Alter Aeon The Great Library

Welcome to the Alter Aeon Historical Archive!

Note - as with any topic, researchers should question the reliability
and veracity of these texts.  The library's aim is to preserve
documents, not verify accuracy.

AABN:  16041
Title: a book titled "The Blessed Waters"

In ancient times, our ancestors believed that jade was a special form of
water, frozen in a more pure and perfect form. Many kinds of jade have been
discovered, from the yellow jade of Ishi Province to the purple jade found
in the Inner Sea to the black jade of Misuto-Shima Province. Modern alchemy
has found no strong affinity between jade and water. However, we have
discovered a metal that may be the original source of jade-water myth.

The metal is known as Ziff. It is white and pearly in luster. When the pure
metal is worked, it shows a faint iridescence of many colors. Its few ores
tend to be dense and white, which may have led to confusion between ziff
and "mutton-fat" white jade. It is malleable and easily worked, even as an
inlay. It alloys readily with iron, mithril and adamantium. Given its
affinity for water, it will not alloy with orichalcum, which has an
affinity for fire. When attempts are made, the two metals instead both
evaporate in a green flame.

It is unknown how ziff came to be. It is found almost exclusively in
southern Atmir, and in widely scattered veins. The largest, purest deposits
are found within the holdings of the Aztec Empire, and they work the raw
metal into many cunning forms. Deposits of lower-grade ziff ore have been
reported in the Midlands, west of the Aztecs, and also scattered in deep
underground veins in the Desolation of Ura's east of the Aztec Empire
across the Salt Flats.