Lore: Sourcestone

Koke Tegus, a Bahmi charged with defending an outpost in Terminus, says sourcestone is "the very thing that is powering our machines."  However, Sourcestone is more than a fuel source similar to coal. "It also allowed Sylver to grant you an empowered rebirth as the Ascended."  Part fuel and part magical base, what exactly is sourcestone?




A mention to sourcestone is made moments after the Ascended make their appearance.  The engineers say that souls are coupled with the sourcestone to regenerate a new form, and that a sourcestone matrix is involved in the ascension process.

The sourcestone has been extensively studied by our technomancers, but little has been discerned in regards to its exact nature.  Sourcestone in its most powerful form incorporates the six elements to create an "ultimate" sourcestone.  This is the stourcestone from which the gods crafted Telara.  Subject to intense levels of planar energy, sourcestone can become aligned to one element or the other.  Examples of such "single flavor" sourcestone are usually found in the rifts.

 

As witnessed when leaving Terminus for the past, when a tear forms into a fully formed rift, the entire surrounding area, and all aspects of nature, are transformed by the elemental plane.  To make this transformation, every item in that area would need to be made of sourcestone.  It would be unlikely that all rifts formed on these areas of high concentration by coincidence, leaving several possibilities. 

It might be possible that the whole of Telara is made of sourcestone, allowing rifts formed in any area the same concentration.   The amount of sourcestone available for study and consumption leaves this option open, however given the amount of effort required to extract the material, and the fact that the followers of Regulos steal sourcestone from Defiants rather than harvest their own, it seems unlikely that it is found in 100% concentration.  Although the followers of Regulos seek to disrupt the survival attempt of the Defiant, this alone does not explain why they do not also have their own supply if the element is so abundant.  Without over simplifying matters, if all of Telara was built of sourcestone, scientists and Regulos alike could simply pick a flower or piece of rock from the nearest garden and have material to work with. 

 

One fact remains, however, that strengthens the argument for this possibility; An item found in a rift site, prior to its planer touch, would be identical to an item found just outside the reach of the planar influence.   Unless items can appear similar while one is pure sourcestone and the other not, it seems there is evidence to suggest the whole of Telara contains at least some of the sought after material.

Planar Touched Sourcestone

The next option, and possibly the most accurate, is similar to the first but fills in the holes a bit further; Everything on Telara is built to include some concentration of sourcestone in its blueprint, but it is only the raw or refined sourcestone matter that can be used for power generation, ascension, and study.   Perhaps mineral, flora, and fauna all contain part sourcestone and part alternate material.  This would account for the rarity of the useful mineral.   If the concentration of sourcestone held by a species could vary between individuals of that species without changing the blueprint itself it could explain why areas surrounding a fully formed rift can transform so completely while looking mundane when untouched. 

Returning to the question of why rifts happen where they do, and keeping in mind the far more logical option of individual concentrations, it follows that planar invasions are tuned to these high concentrations of sourcestone and push through in these concentrated areas specifically. 

The gods formed Telara from an ultimate sourcestone, suggesting that it is possible for the element itself to be naturally touched by each of the six elemental planes, and giving some indication of how close Telara and the elemental planes are to each other.  Koke Tegus says "sourcestone is left behind when the planes and Telara interact."  Given the abundance of sourcestone, the elemental planes must have a constant impact on the Telaran landscape.  This is especially true in the areas planar tears focus their attacks, where the concentration of sourcestone is naturally higher.

 

A Kelari named Vexa Lx'thla who works in the same stronghold as Koke says that sourcestone can be bled out.  An unusual phrase, given the most common association with the word sourcestone is solid matter.  Perhaps she meant "escaping freely", or perhaps the sourcestone, when applied to the correct stimuli, can reach a liquid state.  However, as she was referring to a type of sourcestone that was used to power the machines, it is likely she was not speaking literally.