Valerium

Valerium is a rare metal with an almost hypnotic blue color. It seems to contain infinite energy, but releases it only after certain unknown events. Dwarves say it has a personality.

The metal is not a discovery of this age. Askenar knew it and put it to work, and some of those uses survived him; what changed is scale. Twelve centuries of caste rule left the Valerium roughly where he had left it, and Portin took it somewhere else entirely.

Dwarven mathematicians have created entire branches of mathematics to predict its behavior. When a prediction proves correct, the reward is immense: weapons that erase a hill, shields that withstand magic, or power for entire cities. Leading Valerium researchers are watched closely, and their results remain buried for years. Dwarves distrust the speed of their own progress.

Valerium is toxic. It slowly poisons anyone who carries it. Dwarves resist it, apparently through something in their blood. Valin offered this as the explanation for Vlad Varanov's thirst for dwarven blood: the vampire wore a Valerium stone given to him by Gérard Alois.

Since the vampire's death, Valerium has become Askenon's weapons program: galleon cannons that can erase an area with one shot, Barrier generators, portable cannons, and pistols. All share the same limit. The metal remains unstable, and a Valerium weapon cannot fire continuously.

This technology allowed a people without magic to wage war against a god.