of Leya's Vaalorian followers often wear
chalcedony dagger amulets, and for two reasons. The first reason is
as a reminder to accept Leya's mercy and guidance unconditionally.
The second reason is to remind themselves that even from a wrong act
one can learn the ways to right it, with good and honorable
intentions. |
