[center][h1]Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis[/h1][/center]

Great fields of golden grains washed across many of the rolling plains of the 12th realm, but one of those fertile plots was not the destination of the god who seldom left his home in the city. No Xavior’s destination was one where one within a ring of verdant natural vegetation which then gave way to hardier fare that looked withered even in health and then final raw, baked earth surrounding a glowing pool of lava which bubbled up from the earth.

For as long as any could remember these had been places to be avoided, if not for the heat then for the way the air choked the life out of all but the great scaly [url=https://i.imgur.com/hn5b1Op.jpg]salamanders[/url] who lounged around its edges. Their presence was mostly lacking around this one however, the beasts having been ousted by humans who really had no business in the area.

Constructs of stone and steel had been erected that could withstand the heat, while the humans themselves were clad from head to airtight toe in form obscuring outfits made a glossy material.and  that featured odd beaks over their mouths and noses. The garbs did not look comfortable, but Xavior, who had elected to go in bare rather than risk any of his finely woven clothing, imagined it was better than choking and/or being roasted to death

Had he not known the man responsible for all this, he might have wondered what madness had brought on this little enterprise. However he was entirely aware of who was behind all this and so sought out the demon in question with all due haste.

As expected he found Damian, the three spell wizard turned self declared scientist, at the most dangerous place possible: right next to the pool of lava. Or to be more specific, standing on a small platform raised above the lava, and leaning over to peer into it while his two assistants and a salamander watched on. 

One of the assistants managed to rip their gaze from Damian for long enough to see Xavior approaching, and did his level best to inform the demon of the god’s arrival without interrupting his work or startling him enough that he fell in the lava. He succeeded (just, there was a close call and a bit of teetering) and so by the time Xavior had worked his way through the various scaffolding and support staff Damian was coming on down from the steel platform, holding a glowing stone in between a pair of tongs and, the god assumed, looking very pleased behind the beaky breathing mask.

“Ah, my god! So glad you could come and see my latest and greatest discovery” he proclaimed, the muffling of the mask doing little to suppress his loud enthusiasm, before extending the tongs and dropping the still steaming stone into Xavior’s open palm. The god caught it without a fuss and then held it up to get a closer look, squinting as he saw the familiar throbbing of an unstable crystal which now had globs of molten energy bubbling through it which, had he know what one was, he would have compared to a lava lamp.

Xavior’s examination of this discovery was then interrupted by a big long wet thing licking him, much to his vocal disgust. 

“Oh don’t mind Bubbles, it’s just how she gets to know people,” Damian informed his god, as said god wiped his face clear of salamander drool and the oversized lizard herself used that same drool to produce more of her namesake frothing around her mouth.

“Ech” the god complained as he shook off a hand, before asking “what do you even have it… Her, around for? If you wanted a pet, you could have gotten you a raptor”

“Oh Bubbles is no mere pet, she is the key to all of this” the demon dramatically cast a sweeping gesture around the lavaside outpost, “to be specific, it is her shed skin, and that of some others we have domesticated, that has allowed us to insulate ourselves against the heat and thus make the discovery of the age”

“Yes this.. Stone. What exactly am I looking at?” Xavior asked, getting back on track

“Well now, this [i]was[/i] an unstable crystal, but by filling it with the raw essence of the earth, in this case lava, I have managed to stabilize the energy. Balancing the chaotic energy with the, shall we call it, order energy inherent within land in a stabilized node” Damian explained “and before you ask, it has to be lava because that is the only part of the land that is… mmmm. Alive and energetic in a same way even remotely comparable to chaos energy. You can’t just shove dirt or some other dead matter in there. Believe me, I’ve tried”

“And this has allowed you too…” Xavior coaxed him on

“Why do this of course!” Damian declared, snatching the crystal from Xavior’s hands, juggling it a few times because it was still quite hot even through the protective gloves, and then finally catching it and thrusting it skywards and pulsing a tiny amount of power into it. Rather than begin to explode like the unstable crystals, this one launched a gout of flame straight up into the air for several seconds before it guttered out.

Xavior blinked a few times and then asked “I take it that wasn't something you learned in a ‘borrowed’ spellbook?” rhetorically.

“Not at all! In-fact, that was hardly me at all, and was instead (almost) all the magmatic gem’s stored power” Damian declared proudly, “and that’s not all we can make them do. Actually that's probably one of the simplest things. With proper refining? Oh there is no end to the possibilities.”

“You don't say,” Xavior replied, having seen the notes “I’m impressed, funding you continues to pay dividends it seems”

“I am honored by your patronage. It has allowed me to plumb the depths of this world’s possibilities, and it only cost me an arm and a leg ha ha!” Damian jokes 

Xavior nodded and then had a concerned thought which prompted him to ask “Wait… you haven't lost another arm have you?”

“Oh no no no” the demon insisted reassuringly.

“Ah good” the god said with a relieved sigh.

“Now the leg on the other hand-”

[hider=mp]

Benea -1 to share one of her nodes with Xavior offscreen

9/9 (+4 from “art”)

Raised the 12th realm to a tier five civilisation  (4mp)

Unstable crystal refining (3mp):
By infusing unstable crystals with the raw earthing energy of magma, they can be rugged into stable gem forms usable for magitech.

Gems can be created that allow the creation of devices that perform/utilize fire and earth elemental magics, collectively referred to as magmatic magics. The gems can also act as batteries for this power which can then be fed into other crystals/machines via crystal wires and importantly, can be recharged using heat. 

At their simplest, they can be used as bombs that expode with fire, localised eathquakes, etc. More complexly they can be used to make limited use magic rings for personal defense, gemstone backpack powered flamethrowers, instant earthwork kits, tunneling tools, crystal/gem/rock launchers and more. What can be created scales with tech level (so no gun equivalents or super complex machines till the final age)

Salamanders (2 mp): large lizards who make their homes around the exposed lava pools that can be found dotting the 12th realm. Naturally heat resistant, their shed skin can be used to create heatproof garb. With their large size, boiling hot spit, tough scales and omnivorous diet they also make for good warbeasts/warmounts as long as there are bonfires or other heat sources for them to bask around while at rest. 

0/9 mp remaining
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[hider=summary]

Xavior leaves the goddamn house for once to visit a lava pool somewhere in the 12th realm. There he finds the usual inhabitants of some big ol lizards have been cleared out, and in their place a bunch of humans in salamander skin plague doctor outfits have set up shop. Their leader is Damian, the demon who was working with honey, wax, and explosive crystals (and who lost an arm in the process) a few posts ago. He has found a way to take unstable crystals and pump lava into them, which can turn them into stable gems usable for earth and fire elemental magi tech (as described in the mp hider) and has lost a leg in the process, which as not dented his mood in the slightest it seems.
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