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Cordierite is currently used as the trade name for
low-quality water sapphire. See the entry on
water sapphire for more
information about its appearance and properties.
Cordierite can be found worldwide.
Before the two cultures initiated trade,
"cordierite" was the Common name for a specific gem, and "lathaer
selphare" was the elven name for the same gem. When transcribing
written records of the elven trade goods, however, scribes
misunderstood the elven term as the Common words "water sapphire",
and one thing led to another. Eventually, it became necessary to
distinguish one from the other, and the higher quality gem from
elven territory was officially named "water sapphire", while the
lower-quality gem from human territory was officially named
"cordierite".
The dwarves are disgusted with both groups for
their imprecision in this matter. When speaking Common, most dwarves
refer to cordierite as "human cordierite" and refer to water
sapphire as "elven cordierite."
When Leif Eriksson and the other
legendary Viking explorers ventured far out into the Atlantic Ocean,
away from any coastline that could help them determine position,
they had a secret gem weapon: cordierite (also known as iolite). The
Viking mariners used thin pieces of cordierite as the world's first
polarizing filter. Looking through a cordierite lens, they could
determine the exact position of the sun, and navigate safely to the
new world and back.
The property that made cordierite so
valuable to the Vikings is extreme pleochroism, which is
the showing of different colors when viewed in different directions.
A cube cut from cordierite will look a violet-blue
almost like sapphire from one side, clear as water from the other,
and a honey yellow from the top. This property led some people
to call cordierite "water sapphire" in the past, a name that is now
obsolete. |
