The Henne Mines
79. Henne Mines: Thunderbug
GENUS: Insect
CLASSIFICATION: Mimic
[1/2] Observations
Being a battery mimic that, due to Mist exposure, has left the normal course of its development and become something altogether different.
As a result of the rapid changes induced by Mist, much of its form is twisted and misshapen.
A residual static charge helps this creature regulate its temperature, and generate the energy necessary to break down the materials from which it draws sustenance.
Its body is an example of evolution gone horrible awry, and many natural philosophers have suggested that it is in a very much terminal state, seeing no possible futher permutation of form through which this creature has not already been.
[2/2] A Curious Treasure
Curious indeed is this organ capable of capturing the very power of lightning.
Made of metal, and yet flesh. Lines made of metallic substance trace this gizzard like the strands of a spiders's web, running thence throughout the creature's body like our veins, delivering energy where it is needed. These lines hold fast lightning, never relinquishing a drop while their host is whole. Natural philosophers call this organ charged gizzard.
80. Henne Mines: Jelly
GENUS: Amorph
CLASSIFICATION: Flan
[1/2] Observations
Being a variant of flan covered in a glistening, jewel-like slime. These are known to cluster in areas with machinery and like devices, seeming to derive energy from their operation, which stimulates them to divide and multiply.
Because of this flan's odd ecology, they are often found in cities and near residences where people and, more citically, their technologies are found, this proximity creating a real danger of jelly breakouts.
Countless are the tales of villagers and small towns consumed whole by a mass of quivering slime.
[2/2] Sage Knowledge (74 of 78)
The Henne Magicite Mines
Crystal mines in the mountainous region of Bancour still producing a great variety of magicite, even as other mines around them close, their veins dry and spent.
The Archadian Empire possesses mining rights here, making this a key location for their acquisition of the stones, bypassing intermediaries and fluctuating markets.
81. Henne Mines: Tyranorox
GENUS: Dragon
CLASSIFICATION: Tyrant
[1/2] Observations
Being a creature tough as stone, draped in scales hard as granite-rock, and bearing orange coloration on its upper body.
While evolution has favored its hind legs with speed and strength, its forelimbs have shrunk, developing sharp claws for the tearing of hide and flesh.
The name of the tyranorox, meaning "one who frightens the very rocks," comes from the great saurian's habit of eating the wee creatures that dwell in the crevices of rocky mountain ranges, often swallowing a mouthful of rock in the process.
[2/2] Sage Knowledge (13 of 78)
Nethicite
A variety of magicite with the unusual property of absorbing Mist, thereby nullifying the effects of magick. Though there is some mention of nethicite in ancient tomes, it had been lost, or perhaps consumed, with no mention or record appearing for several centuries. Sky pirates call it the magicite of legend.
Latterly, methods of manufacting nethicite have been developed in Archades, and at the time of writing, several test samples are in active use.
82. Henne Mines: Hecteyes
GENUS: Amorph
CLASSIFICATION: Flan
[1/2] Observations
Being an amorph possessing many eyes. It is a little known fact that of these eyes, only the foremost pair actually function. The others are thought to be a clever sort of mimicry intended to confuse those who might strike at the creature's real eyes, and to discourage ambush withal.
Unlike most flan, these do not reproduce by division of the entire body. Rather, small nodules protrue from the eye-sports, these then detaching from the creature, having attained sufficient mass, to form an autonomous offspring.
[2/2] The Town Crier
Hear ye!
The patent for ether, held for years by EC Magicks & Apothecaries, has expired today! Thus ends the group's second monopoly on a popular philtre.
The first, the ever-popular potion, came down sharply in price resultant of competition from other makers following the patent's release. Prices on unpurified ether are expected to drop in similar fashion over the coming weeks.
83. Henne Mines: Gizamaluk
GENUS: Dragon
CLASSIFICATION: Plate Wyrm
[1/2] Observations
Being a variety of plate wyrm, its eyes impaired by eons of living in deep magicite mines.
In place of sight, it has developed the ability to sense tiny eddies and fluctuations in the Mist's flow, allowing it to determine the position of enemies with preternatural accuracy.
Its translucent, insect-like wings have atrophied to the point where they may no longer sustain flight, but still its sharp claws and fangs make this wyrm of the deep a fore to be feared.
[2/2] Aletap Rumors
Show me the alchemist who doesn't wish in his heart of hearts to know the secret behind making an elixir, and I'll show you a fraud! Of course, he might already know it...but it's taboo to reveal the ingredients. That's why they all toil in solitude, though their goal be the same.
Now, I spied an alchemist hard at work the other day. Seemed to me he was working at making an elixir, so I watched him for a good long while. And he looked as if he was trying to catch something, so he did. If I didn't know better, why, I'd say he was trying to pick souls out of the air...Not a very likely story, I know, but that's what it looked like, sure enough.
Tyak, Master Chef
84. Henne Mines: Etém
GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Reaper
[1/2] Observations
Being casualties of invasion or oppression, these entities appear before those who are doomed to die, cutting away their victims' lives with cruel scythes, out of hatred for the men who ended theirs.
Many accounts hold these creatures to be a sort of grim reaper, but recent research has confirmed them to be nothing more than ghosts.
[2/2] The Town Crier
Hear ye, hear ye!
Another Day of Dust has come and gone, and what a day it was! On what other day can you have fey dust sprinkled upon your forehead, instantly absolving you of all sin and evil?
Of course, it's not always such a day of rejoicing. Why, last year, shipments of the dust, known as soul powder, were waylaid and merchants everywhere sold out of the stuff far too quickly. This year, stock was set aside in advance, and all who wished to participate could.
85. Henne Mines: Nightmare
GENUS: Fiend
CLASSIFICATION: Nightmare
[1/2] Observations
Being a nightmarish equine creature, living in deep forests, possessing strange external organs that twist and wind like snakes.
Though they have the bearing of herbivores at first glance, the positioning of their eyes and the set of their musculature are those of the flesh-eater, and indeed their teeth are sharp, being made for tearing of tendon and hide.
They are relentlessly aggressive, never abandoning a pursuit once the quarry has been sighted.
[2/2] Ivalice: The Wayfarer's Guide
The uncharted wooded marches known as the Forests of Chaos are spoken in legend, and though many are said to exist, little is known of their actual location. These dense forests, where the snowflies foregather in great flurries, brushing against the faces of all who pass, are so named because the sound of the snowflies' whirring wings pitch even the halest of wayfarers into confusion. They wander, lost, never again to leave the forest.
While the marches my hide countless treasures, they are also places of unknown and unknowable danger. Consider your future, wayfarer. Consider your fate, and venture not into such places.
86. Henne Mines: Necrofiend
GENUS: Undead
CLASSIFICATION: Ghost
[1/2] Observations
Witness the fate of those whose learned minds were offered up in sacrifice by alchemists performing forbidden rites in pursuit of eternal life.
These monstrosities live forever on the border between life and death, neither breathing the sweet air, nor knowing the peace of eternal rest.
Though they retain dim memories of their former lives and knowledge, their hearts were sundered long ago, and they are without morality or honor, wholly consumed by jealousy of the living.
[2/2] A Curious Treasure
They say that the candle's flame is the shining of a soul. As the life dwindles and fades toward the end of its days, so does the flame flicker, gradually dimming until it disappears in a whiff of smoke.
If the flame is the soul, then the smoke is the soul ascending to heaven.
So did the candle earn its place in ceremony, and these tallows are called lifewicks.