Bluegem

Illyrian Bluegem is among the rare materials which all but single-handedly enables modern interstellar civilization. While certain mages are capable of sensing the intensity and direction of ambient Starheart energies, the precision of their detection and the limited means that the information can be communicated to starship systems limits the utility of such mages in stellar navigation. Illyrian Bluegem is the key component of all mechanisms which interact with Starheart energy and the Aether field. Due to unknown forces and phenomena, electromagnetic effects within and surrounding samples of Bluegem can be used to precisely measure ambient Starheart energies. This property makes them critical in the design of both Starheart drives for vessels, where they enable the precise jump trajectories used in modern astrogation, and in Starsong observatories, where they enable the detection of incredibly faint signals originating from distant stars.

What makes Bluegem so valuable, and such a source of political and economic struggle throughout Elyrion, is that it cannot be synthesized using any known methods. Though untold fortunes and countless careers have been spent attempting to artificially replicate the structure and properties of Bluegem, so far even the most sophisticated efforts have been entirely fruitless.

Bluegem is found on a handful of worlds; the most abundant source is the planet Illyria, center of the Illyria Unaffiliated Zone. Other notable worlds bearing accessible Bluegem are Pan, Kallin V, and Tor-Kabban Beta 6.