.
First Draft
Nightmare has been retired and so Vellichor will continue updating in their stead. Any thoughts are appreciated
Overview
Geology is the science and theory of the earth and Semele's celestial body, Mizahar itself. It encompasses the lore of the earth but is mainly the skill of determining one portion of the earth from another i.e. types of similar stone or the exact ratios of component soils and sands. It works closely with characteristics and attributes, and at later levels the geologist will be able to discover wholly new characteristics of the earth.
Prerequisites and Related Skills
Prerequisites
Geology can be used without having any prerequisite skills, however there are a handful of skills that geologists find useful. There are also many skills that are positively affected by having geology.
The following skills are useful for field work and establishing mines.
While not exactly a prerequisite the following skills are useful to have.
Related skills
Geology is first and foremost identification and is therefore broken up by the things being identified. Rock generally is identified visibly first and then by other traits such as texture, density or chemical reactions. Minerals and gems are identified by how they break, their crystalline habit (their structure in their rough form), hardness, visually or by other observations. Sand and soil is determined by texture, how well it compresses and expands, then visually. Typically sand and soil is only identified a couple feet down but in construction the deeper soil horizons may be just as important.
Rock and Mineral Identification
Rock and Mineral Identification begins with the specimen's characteristics. The first step is to determine whether the specimen is a rock or a mineral. This act requires practice, visual observation and comparison. Typically a mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic compound with an ordered structure and typically unique physical properties. Whereas rock is a solid, stony mass composed of a combination of minerals and/or organic compounds. It is up to the Geologist to make this broad distinction. For example, quartz and feldspar are minerals, but when formed together, they make a rock, granite. In contrast coal would be a rock or otherwise non-mineral, composed of organically derived carbon. Geologists use classifications to determine what rock or mineral they have.
The easiest way to determine if a specimen is a rock or a mineral is by breaking a sample off the specimen, if the stone is the same all the way through, it is a mineral. If it is comprised of two or more minerals, either by layers, inconsistencies and inclusions or in the case of glassy rock, visual impurities then the sample is a rock. (Note, many gem's colors are due to trace or minute impurities, these are still considered minerals due to the extremely tiny nature of these impurities.)
Afterwards Geologists will determine the rock or mineral's individual characteristics. Deduction of these follow by placing the specimens in classes and then separating by characteristics. These methods of deriving characteristics applies to all the suborders, such as ore or gems. The following is a list of common rock and minerals by classification, an overview of mineral characteristics and how to use those characteristics to correctly identify a stone. Details of various classifications can be found in the reference section of this article.
Rock Characteristics
Color: The first indicator of the components of any rock or mineral. Colors tend to vary between same orders of stone due to individual composition and location of the sample's harvesting.
Mineralogy: This is the minerals present in the rock. Most rock have feldspar, quartz or limestone as base components and are mixed with less common minerals.
Texture: The ways that the grains fit together, there are four main textures. A change in texture typically means a change in rock
Acid test: Does it fizz when vinegar is applied?
Reactions to water: How well it absorbs water or how well it weathers it. This can help determine how amorphous and how porous a rock is and the content of the rock's minerals.
Mineral Characteristics
Color: Color is the first indicator of the components of any rock or mineral. Colors tend to vary between same orders of stone due to individual composition and location of the sample's harvesting.
Luster: Determines how shiny or dull a sample is, in most cases luster is either metallic or non-metallic. Terms that are often used to describe luster include: waxy, resinous, oily, silky or glassy.
Mele Hardness scale: Developed by a priestess of Semele and named after the gnosis, the hardness scale is the scratch resistance of various minerals. The scale goes from 1 to 10 with diamond at 10. According to this scale the mineral at the top can scratch any mineral below it or of equal hardness. Meaning glass will scratch glass or anything softer then it. Determining hardness often requires a set of these materials, or hardness picks. Hardness picks are a set of Isurain invented devices that can determine the hardness of a mineral. They are a set of sharpened metal alloyed rods designed to be the exact hardness for each number on the list. Most geologists use hardness picks as the preferred method of determining this characteristic due to the consistency it affords.
Density: Density is how much an object weighs compared to its volume.
Streak: Is the color of the mineral powder. An unglazed plate or tile is typically the best tool since the hardness of an unglazed plate or tile is about 7 Meles. Generally minerals of greater hardness will not make a colored streak. However, for those harder materials crushing or grinding the minerals with an even harder mineral may yield streak color.
Fracture: Determines the various weaknesses of the stone, particularly in crystals. Fracture refers to the separation already present in the geologic formation. This can be a fault or a joint along large land masses or lines of weakness in hand specimens.
Cleavage: The tendency of a mineral to break in smooth flat planes and is one of the most fundamental properties of identifying of the mineral. How a mineral breaks and into what shape or form they break is ultimately determined in Cleavage.
Translucency: A key characteristic in silicas, glasses and crystals, translucency is the ability of light to enter and exit the formation. The range is transparent to opaque.
Fluorescence or Phosphorescence: Is the ability to emit light under specific conditions. A difficult property to test without magical tools or ability, certain minerals and stones will emit light due to wild Djedic interference, the conversion of ambient djed to light, or by drawing out djed from the stone itself through Semele's Gnosis. Other rare cases and situations can occur to allow a mineral to fluoresce and to allow it to be tested.
Reactions to water: Reactions to water can determined just how porous a material is. This can be measuring the water in a sealed jar with a hand specimen or, it can be determining whether or not a material beads and sloughs off water or if it causes it to cling without absorbing.
Other characteristics can be discovered in game at the expert and master levels.
Note: Many minerals like Halite (table salt) have a taste, but never use taste as a tool to identify rock or minerals because there are a lot of minerals that contain arsenic and other poisons.
Mineral Environments
This refers to the geological environment that minerals occur. Minerals tend to be restricted to a single location. Rarely are minerals found in multiple environments, but it is not impossible. For instance Kalea tends to have igneous, metamorphic and Valterric rock and those rocks tend to be comprised of certain kinds of minerals. One may have a hard time finding opal or pyrite in Kalea, where it may be more common to find them in sedimentary rich areas such as the deserts of Eyktol or the plains of Cyphrus.
Rock Classifications
The following are the 4 major rock groups and a description of their general forms and means of creation. Please refer to the reference section for a exhaustiveness list of rocks organized by class.
Igneous Rocks
Both forms of Igneous rock tend to be fine-grained with a mixture of usually unrecognizable minerals; their only inherent structures are those of magma flow lines in obsidian and rhyolites.
Extrusive Igneous
Igneous Extrusive rocks are what comes to mind when one refers to volcanic rock. It is the creation of stone by the crystallization of magma at the surface of the earth. They are characterized by fine grain due to rapid cooling that prevents the formation of large crystals. The most common Igneous Extrusive Rock is Basalt.
Intrusive Igneous
Igneous Intrusive rock refers to stone that has been created from magma through the process of crystallization deep within the earth. In contrast to Extrusive rock, it is characterized by large, interlocking crystals with a visual appearance that shows the individual crystals. This is due to the much slower rate that stone cools in the deep earth.
Plutonic
Chemically Plutonic rocks are identical to both other igneous forms with the primary difference of grain size and manner of creation. Plutonic rock originated as molten stone that was pushed and squeezed into cavities or pores of solid, unmolten stone. Plutonic tends towards coarse-grained without any noticeable structures in hand specimens while being composed of common identifiable primary minerals (Quartz, Feldspar, Mica, and other dark minerals.)
Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary rock is characterized by a primary single, low temperature mineral that is banded, stratified and often fossiliferous. However, due to the Valterrian fossilized material is exceedingly rare; the forces that reshaped the face of Mizahar have wiped away any sort of fossilized record of the past.
Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphic rock is characterized by high temperature minerals and are similar to Plutonic rock, however they are banded, stratified, and as a general rule, with a concentration of one type of mineral in any given formation.
Contact Metamorphism
A type of Metamorphic rock, Contact Metamorphism is Metamorphism in which the mineralogy and texture of a body of rock are changed by exposure to the pressure and extreme temperature associated with a body of intruding magma. The key difference is that standard metamorphic rock is created through a process of Regional Metamorphism, where large masses of rock is changed. Whereas in this case a relatively small mass is changed. The changed stone is often coarsely crystalline.
Valterric Rock
Characterized by the interaction of the release of divine and wild djed during the Valterrian with both mineral and rocks of all kinds. Often this includes interactions with heat, pressure, rapid expansion or contraction and the melding of wild djed with stone (a natural form of alchemy). However, due to the tendency for the rocks and minerals to hold magical or otherwise unusual properties, materials created both before and after the Valterrian that exhibit magical or unusual properties have been placed under the umbrella term "Valterric". Due to these unusual properties the only commonality between any Valterric rock is that they have some obviously preternatural attribute. An inexperienced geologist might easily attribute a natural phenomena to magic or the supernatural and consequently misclassify the specimen.
Note: Many of these rocks require expert or master to determine the history or true properties of these stones.
Mineral Classification
Minerals are divided and subdivided into several groups. The three main groups are: Primary Minerals, Ore and Gems. As stated above, minerals are composed of a singular substance and exist in deposits of veins among stone or they are incorporated into the stone themselves to form rock formations. The three groups of minerals are divided based on material and function. For instance, ore is primarily metallic minerals that are often used in metalworking, whereas gems are almost solely crystalline and are usually precious and rare and primary minerals are the constituents that make up most rock.
Primary Minerals
This is a non exhaustive list of primary minerals. The following groups and minerals are examples, more can be used and discovered in character. These groups are based on their native, or purest components, or share characteristics of a native mineral.
Silicates - Materials that share attributes with native silicone. Note: Native Silicone is rare and is often found is unusual situations.
Sulfurous- Minerals with the attributes of native sulfur
Carbonates - Minerals with similar properties to Calcite
Halides - Minerals with similar properties to Halite
Ore
Ore are mineral that contain a useful metals that can be extracted. Ore only becomes useful after refining at a metalsmith's forge.
Ore Subgroups:
Native: This is metal in it's purest form, easiest to work with when metalsmithing. Extracting native ore is as simple as mining, panning or using fleece or wool to sieve metal flakes from rivers. Metals such as Gold, Silver, Copper, Aluminum, Bismuth, Lead, Platinum are typical native metals and are somewhat resistant rusting or oxidation.
Mineral Ore: Is metal mixed with other components and thus requires refining. It is far more abundant than native metal ore. Mineral ore will have unique names based on the different components of the mineral. Hematite (iron) , Galena (lead, silver), and Tetrahedrite (copper, silver, iron) are common ores. The more metals or minerals included, the more difficult they are to refine and generally, the more common they are.
Gems
Gems are minerals with crystalline structure and ornamental value and can be classified and identified in very similar ways compared to other kinds of minerals. They typically are identified in all the methods above to identify mineral as well as two additional ways:
Please reference the appendix section to find the classes an hierarchy of gems.
Mineraloids
Mineraloids are a mineral-like substance that do not demonstrate the full definition of being a mineral. For instance it may be organically made (amber or jet), non-crystalline (Opal) or non-solid (native mercury/Quicksilver).
Soil Identification
Soil Identification begins with the geographical location. It relates directly to the geological composition of the stone and minerals around the soil. Beginning with the geographical location is important to soil identification due to the definition of soil which is: stone that has been worn into particulates. The parent rock will define what soil is created. Identification is typically done for the first few soil horizons and anything lower is of most use to any architect laying down foundations for a building.
Layers of soil
Soil layers are also known as Soil Horizons, these are layers of soil whose physical characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath and each soil type usually has three or four horizons. Horizons are defined in most cases by obvious physical characteristics such as color and texture.
Typically there are the following layers:
Humus - This is material that has been decomposed from organic material such as scat, animal remains, forest detritus and so on. This materials is directly created by keystone organisms such as fungi and insects. This layer is not always present.
Topsoil - Top soil is completely decomposed rock and generally fulfills the full definition of "soil". It is very nutrient rich, most regions with the topsoil intact tend to be very fertile. Plant roots only reach this far down.
Subsoil - Subsoil is partially decomposed stone. Large chunks of the parent material or former parent material has been worn away into a separate layer.
Parent rock - Also known as the bedrock, this layer is solid stone and tends to be made up of he same material as the subsoil and the topsoil. Foundations set on bedrock are extremely stable.
Soil Types
Soil type refers to the different percentages of mineral particles in a particular soil.
Sand: The most common composition of sand is silica, primarily quartz, but its composition varies with location. Sand refers to a coarse, gritty substance with many fine particles of various sizes but always no larger than a grain.
Silt: Silt's mineral origins are comprised primarily of quartz and feldspar and refers to a gritty to floury textured and soapy-when-wet material. It is found primarily the the bottom of or mixed in large bodies and in rivers.
Clay: Created through the decay of feldspar and mica, this soil refers to a fairly plastic, water absorbent material. Of all types of soil, it is the most dense and can be difficult to cleave and dig through. Purer clay deposits are particularly useful in pottery and construction with various types more sought out then others. Its grain size is very large and has a sticky, plastic feel. It is possible to mold this soil into thin tubes.
Loam: Refers to a ratio of sand, silt and clay, this soil type is considered balanced and useful for very many different types of soil. It typically presents itself in ratios of about 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay
Organic or Humus: Technically not considered a geological soil, Humus refers to the organic material found on fertile ground. It relates and mixes with topsoil and it is comprised of organic material, plants such as leaves, fungi, animal remains, scat and living organisms going through various stages of decay. These materials increase the fertility of the soil and can help revive overfarmed areas. Artificial humus is also known as compost.
More nuanced types of soil exist, but these make up the primary attributes of them all.
Soil Characteristics
Color: Color is often determined based on the combination of the base minerals and its trace.
Grain size: Grain size can mean the difference between gravel, sand or clay. It is measured by visibility rather than measurable size. Though some mages and researches have gone to great lengths to determine an exact size for any given grain. Typically gravel or scree is the largest size, then clay, silt and then sand, though dust can be considered a form of silt.
Mineral Ancestry: Typically refers to the bedrock or the stratum the soil comes from. Depending on the type of soil, the Mineral Ancestor is usually high in feldspar or quartz. Mineral composition can also help trace the original stone that a soil is made from.
Soil Environment: This refers to the land where the samples of soil are taken. Valleys and highlands create different environments over deserts and plains. Plant life should also be taken into account when determining soil environment since plant life can absorb various forms of minerals and contribute their own via humus and compost.
Fertility: Fertility is based off of how well certain plants grow in certain soils. It directly refers to the trace minerals that a plant requires to grow and also refers to the resulting yield of the plant. A high yield soil will have all the required nutrients for a crop or type of plant to not only grow, but grow large and plentiful. Not all plants do well in all soils, but a fertile soil has many mineral nutrients for whatever plant suits that soil.
Plasticity: Refers to how well it can be molded when dry and when wet. Where sand has the lowest plasticity and clay has the highest.
Texture: Texture can range from gritty to fine and can be likened to gravel or to flour. It also refers to the soil's texture when wet and can feel slippery or soapy.
Useful Images
Soil Triangle
Rock Cycle
Principles of Geology
The Rock Cycle
The Rock Cycle
Formation of Stone
Igneous Rock
The rock cycle begins when magma is created when stone of any type gets trapped below the surface and draws near the core of Mizahar. Igneous rock arises directly from molten underground rock as Magma when it cools. The stone becomes intrusive if the rock cools below the earth without reaching the surface and extrusive if the rock cools at the surface through air or water.
Metamorphic Rock
Metamorphic rock is created through intense pressures and heat changing Igneous or Sedimentary and sometimes other forms of Metamorphic rock's fundamental properties. This includes direct change, or the invasion of magma and lava into the pores of the constituent stone.
Formation of Gems
Gems are created from a nucleus mineral that is grown over time. Typically they are created along with Igneous and Metamorphic rock due to the heat and pressure that is necessary for most gems, however they can also be created in low temperature and low heat settings. Low heat gems are usually formed through chemical deposition and may involve water as a solvent. However, unusual circumstances do arise.
Soil and Sand
Soil and sand is created through the weathering of stone, Igneous, Metamorphic or even Sedimentary rock. Typical weathering includes mechanical weathering i.e. water, ice, wind; chemical weather i.e. sun, water through dissolving; or biological weathering i.e. fungi, plants, trees. In the end sand, silt or clay are made in various proportions from its parent's rock.
Sedimentary Rock
Sedimentary Rock is formed from the deposition of weathered material typically within bodies of water, though the process of cementation can occur without water. It can include both mineral and organic material that has been settled, cemented and compressed into a solid stone. The process of sediment becoming stone is called Diagenesis and has two main processes. The first begins as sediment piles up, packs the material and squeezes water out. Then mineral is laid down between the grains and cements the mass of sediment together. Different minerals and rock react to water in different ways, the trace dissolving of limestone in water and other minerals is what allows the process to take place.
Forces that Shape the Land
The many gods who make Mizahar what it is today.
Many gods have a hand in the layout of Semele's surface, chiefly Zulrav and Laviku. Through the weathering of stone by wind and sea sand and soil are made. Makutsi's rain, rivers and lakes cuts furrows into the land and slowly shape magnificent structures and even create expansive cave systems. Morwen and her icy touch has a powerful effect on the land, the water entering into porous material will freeze over, expand and break apart the rock material, often over centuries and millennium . Even Caiyha has a subtle, but noticeable hand in shaping the land. Her gentle touch includes the plants and trees that populate Semele's surface that grind stone and soil over the centuries and millennium through their roots. Beyond this lichen and fungi act as keystone organisms and have an important role in turning rock mass into suitable soil for other plants.
How Caves are formed.
When water rains down from the sky and collects into river and lakes, Makutsi carries away tons of material a year to the sea, her father. This action creates valleys and cave structures. Typically structures such as these are created from the difference of stratum. Layers of rock that are more resistant to erosion by rain and water will jut out as the material around it is dissolved or worn away. Great stone archways and pillars are often ancient remnants of resistant stone unyielding to the forces that seek to drive them down and shift them elsewhere. As rivers reach the ocean they shed their load of river material in vast and fertile river deltas or swamps. Many civilizations were started in such places.
When rivers find their way into limestone stratum an interesting effect is made. Because limestone is easily dissolved by water and acid and is almost always the main component of a cave. Thus most caves are made from limestone. Once a cave system is made, rainfall seeps deep into the ground and into the cracks and spaces between the joints of layers of rock weakening the area around it. Then rain or a river quickly tears the material out as it seeks the lowest point. As water evaporates the material torn away becomes insoluble and is deposited as calcite, either as a coating along the walls of the cave or as formations. The most common formation of calcite are known as stalactites which are hanging spikes, stalagmites that are jutting spikes from the floor, or columns which is where a stalactite and a stalagmite meet.
Ivak and Semele's special relationship.
Deep below even the deepest caves riddling Semele's body, Ivak works to release pressures deep within the earth. He and his followers act to minimize the effects of earthquakes by creating a healthy release of pressure. These releases of pressure can also take the shape of benign eruptions or the movement of molten earth far below the surface. Or they can be the shifting of large masses of rock along fracture points. These forces are the primary driving force of the rock cycle and it is only through Ivak's power that stone is made, shaped, melted down and remade.
Religion
See Semele for more details.
Geology has it's roots in religion, despite being a secular construct. It began when Semele made friends with humanity and gathered priests and priestesses about herself. Due to her follower's natural curiosity, she taught them about not only her self but also the way in which her body, Mizahar and the earthen portions itself, worked on its timeless scale. It was with Semele's help that her priests made great advances in geological knowledge thus refining the general knowledge of her relationship with the other gods and determining new facts such as how the physical property of hardness worked. Much of which was lost with the great Valterrain and is only now being rediscovered.
While it is not required to be a geologist to be a friend of Semele nor to get her mark, those who do, are, and worship her as a goddess, tend to pick up a basic knowledge of it.
Magic
Geology has an interesting side effect for earth reimancers. Those who practice in geology find that they are able to create and mimic stone, sand and clay more effectively. All earth reimancers can make stone and soil without geology and it in that form it is a creative art form rather than a science. But with increased skill in geology they can accurately create or mimic a given rock or mineral. At expert and higher level geologists are so familiar with the properties of rock, stone and minerals that they can create the most subtle nuances of a particular stone with little chance of overgiving.
As a rule, the denser and higher the quality earth the more difficult it is to create using reimancy. While pure or alloyed metal is impossible with earth alone, creating hematite, magnetite (lodestone), limonite and other metal orestone are possible. Similarly raw gems are also a real possibility. The denser, harder and more precious the gem the more difficult and more prone to overgiving the reimancer is. A skilled geologist will be able to mitigate the effects of overgiving through precisely applying the correct forces and masses into their stone simulacrum, making stone reimancy on a whole a small amount easier. However, the densest and hardest minerals and gems such as diamonds will always throw a reimancer into overgiving.
For example, ores of copper would be easier than silver, silver then gold, and interestingly, gold would be easier than lead. Largely this is due to the density of the metal and how much djed is required to create that density. Likewise hardness has a very real effect on creating rock or minerals. Creating calcite is fairly easy whereas diamond is hellishly difficult and is prone to serious overgiving.
Of course, the higher your skill in reimancy, the easier it is to do more difficult things with less fear of overgiving.
However, not all stone, mineral or gem can be created with reimancy. Anything created divinely, through the Valterrain or through alchemy, is always impossible. This includes materials with innate magical or special attributes such as stormgems, infinitite and isurian steel ore.
For alchemy the effects of Geology are far more acute. Since Alchemy is about isolating properties to transfer to a material and Geology primarily defined by identifying properties, an alchemist with geologic training will be able to use stones extremely effectively as filters and founts. Particularly useful are naturally created magical stone and gems, though true replication of materials like stormgems or Isurian steel, even its ore, is essentially impossible.
Learning Geology
Since Geology is a fairly lore heavy skill, learning it requires either formal training in an academic setting, apprenticeship under a miner or geologist, or simply reading a book and attempting to identify local stones. While it is extremely difficult, those who are fairly observant can still advance their skill by determining differences between two unknown stones; This is common for earth reimancers. However, without some form of formal training they will miss out on key concepts of geology, limiting their skill to Novice.
Tools
Many of the tools listed here have uses in other skills like Mining, Cartography and Jewel crafting.
Drilling Hammers
Crack Hammers
Rock Hammers
Sledge Hammers
Hand drills - A mechanical device that is hand cranked to drill out holes for rock sampling.
Rock Chisels
Prospector Pick
Rock Picks
Gad/Pry bar
Pan
Hand lens or magnifying loupes
Compass
Map of the local region
Acid test kit
Lodestone
Identification kit (Geology): This contains a streak plate, glass plate, hand lens, a set of Hardness picks, a vial of vinegar or equivalent acid and a whetstone.
Isurian Hardness picks - This set was originally designed by the Isur but now are offered all over Mizahar from metalsmiths. These hardness picks are unique in that unlike other mineral hardness testing tools that use minerals or crystal points, they are made of metals and alloys of hardness values equal to 2 through 9 on the hardness scale. And because the picks are made of metal, they are easily ground to sharp points which will not break off and which can be easily sharpened.
Skill Progression
Novice
A novice Geologist is someone who is just beginning to learn the fundamentals of Geology. They might have some starting knowledge but their ability to identify stone is prone to error and mislabeling. The Novice will find major and obvious classes of stone the easiest to identify but the more detailed or the more similar the stone is, the harder it gets for the novice. Since they are still learning the basics, leaps in logic and discovering new properties is fairly unlikely at this stage. However, they are able to identify the more obvious properties such as color, hardness, density and so on, assuming they have been taught these concepts.
An example of a Novice would be a Miner who stumbles upon a shiny, golden yellow stone and exclaims he has found gold, only to find out later that it was only simple Pyrite.
Competent
At this level the Geologist is becoming comfortable with the concepts of how earth and Mizahar works in tandem. As they accumulate knowledge they are better able to determine the differences between to similar stone. They begin to see patterns in the concepts that surround the means of creation of stone and how it is shaped and can now make leaps of logic based on what they currently know.
At this level magic has begun to benefit from the geologist's skill in determining attributes of rock, minerals and soil. A Reimancer with geologist training will be able to copy stone and the most obvious attributes of the stone in question through willpower instead of through instinct, whereas an Alchemist will have some control over the more intrinsic attributes of stone being transferred.
Expert
An expert geologist is a repository of geological knowledge, their experience and research has been honed from both scholarly works as well as discoveries found out in the field. They might find themselves compelled to write down their observations in books or in field journals which themselves become prized.
At this level even magical attributes of stone and gems are not safe from the expert's ability to identify. Often this comes with a significant discovery and potentially the reshaping of the field of geology.
Master
A master geologist typically has a love for the earth that is unrivaled and thus they are the pinnacle of geological knowledge, constantly pushing the boundaries of knowledge. At this level Geology becomes more of a scholarly pursuit then something they do out in the field. They are able to accurately determine the attributes and characteristics of all rock, minerals or stone at a glance. Their research advances the fundamental knowledge of Geology and these discoveries often spill out into the fields of Philtering, Magic, and Physics .
Their identification skill begins to take on an almost supernatural air with guesses on the composition of a given region becoming accurate down to the finest amount of mineral and soil. Little effort is needed to determine the properties of a mineral at a glance and even the magical forms of stone and gems are easily determined at a glance.
Magic is greatly enhanced when it comes to Geology at this level, Alchemy becoming an exercise in precisely transferring geological attributes and Reimancy creating accurate simulacrums of a desired stone as well as lessening the effects of overgiving for more difficult and precise geological endeavors.
Appendices
Appendix A: Rock Type examples
Igneous Extrusive:
Obsidian: Is a comparatively rare glassy rock that has not crystallized at all because it has cooled too quickly. It will only be found where volcanic activity has taken place in relatively recent times. Obsidian slowly crystallizes into a fine-grained rock or decomposed by weathering or taking in moisture. No obsidian can survive over great lengths of time.
Felsite or Rhyolite: is the general name to apply to all light-colored, fine-grained igneous rocks. Color varies from light gray, yellow, pale and deep red. Some compact, fine grained sedimentary rock may be confused with Felsite or Rhyolite.
Basalt: Most volcanic eruptions will have lava that solidifies to a fine-grained black rock composed largely of feldspar, pyroxene, and olivine, but not quartz.
Igneous Intrusive
Porphyry: these rocks are like a frozen rock mush, with detached crystals of mineral, commonly feldspar. The background rock tends toward a much finer grain. Feldspar, quartz, pyroxene and olivine are major components.
Diabase: Very similar to porphyry, but tends towards darker base material that forms first with Feldspar crystals growing later to fill in the remaining space.
Plutonic
Granite: This common building material is the most common coarse grained rock. It is composed of quartz and orthoclase feldspar, usually with low percentage of dark mineral grains. That dark mineral tends to be mica or pyroxene. Granites are usually light in color and individual mineral grains can easily be distinguished. They may be gray, white, pink or yellow brown.
Diorite: Is darker than granite as a rule though its texture is very similar. Rich in plagioclase and has very little quartz.
Gabbro: has even less quartz than Diorite. It is a coarse grain equivalent of diabase. Richer in lime with more pyroxene. Olivine may also be present.
Peridotite or Pyroxenite: This is a dark rock composed almost entirely of dark minerals such as Olivine and/or Pyroxene. It is in these formations that diamonds form. Veins of these rocks tend to be in green or blue "pipes"
Sedimentary Rock:
Arkose: Derived from the mechanical disintegration ( fragmentation by freezing and warming) of granite rock. This may form form when the disintegration process has not turned feldspar into clay. It really amounts to a coarse sandstone whose grains are both quartz and feldspar. In the hand specimen, when no evidence of banding ( and of the secondary origin) is obvious, a sediment with such fresh feldspar might be mistake for more firmly cemented primary rock, the original granite.
Conglomerate: a rock composed of rounded, water worn pebbles, usually of quartz, cemented by the mass of finer material filling the spaces between. Often there is a contrast between the color of the pebbles and that of the matrix, which appropriate the name "puddingstone" that is frequently applied to colorful conglomerates.
Breccia: is almost the same as conglomerate, except that its pebbles are more angular in outline and have not been so rounded by water. Breccias may form well under the surface of the earth when buried beds of rock are shattered by movements of the crust. The overlying rock pressure will crush the fragment together so that in time they are easily cemented again into a solid mass. Breccia marbles are often seen in decorative stone work.
Sandstone: A common rock composed principally of sand grains cemented more or less firmly together. Depending upon the character of the cement, the rock may be white, gray, yellow, or a dark red. Fossils are commonly found within sandstone, however since the Valterrian fossils have become exceedingly rare.
Shale: is a rock composed principally of clay particles often with a little sand intermixed. Stream-carried mud will be deposited farther from the shore than the sand. Shale is built up by successive layers of the finer particles which travel farther in a quietly flowing stream before settling to the bottom. On the floor of the Suvan sea we would expect a sedimentary sequence of sandstone beds, overlain by shale, and mantled by still finer material from the clearer water above. Though only Konti and Charoda are capable of confirming this.
Limestone: Composed largely of the mineral Calcite in a very finely granular texture. Lime can be produced from minerals in the water or from the decomposition of marine life to forms beds of limestone. Beds of clean lime can only form farther out in the sea and in the deeper waters of the Outer Seas beyond the reach of stream-borne clay particles and sand. Sea life may become fossils in limestone, but this is also extremely rare.
Dolomite: Very similar to Limestone, however it is richer in mineral metals. Salt coal and salt oil are often found as deposits within Dolomite
Metamorphic Rock
Slate: Slate resembles shale except that it is a first stage in a progressive change of clay back to mica. Small mica flakes have grown along new cleavage surfaces to give the hardened shale a luster not noted in dull earthy shales. The tiny growing mica flakes tend to arrange themselves so that their flat sides lie across the direction of pressure, with the result that the cleavage of the slate follows the new mica plate direction; that is, at right angles to squeezing. Often the flakes of slate cut sharply across the original stratified shale beds, whose layering was the prominent structural feature of the sediment.
Phyllite:The next step in the process of change from clay to mica after slate. Thus the similarities. Metamorphism has been more intense and the new mica crystals have grown larger to give distinct micaceous parting direction to the rock, with a dull micaceous luster. It is hard to draw a line between the slates on the one hand and the phyllites on the other. Though phyllite often shows a wavy, rather than a flat surface, it is anybody's guess when the mica luster on the cleavage face has become sufficiently pronounced. Phyllite may be greenish, grayish, or reddish, like slate. It is only found in regions of low grade metamorphism where the crustal buckling has been slight. It will not be found in regions where unaltered sediments prevail.
Schist: When shales, on complete recrystallization, compress into a final rock they tend to be predominantly mica in composition and become schist.The mica is especially conspicuous in the direction of the easy fracture, the cleavage direction of the schist. As in the early phyllite and slate stages, the mica crystals have arranged themselves so that the flat plates have grown at right angles to the pressure affecting the rock Often certain typical high-pressure minerals, like garnet, staurolite, andalusite, or kyanite, are grown in mica of the schists. The micaceous banding and the predominance of one mineral makes schist distinct from any primary rock, even though the principal minerals may be identical.
Gneiss: Represents the same intensity of metamorphism as schist, however the mineral make-up of the rock has mica less predominant. Its sedimentary ancestor may be a sandy shale, or a shaly sandstone. fresh granite can also be changed to gneiss by a simple rearrangement of its mica, so that the plates are all aligned in one direction, in places of less conspicuous structure of an ordinary granite. Gneisses, which may be gray to almost white, resemble granites closely except for this alignment of the mica. An exact line of distinction between gneiss and schist is hard to drew, for many gneisses look far richer in mica than they truly are, when only a mica rich parting plane is seen.
Quartzite: is formed by the metamorphism of sandstone. Since quartz grains are about the same, hot or cold, little change can take place except to create a very hard rock. In deep burial and renewed cementation, the sand grains eventually become welded so firmly together that any fracture breaks across the grains disappear, instead of loosely held surfaces, as in sandstone. Quartzites are among the hardest and the most resistant of all rocks. They show the same colors as sandstones: Brown, yellow, gray, reddish, or white.
Marble: like quartzites, forms in the regional metamorphism from another single-mineral sedimentary rock, and like sandstone is a rock which no major change can take place other then a growth and cementation of individual crystal units. Marble forms from limestone and dolomite. If the original sediments are fairly pure carbonates, , the metamorphic product becomes a coarsely crystalline white or colored marble and may be valued for decoration purposes. Sometimes time and burial and ample circulation of ground-water will create marbles without intense heat or pressure, it is in these cases that fossils preserved in the original limestone may persist in the decorative marbles. Such marbles are often buff-colored and their fossils may show as lighter- colored sections of purer calcite.
Contact metamorphism
Hornfels: Is a compact fine grained black rock that forms near the line of contact of sedimentary country rocks with an invading magma or lava where there is often a zoning away from the source of heat and gases. Under unusual conditions, coarse new mineral crystals may form, and some of the finest of all mineral collecting localities are such coarsely crystalline contact metamorphic zones. Typically this accounts for honeycombed material ready for minerals common for the region such as garnet, spinels, scapolite, Ivakite and other high temperature minerals.
Valterric:
Hematocite- Stone with the properties of living flesh. It exists at room temperature as a liquid. However contact with air creates an exothermic reaction and creates a "pseudo-skin" over the exposed area. This skin appears to pulsate as the fluid circulates in convection patterns and leaks traces of water as the stone naturally separates. Given time, impurities will deposit on the skin in long filaments that seem to react to the internal convection patterns of the fluid. Attributed to Viratas, but it was most likely created during the valterrain, due to its seemingly similarities to blood and flesh. The skin is actually quite hard, similar to granite in durability.
Ethaelite- Stone infused with properties of the realms of Leth and Syna. During the day Ethaelite emits heat and shimmers metallicly like copper. At night the stone turns silvery and has a reflective surface, very malleable in this state.
Fluxate - Rare but feared by mages across the world. Stones that have had prolonged exposure to wild djed. Extremely volatile. Prone to reacting violently when exposed to magic.
Ukalainium - Supposedly shard of the Ukalas fused into stone, decays over time. Often found in deposits of Ethaelite. The stone appears to be simple stone from the divine realm.
Voidstone - crystalline microportal structures, decays over time. Vulnerable to voiders and leechers.
Reaperglass - Similar in composition to obsidian, stones with heavy amounts of exposure to ghosts that have trapped soulmist properties. Highly valued by Spiritists. Useful in creating safe zones and other Spiritist rituals.
Valterric Gems
Stormgem
Infinitite
Valterric Living Stone/ Sentient
Lavak
Memosites
Cool names that don't have properties yet:
Valtaspar -
Oridiain
Jalenium
Ivakite
Symite
puccia
hygate
Appendix B: Gem Classifications
Gem Classes
Last major addition: 10/19/2015
.
First Draft
Nightmare has been retired and so Vellichor will continue updating in their stead. Any thoughts are appreciated
Overview
Geology is the science and theory of the earth and Semele's celestial body, Mizahar itself. It encompasses the lore of the earth but is mainly the skill of determining one portion of the earth from another i.e. types of similar stone or the exact ratios of component soils and sands. It works closely with characteristics and attributes, and at later levels the geologist will be able to discover wholly new characteristics of the earth.
Prerequisites and Related Skills
Prerequisites
Geology can be used without having any prerequisite skills, however there are a handful of skills that geologists find useful. There are also many skills that are positively affected by having geology.
The following skills are useful for field work and establishing mines.
- Wilderness Survival
Land Navigation
Cartography
While not exactly a prerequisite the following skills are useful to have.
- Philtering - Useful to create acid tests when identifying stone.
Blacksmithing - Useful for creating tools
Related skills
- Mining
Reimancy
Metalsmithing
Jewelcrafting
Construction
Archeology
Agriculture and Farming
Glassmaking
Pottery
Geology is first and foremost identification and is therefore broken up by the things being identified. Rock generally is identified visibly first and then by other traits such as texture, density or chemical reactions. Minerals and gems are identified by how they break, their crystalline habit (their structure in their rough form), hardness, visually or by other observations. Sand and soil is determined by texture, how well it compresses and expands, then visually. Typically sand and soil is only identified a couple feet down but in construction the deeper soil horizons may be just as important.
Rock and Mineral Identification
Rock and Mineral Identification begins with the specimen's characteristics. The first step is to determine whether the specimen is a rock or a mineral. This act requires practice, visual observation and comparison. Typically a mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic compound with an ordered structure and typically unique physical properties. Whereas rock is a solid, stony mass composed of a combination of minerals and/or organic compounds. It is up to the Geologist to make this broad distinction. For example, quartz and feldspar are minerals, but when formed together, they make a rock, granite. In contrast coal would be a rock or otherwise non-mineral, composed of organically derived carbon. Geologists use classifications to determine what rock or mineral they have.
The easiest way to determine if a specimen is a rock or a mineral is by breaking a sample off the specimen, if the stone is the same all the way through, it is a mineral. If it is comprised of two or more minerals, either by layers, inconsistencies and inclusions or in the case of glassy rock, visual impurities then the sample is a rock. (Note, many gem's colors are due to trace or minute impurities, these are still considered minerals due to the extremely tiny nature of these impurities.)
Afterwards Geologists will determine the rock or mineral's individual characteristics. Deduction of these follow by placing the specimens in classes and then separating by characteristics. These methods of deriving characteristics applies to all the suborders, such as ore or gems. The following is a list of common rock and minerals by classification, an overview of mineral characteristics and how to use those characteristics to correctly identify a stone. Details of various classifications can be found in the reference section of this article.
Rock Characteristics
Color: The first indicator of the components of any rock or mineral. Colors tend to vary between same orders of stone due to individual composition and location of the sample's harvesting.
Mineralogy: This is the minerals present in the rock. Most rock have feldspar, quartz or limestone as base components and are mixed with less common minerals.
Texture: The ways that the grains fit together, there are four main textures. A change in texture typically means a change in rock
- Crystalline or Interlocking: The grains are interlocked. They fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
- Fragmental or Clastic: The grains are rounded and fit together like balls in a rack or marbles in a jar.
- Aphanitic: The grains are very small and tend to require a magnifying glass to see them individually. Often with cement or mortar-like texture.
- Glassy: The individual grain in undetectable and amorphously arranged. Volcanic glass such as obsidian is a prime example.
Acid test: Does it fizz when vinegar is applied?
Reactions to water: How well it absorbs water or how well it weathers it. This can help determine how amorphous and how porous a rock is and the content of the rock's minerals.
Mineral Characteristics
Color: Color is the first indicator of the components of any rock or mineral. Colors tend to vary between same orders of stone due to individual composition and location of the sample's harvesting.
Luster: Determines how shiny or dull a sample is, in most cases luster is either metallic or non-metallic. Terms that are often used to describe luster include: waxy, resinous, oily, silky or glassy.
Mele Hardness scale: Developed by a priestess of Semele and named after the gnosis, the hardness scale is the scratch resistance of various minerals. The scale goes from 1 to 10 with diamond at 10. According to this scale the mineral at the top can scratch any mineral below it or of equal hardness. Meaning glass will scratch glass or anything softer then it. Determining hardness often requires a set of these materials, or hardness picks. Hardness picks are a set of Isurain invented devices that can determine the hardness of a mineral. They are a set of sharpened metal alloyed rods designed to be the exact hardness for each number on the list. Most geologists use hardness picks as the preferred method of determining this characteristic due to the consistency it affords.
| Meles | Mineral | Image |
| 1 | Talc | |
| 2 | Gypsum | |
| 3 | Calcite | |
| 4 | Fluorite | |
| 5 | Apatite | |
| 6 | Feldspar | |
| 7 | Quartz | |
| 8 | Topaz | |
| 9 | Corundum | |
| 10 | Diamond |
Density: Density is how much an object weighs compared to its volume.
Streak: Is the color of the mineral powder. An unglazed plate or tile is typically the best tool since the hardness of an unglazed plate or tile is about 7 Meles. Generally minerals of greater hardness will not make a colored streak. However, for those harder materials crushing or grinding the minerals with an even harder mineral may yield streak color.
Fracture: Determines the various weaknesses of the stone, particularly in crystals. Fracture refers to the separation already present in the geologic formation. This can be a fault or a joint along large land masses or lines of weakness in hand specimens.
Cleavage: The tendency of a mineral to break in smooth flat planes and is one of the most fundamental properties of identifying of the mineral. How a mineral breaks and into what shape or form they break is ultimately determined in Cleavage.
Translucency: A key characteristic in silicas, glasses and crystals, translucency is the ability of light to enter and exit the formation. The range is transparent to opaque.
Fluorescence or Phosphorescence: Is the ability to emit light under specific conditions. A difficult property to test without magical tools or ability, certain minerals and stones will emit light due to wild Djedic interference, the conversion of ambient djed to light, or by drawing out djed from the stone itself through Semele's Gnosis. Other rare cases and situations can occur to allow a mineral to fluoresce and to allow it to be tested.
Reactions to water: Reactions to water can determined just how porous a material is. This can be measuring the water in a sealed jar with a hand specimen or, it can be determining whether or not a material beads and sloughs off water or if it causes it to cling without absorbing.
Other characteristics can be discovered in game at the expert and master levels.
Note: Many minerals like Halite (table salt) have a taste, but never use taste as a tool to identify rock or minerals because there are a lot of minerals that contain arsenic and other poisons.
Mineral Environments
This refers to the geological environment that minerals occur. Minerals tend to be restricted to a single location. Rarely are minerals found in multiple environments, but it is not impossible. For instance Kalea tends to have igneous, metamorphic and Valterric rock and those rocks tend to be comprised of certain kinds of minerals. One may have a hard time finding opal or pyrite in Kalea, where it may be more common to find them in sedimentary rich areas such as the deserts of Eyktol or the plains of Cyphrus.
Rock Classifications
The following are the 4 major rock groups and a description of their general forms and means of creation. Please refer to the reference section for a exhaustiveness list of rocks organized by class.
Igneous Rocks
Both forms of Igneous rock tend to be fine-grained with a mixture of usually unrecognizable minerals; their only inherent structures are those of magma flow lines in obsidian and rhyolites.
Extrusive Igneous
Igneous Extrusive rocks are what comes to mind when one refers to volcanic rock. It is the creation of stone by the crystallization of magma at the surface of the earth. They are characterized by fine grain due to rapid cooling that prevents the formation of large crystals. The most common Igneous Extrusive Rock is Basalt.
Intrusive Igneous
Igneous Intrusive rock refers to stone that has been created from magma through the process of crystallization deep within the earth. In contrast to Extrusive rock, it is characterized by large, interlocking crystals with a visual appearance that shows the individual crystals. This is due to the much slower rate that stone cools in the deep earth.
Plutonic
Chemically Plutonic rocks are identical to both other igneous forms with the primary difference of grain size and manner of creation. Plutonic rock originated as molten stone that was pushed and squeezed into cavities or pores of solid, unmolten stone. Plutonic tends towards coarse-grained without any noticeable structures in hand specimens while being composed of common identifiable primary minerals (Quartz, Feldspar, Mica, and other dark minerals.)
Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary rock is characterized by a primary single, low temperature mineral that is banded, stratified and often fossiliferous. However, due to the Valterrian fossilized material is exceedingly rare; the forces that reshaped the face of Mizahar have wiped away any sort of fossilized record of the past.
Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphic rock is characterized by high temperature minerals and are similar to Plutonic rock, however they are banded, stratified, and as a general rule, with a concentration of one type of mineral in any given formation.
Contact Metamorphism
A type of Metamorphic rock, Contact Metamorphism is Metamorphism in which the mineralogy and texture of a body of rock are changed by exposure to the pressure and extreme temperature associated with a body of intruding magma. The key difference is that standard metamorphic rock is created through a process of Regional Metamorphism, where large masses of rock is changed. Whereas in this case a relatively small mass is changed. The changed stone is often coarsely crystalline.
Valterric Rock
Characterized by the interaction of the release of divine and wild djed during the Valterrian with both mineral and rocks of all kinds. Often this includes interactions with heat, pressure, rapid expansion or contraction and the melding of wild djed with stone (a natural form of alchemy). However, due to the tendency for the rocks and minerals to hold magical or otherwise unusual properties, materials created both before and after the Valterrian that exhibit magical or unusual properties have been placed under the umbrella term "Valterric". Due to these unusual properties the only commonality between any Valterric rock is that they have some obviously preternatural attribute. An inexperienced geologist might easily attribute a natural phenomena to magic or the supernatural and consequently misclassify the specimen.
Note: Many of these rocks require expert or master to determine the history or true properties of these stones.
Mineral Classification
Minerals are divided and subdivided into several groups. The three main groups are: Primary Minerals, Ore and Gems. As stated above, minerals are composed of a singular substance and exist in deposits of veins among stone or they are incorporated into the stone themselves to form rock formations. The three groups of minerals are divided based on material and function. For instance, ore is primarily metallic minerals that are often used in metalworking, whereas gems are almost solely crystalline and are usually precious and rare and primary minerals are the constituents that make up most rock.
Primary Minerals
This is a non exhaustive list of primary minerals. The following groups and minerals are examples, more can be used and discovered in character. These groups are based on their native, or purest components, or share characteristics of a native mineral.
Silicates - Materials that share attributes with native silicone. Note: Native Silicone is rare and is often found is unusual situations.
- olivine
- pyroxene
- amphibole
- mica
- feldspar
- quartz
Sulfurous- Minerals with the attributes of native sulfur
- Gypsum
- Anhydrite
- Alunite
- Cinnabar
- Realgar
Carbonates - Minerals with similar properties to Calcite
- Calcite
- Dolomite
Halides - Minerals with similar properties to Halite
- Halite
- Fluorite
- Cryolite
Ore
Ore are mineral that contain a useful metals that can be extracted. Ore only becomes useful after refining at a metalsmith's forge.
Ore Subgroups:
Native: This is metal in it's purest form, easiest to work with when metalsmithing. Extracting native ore is as simple as mining, panning or using fleece or wool to sieve metal flakes from rivers. Metals such as Gold, Silver, Copper, Aluminum, Bismuth, Lead, Platinum are typical native metals and are somewhat resistant rusting or oxidation.
Mineral Ore: Is metal mixed with other components and thus requires refining. It is far more abundant than native metal ore. Mineral ore will have unique names based on the different components of the mineral. Hematite (iron) , Galena (lead, silver), and Tetrahedrite (copper, silver, iron) are common ores. The more metals or minerals included, the more difficult they are to refine and generally, the more common they are.
Gems
Gems are minerals with crystalline structure and ornamental value and can be classified and identified in very similar ways compared to other kinds of minerals. They typically are identified in all the methods above to identify mineral as well as two additional ways:
- Crystal Habit: This is the location that the crystal was formed. This might include physical environment (Caves, underwater, ect.) or the surrounding rock or minerals.
Inclusions: Inclusions refers to any material trapped inside the gem during its formation as well as a characteristic enclosed within a gemstone, or reaching its surface from the interior. Examples could be a Quartz crystal with chlorite trapped within it. Or it might be changes in color, clarity or internal texture, such as what is found within a Star Sapphire.
Please reference the appendix section to find the classes an hierarchy of gems.
Mineraloids
Mineraloids are a mineral-like substance that do not demonstrate the full definition of being a mineral. For instance it may be organically made (amber or jet), non-crystalline (Opal) or non-solid (native mercury/Quicksilver).
Soil Identification
Soil Identification begins with the geographical location. It relates directly to the geological composition of the stone and minerals around the soil. Beginning with the geographical location is important to soil identification due to the definition of soil which is: stone that has been worn into particulates. The parent rock will define what soil is created. Identification is typically done for the first few soil horizons and anything lower is of most use to any architect laying down foundations for a building.
Layers of soil
Soil layers are also known as Soil Horizons, these are layers of soil whose physical characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath and each soil type usually has three or four horizons. Horizons are defined in most cases by obvious physical characteristics such as color and texture.
Typically there are the following layers:
Humus - This is material that has been decomposed from organic material such as scat, animal remains, forest detritus and so on. This materials is directly created by keystone organisms such as fungi and insects. This layer is not always present.
Topsoil - Top soil is completely decomposed rock and generally fulfills the full definition of "soil". It is very nutrient rich, most regions with the topsoil intact tend to be very fertile. Plant roots only reach this far down.
Subsoil - Subsoil is partially decomposed stone. Large chunks of the parent material or former parent material has been worn away into a separate layer.
Parent rock - Also known as the bedrock, this layer is solid stone and tends to be made up of he same material as the subsoil and the topsoil. Foundations set on bedrock are extremely stable.
Soil Types
Soil type refers to the different percentages of mineral particles in a particular soil.
Sand: The most common composition of sand is silica, primarily quartz, but its composition varies with location. Sand refers to a coarse, gritty substance with many fine particles of various sizes but always no larger than a grain.
Silt: Silt's mineral origins are comprised primarily of quartz and feldspar and refers to a gritty to floury textured and soapy-when-wet material. It is found primarily the the bottom of or mixed in large bodies and in rivers.
Clay: Created through the decay of feldspar and mica, this soil refers to a fairly plastic, water absorbent material. Of all types of soil, it is the most dense and can be difficult to cleave and dig through. Purer clay deposits are particularly useful in pottery and construction with various types more sought out then others. Its grain size is very large and has a sticky, plastic feel. It is possible to mold this soil into thin tubes.
Loam: Refers to a ratio of sand, silt and clay, this soil type is considered balanced and useful for very many different types of soil. It typically presents itself in ratios of about 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay
Organic or Humus: Technically not considered a geological soil, Humus refers to the organic material found on fertile ground. It relates and mixes with topsoil and it is comprised of organic material, plants such as leaves, fungi, animal remains, scat and living organisms going through various stages of decay. These materials increase the fertility of the soil and can help revive overfarmed areas. Artificial humus is also known as compost.
More nuanced types of soil exist, but these make up the primary attributes of them all.
Soil Characteristics
Color: Color is often determined based on the combination of the base minerals and its trace.
Grain size: Grain size can mean the difference between gravel, sand or clay. It is measured by visibility rather than measurable size. Though some mages and researches have gone to great lengths to determine an exact size for any given grain. Typically gravel or scree is the largest size, then clay, silt and then sand, though dust can be considered a form of silt.
Mineral Ancestry: Typically refers to the bedrock or the stratum the soil comes from. Depending on the type of soil, the Mineral Ancestor is usually high in feldspar or quartz. Mineral composition can also help trace the original stone that a soil is made from.
Soil Environment: This refers to the land where the samples of soil are taken. Valleys and highlands create different environments over deserts and plains. Plant life should also be taken into account when determining soil environment since plant life can absorb various forms of minerals and contribute their own via humus and compost.
Fertility: Fertility is based off of how well certain plants grow in certain soils. It directly refers to the trace minerals that a plant requires to grow and also refers to the resulting yield of the plant. A high yield soil will have all the required nutrients for a crop or type of plant to not only grow, but grow large and plentiful. Not all plants do well in all soils, but a fertile soil has many mineral nutrients for whatever plant suits that soil.
Plasticity: Refers to how well it can be molded when dry and when wet. Where sand has the lowest plasticity and clay has the highest.
Texture: Texture can range from gritty to fine and can be likened to gravel or to flour. It also refers to the soil's texture when wet and can feel slippery or soapy.
Useful Images
Soil Triangle
Rock Cycle
Principles of Geology
The Rock Cycle
The Rock Cycle
Formation of Stone
Igneous Rock
The rock cycle begins when magma is created when stone of any type gets trapped below the surface and draws near the core of Mizahar. Igneous rock arises directly from molten underground rock as Magma when it cools. The stone becomes intrusive if the rock cools below the earth without reaching the surface and extrusive if the rock cools at the surface through air or water.
Metamorphic Rock
Metamorphic rock is created through intense pressures and heat changing Igneous or Sedimentary and sometimes other forms of Metamorphic rock's fundamental properties. This includes direct change, or the invasion of magma and lava into the pores of the constituent stone.
Formation of Gems
Gems are created from a nucleus mineral that is grown over time. Typically they are created along with Igneous and Metamorphic rock due to the heat and pressure that is necessary for most gems, however they can also be created in low temperature and low heat settings. Low heat gems are usually formed through chemical deposition and may involve water as a solvent. However, unusual circumstances do arise.
Soil and Sand
Soil and sand is created through the weathering of stone, Igneous, Metamorphic or even Sedimentary rock. Typical weathering includes mechanical weathering i.e. water, ice, wind; chemical weather i.e. sun, water through dissolving; or biological weathering i.e. fungi, plants, trees. In the end sand, silt or clay are made in various proportions from its parent's rock.
Sedimentary Rock
Sedimentary Rock is formed from the deposition of weathered material typically within bodies of water, though the process of cementation can occur without water. It can include both mineral and organic material that has been settled, cemented and compressed into a solid stone. The process of sediment becoming stone is called Diagenesis and has two main processes. The first begins as sediment piles up, packs the material and squeezes water out. Then mineral is laid down between the grains and cements the mass of sediment together. Different minerals and rock react to water in different ways, the trace dissolving of limestone in water and other minerals is what allows the process to take place.
Forces that Shape the Land
The many gods who make Mizahar what it is today.
Many gods have a hand in the layout of Semele's surface, chiefly Zulrav and Laviku. Through the weathering of stone by wind and sea sand and soil are made. Makutsi's rain, rivers and lakes cuts furrows into the land and slowly shape magnificent structures and even create expansive cave systems. Morwen and her icy touch has a powerful effect on the land, the water entering into porous material will freeze over, expand and break apart the rock material, often over centuries and millennium . Even Caiyha has a subtle, but noticeable hand in shaping the land. Her gentle touch includes the plants and trees that populate Semele's surface that grind stone and soil over the centuries and millennium through their roots. Beyond this lichen and fungi act as keystone organisms and have an important role in turning rock mass into suitable soil for other plants.
How Caves are formed.
When water rains down from the sky and collects into river and lakes, Makutsi carries away tons of material a year to the sea, her father. This action creates valleys and cave structures. Typically structures such as these are created from the difference of stratum. Layers of rock that are more resistant to erosion by rain and water will jut out as the material around it is dissolved or worn away. Great stone archways and pillars are often ancient remnants of resistant stone unyielding to the forces that seek to drive them down and shift them elsewhere. As rivers reach the ocean they shed their load of river material in vast and fertile river deltas or swamps. Many civilizations were started in such places.
When rivers find their way into limestone stratum an interesting effect is made. Because limestone is easily dissolved by water and acid and is almost always the main component of a cave. Thus most caves are made from limestone. Once a cave system is made, rainfall seeps deep into the ground and into the cracks and spaces between the joints of layers of rock weakening the area around it. Then rain or a river quickly tears the material out as it seeks the lowest point. As water evaporates the material torn away becomes insoluble and is deposited as calcite, either as a coating along the walls of the cave or as formations. The most common formation of calcite are known as stalactites which are hanging spikes, stalagmites that are jutting spikes from the floor, or columns which is where a stalactite and a stalagmite meet.
Ivak and Semele's special relationship.
Deep below even the deepest caves riddling Semele's body, Ivak works to release pressures deep within the earth. He and his followers act to minimize the effects of earthquakes by creating a healthy release of pressure. These releases of pressure can also take the shape of benign eruptions or the movement of molten earth far below the surface. Or they can be the shifting of large masses of rock along fracture points. These forces are the primary driving force of the rock cycle and it is only through Ivak's power that stone is made, shaped, melted down and remade.
Religion
See Semele for more details.
Geology has it's roots in religion, despite being a secular construct. It began when Semele made friends with humanity and gathered priests and priestesses about herself. Due to her follower's natural curiosity, she taught them about not only her self but also the way in which her body, Mizahar and the earthen portions itself, worked on its timeless scale. It was with Semele's help that her priests made great advances in geological knowledge thus refining the general knowledge of her relationship with the other gods and determining new facts such as how the physical property of hardness worked. Much of which was lost with the great Valterrain and is only now being rediscovered.
While it is not required to be a geologist to be a friend of Semele nor to get her mark, those who do, are, and worship her as a goddess, tend to pick up a basic knowledge of it.
Magic
Geology has an interesting side effect for earth reimancers. Those who practice in geology find that they are able to create and mimic stone, sand and clay more effectively. All earth reimancers can make stone and soil without geology and it in that form it is a creative art form rather than a science. But with increased skill in geology they can accurately create or mimic a given rock or mineral. At expert and higher level geologists are so familiar with the properties of rock, stone and minerals that they can create the most subtle nuances of a particular stone with little chance of overgiving.
As a rule, the denser and higher the quality earth the more difficult it is to create using reimancy. While pure or alloyed metal is impossible with earth alone, creating hematite, magnetite (lodestone), limonite and other metal orestone are possible. Similarly raw gems are also a real possibility. The denser, harder and more precious the gem the more difficult and more prone to overgiving the reimancer is. A skilled geologist will be able to mitigate the effects of overgiving through precisely applying the correct forces and masses into their stone simulacrum, making stone reimancy on a whole a small amount easier. However, the densest and hardest minerals and gems such as diamonds will always throw a reimancer into overgiving.
For example, ores of copper would be easier than silver, silver then gold, and interestingly, gold would be easier than lead. Largely this is due to the density of the metal and how much djed is required to create that density. Likewise hardness has a very real effect on creating rock or minerals. Creating calcite is fairly easy whereas diamond is hellishly difficult and is prone to serious overgiving.
Of course, the higher your skill in reimancy, the easier it is to do more difficult things with less fear of overgiving.
However, not all stone, mineral or gem can be created with reimancy. Anything created divinely, through the Valterrain or through alchemy, is always impossible. This includes materials with innate magical or special attributes such as stormgems, infinitite and isurian steel ore.
For alchemy the effects of Geology are far more acute. Since Alchemy is about isolating properties to transfer to a material and Geology primarily defined by identifying properties, an alchemist with geologic training will be able to use stones extremely effectively as filters and founts. Particularly useful are naturally created magical stone and gems, though true replication of materials like stormgems or Isurian steel, even its ore, is essentially impossible.
Learning Geology
Since Geology is a fairly lore heavy skill, learning it requires either formal training in an academic setting, apprenticeship under a miner or geologist, or simply reading a book and attempting to identify local stones. While it is extremely difficult, those who are fairly observant can still advance their skill by determining differences between two unknown stones; This is common for earth reimancers. However, without some form of formal training they will miss out on key concepts of geology, limiting their skill to Novice.
Tools
Many of the tools listed here have uses in other skills like Mining, Cartography and Jewel crafting.
Drilling Hammers
Crack Hammers
Rock Hammers
Sledge Hammers
Hand drills - A mechanical device that is hand cranked to drill out holes for rock sampling.
Rock Chisels
Prospector Pick
Rock Picks
Gad/Pry bar
Pan
Hand lens or magnifying loupes
Compass
Map of the local region
Acid test kit
Lodestone
Identification kit (Geology): This contains a streak plate, glass plate, hand lens, a set of Hardness picks, a vial of vinegar or equivalent acid and a whetstone.
Isurian Hardness picks - This set was originally designed by the Isur but now are offered all over Mizahar from metalsmiths. These hardness picks are unique in that unlike other mineral hardness testing tools that use minerals or crystal points, they are made of metals and alloys of hardness values equal to 2 through 9 on the hardness scale. And because the picks are made of metal, they are easily ground to sharp points which will not break off and which can be easily sharpened.
Skill Progression
Novice
A novice Geologist is someone who is just beginning to learn the fundamentals of Geology. They might have some starting knowledge but their ability to identify stone is prone to error and mislabeling. The Novice will find major and obvious classes of stone the easiest to identify but the more detailed or the more similar the stone is, the harder it gets for the novice. Since they are still learning the basics, leaps in logic and discovering new properties is fairly unlikely at this stage. However, they are able to identify the more obvious properties such as color, hardness, density and so on, assuming they have been taught these concepts.
An example of a Novice would be a Miner who stumbles upon a shiny, golden yellow stone and exclaims he has found gold, only to find out later that it was only simple Pyrite.
Competent
At this level the Geologist is becoming comfortable with the concepts of how earth and Mizahar works in tandem. As they accumulate knowledge they are better able to determine the differences between to similar stone. They begin to see patterns in the concepts that surround the means of creation of stone and how it is shaped and can now make leaps of logic based on what they currently know.
At this level magic has begun to benefit from the geologist's skill in determining attributes of rock, minerals and soil. A Reimancer with geologist training will be able to copy stone and the most obvious attributes of the stone in question through willpower instead of through instinct, whereas an Alchemist will have some control over the more intrinsic attributes of stone being transferred.
Expert
An expert geologist is a repository of geological knowledge, their experience and research has been honed from both scholarly works as well as discoveries found out in the field. They might find themselves compelled to write down their observations in books or in field journals which themselves become prized.
At this level even magical attributes of stone and gems are not safe from the expert's ability to identify. Often this comes with a significant discovery and potentially the reshaping of the field of geology.
Master
A master geologist typically has a love for the earth that is unrivaled and thus they are the pinnacle of geological knowledge, constantly pushing the boundaries of knowledge. At this level Geology becomes more of a scholarly pursuit then something they do out in the field. They are able to accurately determine the attributes and characteristics of all rock, minerals or stone at a glance. Their research advances the fundamental knowledge of Geology and these discoveries often spill out into the fields of Philtering, Magic, and Physics .
Their identification skill begins to take on an almost supernatural air with guesses on the composition of a given region becoming accurate down to the finest amount of mineral and soil. Little effort is needed to determine the properties of a mineral at a glance and even the magical forms of stone and gems are easily determined at a glance.
Magic is greatly enhanced when it comes to Geology at this level, Alchemy becoming an exercise in precisely transferring geological attributes and Reimancy creating accurate simulacrums of a desired stone as well as lessening the effects of overgiving for more difficult and precise geological endeavors.
Appendices
Appendix A: Rock Type examples
Igneous Extrusive:
Obsidian: Is a comparatively rare glassy rock that has not crystallized at all because it has cooled too quickly. It will only be found where volcanic activity has taken place in relatively recent times. Obsidian slowly crystallizes into a fine-grained rock or decomposed by weathering or taking in moisture. No obsidian can survive over great lengths of time.
Felsite or Rhyolite: is the general name to apply to all light-colored, fine-grained igneous rocks. Color varies from light gray, yellow, pale and deep red. Some compact, fine grained sedimentary rock may be confused with Felsite or Rhyolite.
Basalt: Most volcanic eruptions will have lava that solidifies to a fine-grained black rock composed largely of feldspar, pyroxene, and olivine, but not quartz.
Igneous Intrusive
Porphyry: these rocks are like a frozen rock mush, with detached crystals of mineral, commonly feldspar. The background rock tends toward a much finer grain. Feldspar, quartz, pyroxene and olivine are major components.
Diabase: Very similar to porphyry, but tends towards darker base material that forms first with Feldspar crystals growing later to fill in the remaining space.
Plutonic
Granite: This common building material is the most common coarse grained rock. It is composed of quartz and orthoclase feldspar, usually with low percentage of dark mineral grains. That dark mineral tends to be mica or pyroxene. Granites are usually light in color and individual mineral grains can easily be distinguished. They may be gray, white, pink or yellow brown.
Diorite: Is darker than granite as a rule though its texture is very similar. Rich in plagioclase and has very little quartz.
Gabbro: has even less quartz than Diorite. It is a coarse grain equivalent of diabase. Richer in lime with more pyroxene. Olivine may also be present.
Peridotite or Pyroxenite: This is a dark rock composed almost entirely of dark minerals such as Olivine and/or Pyroxene. It is in these formations that diamonds form. Veins of these rocks tend to be in green or blue "pipes"
Sedimentary Rock:
Arkose: Derived from the mechanical disintegration ( fragmentation by freezing and warming) of granite rock. This may form form when the disintegration process has not turned feldspar into clay. It really amounts to a coarse sandstone whose grains are both quartz and feldspar. In the hand specimen, when no evidence of banding ( and of the secondary origin) is obvious, a sediment with such fresh feldspar might be mistake for more firmly cemented primary rock, the original granite.
Conglomerate: a rock composed of rounded, water worn pebbles, usually of quartz, cemented by the mass of finer material filling the spaces between. Often there is a contrast between the color of the pebbles and that of the matrix, which appropriate the name "puddingstone" that is frequently applied to colorful conglomerates.
Breccia: is almost the same as conglomerate, except that its pebbles are more angular in outline and have not been so rounded by water. Breccias may form well under the surface of the earth when buried beds of rock are shattered by movements of the crust. The overlying rock pressure will crush the fragment together so that in time they are easily cemented again into a solid mass. Breccia marbles are often seen in decorative stone work.
Sandstone: A common rock composed principally of sand grains cemented more or less firmly together. Depending upon the character of the cement, the rock may be white, gray, yellow, or a dark red. Fossils are commonly found within sandstone, however since the Valterrian fossils have become exceedingly rare.
Shale: is a rock composed principally of clay particles often with a little sand intermixed. Stream-carried mud will be deposited farther from the shore than the sand. Shale is built up by successive layers of the finer particles which travel farther in a quietly flowing stream before settling to the bottom. On the floor of the Suvan sea we would expect a sedimentary sequence of sandstone beds, overlain by shale, and mantled by still finer material from the clearer water above. Though only Konti and Charoda are capable of confirming this.
Limestone: Composed largely of the mineral Calcite in a very finely granular texture. Lime can be produced from minerals in the water or from the decomposition of marine life to forms beds of limestone. Beds of clean lime can only form farther out in the sea and in the deeper waters of the Outer Seas beyond the reach of stream-borne clay particles and sand. Sea life may become fossils in limestone, but this is also extremely rare.
Dolomite: Very similar to Limestone, however it is richer in mineral metals. Salt coal and salt oil are often found as deposits within Dolomite
Metamorphic Rock
Slate: Slate resembles shale except that it is a first stage in a progressive change of clay back to mica. Small mica flakes have grown along new cleavage surfaces to give the hardened shale a luster not noted in dull earthy shales. The tiny growing mica flakes tend to arrange themselves so that their flat sides lie across the direction of pressure, with the result that the cleavage of the slate follows the new mica plate direction; that is, at right angles to squeezing. Often the flakes of slate cut sharply across the original stratified shale beds, whose layering was the prominent structural feature of the sediment.
Phyllite:The next step in the process of change from clay to mica after slate. Thus the similarities. Metamorphism has been more intense and the new mica crystals have grown larger to give distinct micaceous parting direction to the rock, with a dull micaceous luster. It is hard to draw a line between the slates on the one hand and the phyllites on the other. Though phyllite often shows a wavy, rather than a flat surface, it is anybody's guess when the mica luster on the cleavage face has become sufficiently pronounced. Phyllite may be greenish, grayish, or reddish, like slate. It is only found in regions of low grade metamorphism where the crustal buckling has been slight. It will not be found in regions where unaltered sediments prevail.
Schist: When shales, on complete recrystallization, compress into a final rock they tend to be predominantly mica in composition and become schist.The mica is especially conspicuous in the direction of the easy fracture, the cleavage direction of the schist. As in the early phyllite and slate stages, the mica crystals have arranged themselves so that the flat plates have grown at right angles to the pressure affecting the rock Often certain typical high-pressure minerals, like garnet, staurolite, andalusite, or kyanite, are grown in mica of the schists. The micaceous banding and the predominance of one mineral makes schist distinct from any primary rock, even though the principal minerals may be identical.
Gneiss: Represents the same intensity of metamorphism as schist, however the mineral make-up of the rock has mica less predominant. Its sedimentary ancestor may be a sandy shale, or a shaly sandstone. fresh granite can also be changed to gneiss by a simple rearrangement of its mica, so that the plates are all aligned in one direction, in places of less conspicuous structure of an ordinary granite. Gneisses, which may be gray to almost white, resemble granites closely except for this alignment of the mica. An exact line of distinction between gneiss and schist is hard to drew, for many gneisses look far richer in mica than they truly are, when only a mica rich parting plane is seen.
Quartzite: is formed by the metamorphism of sandstone. Since quartz grains are about the same, hot or cold, little change can take place except to create a very hard rock. In deep burial and renewed cementation, the sand grains eventually become welded so firmly together that any fracture breaks across the grains disappear, instead of loosely held surfaces, as in sandstone. Quartzites are among the hardest and the most resistant of all rocks. They show the same colors as sandstones: Brown, yellow, gray, reddish, or white.
Marble: like quartzites, forms in the regional metamorphism from another single-mineral sedimentary rock, and like sandstone is a rock which no major change can take place other then a growth and cementation of individual crystal units. Marble forms from limestone and dolomite. If the original sediments are fairly pure carbonates, , the metamorphic product becomes a coarsely crystalline white or colored marble and may be valued for decoration purposes. Sometimes time and burial and ample circulation of ground-water will create marbles without intense heat or pressure, it is in these cases that fossils preserved in the original limestone may persist in the decorative marbles. Such marbles are often buff-colored and their fossils may show as lighter- colored sections of purer calcite.
Contact metamorphism
Hornfels: Is a compact fine grained black rock that forms near the line of contact of sedimentary country rocks with an invading magma or lava where there is often a zoning away from the source of heat and gases. Under unusual conditions, coarse new mineral crystals may form, and some of the finest of all mineral collecting localities are such coarsely crystalline contact metamorphic zones. Typically this accounts for honeycombed material ready for minerals common for the region such as garnet, spinels, scapolite, Ivakite and other high temperature minerals.
Valterric:
Hematocite- Stone with the properties of living flesh. It exists at room temperature as a liquid. However contact with air creates an exothermic reaction and creates a "pseudo-skin" over the exposed area. This skin appears to pulsate as the fluid circulates in convection patterns and leaks traces of water as the stone naturally separates. Given time, impurities will deposit on the skin in long filaments that seem to react to the internal convection patterns of the fluid. Attributed to Viratas, but it was most likely created during the valterrain, due to its seemingly similarities to blood and flesh. The skin is actually quite hard, similar to granite in durability.
Ethaelite- Stone infused with properties of the realms of Leth and Syna. During the day Ethaelite emits heat and shimmers metallicly like copper. At night the stone turns silvery and has a reflective surface, very malleable in this state.
Fluxate - Rare but feared by mages across the world. Stones that have had prolonged exposure to wild djed. Extremely volatile. Prone to reacting violently when exposed to magic.
Ukalainium - Supposedly shard of the Ukalas fused into stone, decays over time. Often found in deposits of Ethaelite. The stone appears to be simple stone from the divine realm.
Voidstone - crystalline microportal structures, decays over time. Vulnerable to voiders and leechers.
Reaperglass - Similar in composition to obsidian, stones with heavy amounts of exposure to ghosts that have trapped soulmist properties. Highly valued by Spiritists. Useful in creating safe zones and other Spiritist rituals.
Valterric Gems
Stormgem
Infinitite
Valterric Living Stone/ Sentient
Lavak
Memosites
Cool names that don't have properties yet:
Valtaspar -
Oridiain
Jalenium
Ivakite
Symite
puccia
hygate
Appendix B: Gem Classifications
Gem Classes
- Beryl
- Aquamarine
- Emerald
- Goshenite (used to make eyeglasses)
- Heliodore (Golden Beryl)
- Morganite (rose beryl)
- Red Beryl
- Schorl (blue or brown to black)
- Dravite (Dark yellow to brownish black)
- Elbaite
- Indicolite (Light blue to blue-green)
- Rubellite (Red or pinkish-red
- Verdilite (Green)
- Achorite (colorless)
- Chalcedony
- Prase
- Moss
- Fire
- Lace
- Banded
- Amethysy
- Citrine
- Bloodstone
- Heliotrope
- Milky Quartz
- Smokey Quartz
- Rose Quartz
- Blue moonstone Quartz
- Strawberry Quartz
- Chrysoberyl
- Onyx
- Chrysoprase
- Jasper
- Alexandrite
- Carnelian
- Morion
- Garnet (any color but not blue)
- Almandine <>
- Spessartine
- Melanite
- Andradite
- Chrome Pyrope
- Demantoid
- Grossular
- Hessonite
- Pyrope
- Rhodolite
- Tsavorite
- Spinel
- Balas - Red
- Chlorspinel
- Gahnospinel
- Rubicelle
- Feldspar
- Aventurine
- Andesine
- Myrianite (amazonite)
- Labradorite
- Crystal Orthoclase
- Sunstone
- Moonstone
- Opal - Come in all colors, each is unique and has a wide variety of types
- Moss
- Fire
- Pineapple
- Wax
- Bandfire
- Black
- Crystal
- Jelly
- Pinfire
- Zircon- natural color of zircon varies between colorless, yellow-golden, red, brown, blue, and green
- Hyacinth
- Jargon
- Diamond- steel gray, white, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, pink to purple, brown, and black
- Jade - creamy white form (known as "mutton fat" jade) as well as in a variety of green colours, rarely, shows more colour variations, including blue, lavender-mauve, pink, and emerald-green colours.
- Lapis Lazuli
- Turquoise
- Corundum- called ruby if red and padparadscha if pink-orange. All other colors are called sapphire, e.g., "green sapphire" for a green specimen.
- Ruby
- Padparadscha
- Sapphire
- Topaz - wine, yellow, pale gray, reddish-orange, or blue brown. It can also be made white, pale green, blue, gold, pink (rare), reddish-yellow or opaque to transparent/translucent.
- Malachite
- Kunzite
- Sodalite
- Semelite
Last major addition: 10/19/2015
.
Can’t wait to see it get approved.
