Gems of the Realms

• Agni Mani: This black, irregularly shaped glasslike ornamental stone has fallen from the sky in meteoritic form to crash among the sands of Anauroch and other Faerûnian deserts.
• Alestone: Brown to yellowish brown, the hues of old ales, alestone is named for its color. More properly called clinozoisite, this semiprecious stone is found in crystals and cut into faceted gemstones of handsome appearance.
• Alexandrite: A greenish form of chrysoberyl which appears reddish under nonnatural light, including wizard's light spells, alexandrite is a transparent fancy stone usually cut into facets and mounted as a pendant or in earrings.
• Algae: Algae is a quartz ornamental stone that is covered with rich, dark brown, wavy patterns. It is sliced and used for inlay in belts, baldrics, or furniture or cabochon cut (polished glassy smooth and curved, without facets), and polished to bring forth the pattern.
• Amaratha: Also known as shieldstone, amaratha is a soft, greenish white or very pale green, sparkling type of jewel. It is unique to the Realms and is found in the form of small lumps or nodules in deep rock strata. It is most often found in exposed canyon walls or in the Underdark. When cut and polished, such nodules usually yield a dozen or more 1-inch-diameter smooth spheres (the base-price, most common amaratha stone). Amaratha is too soft and easily chipped or shattered to wear well in exposed settings such as rings, the tops of staves, or the peaks of ornamented helms, but it serves magnificently as a gemstone set in pieces of personal jewelry, ornamental armor, or other lapidary pieces worn in protected locations.
• Amber: A golden or orange-hued, fossilized resin, this fancy stone is soft and brittle and is usually tumbled smooth and cut cabochon. Some amber contains other preserved fossils, such as primitive plants and insects. These variants with identifiable inclusions are valued much more highly in the Realms than clear amber, and command four or five times the prices of "empty" amber. Amber pellets strung on thongs are used as a medium of trade by northern barbarians, but these same pellets are graded and valued among civilized peoples as gemstones, not just currency.
• Amethyst: Amethysts are the most valuable of the quartz gemstones and are normally facet cut into brilliant shape. Related to agates and other less valuable quartzes, amethysts vary in purple hue from a lilac color to a royal purple, but the rich deep purple stones are most remembered and valued. Such stones are called by some the crown of kings because many Faerûnian rulers in olden times restricted the use of this gemstone to those of royal blood.
• Andar: Also known as andalusite, this hard, durable semiprecious stone is found as small, translucent crystals (sometimes as water-worn streambed pebbles) averaging 1/2 inch in diameter that flash green-red or brown-red when properly faceted.
• Angelar's Skin: Angelar's skin (also known as aasimon's skin) is a fine pink coral suitable for use in jewelry. This fancy "stone" is usually found in shallow tropical seas upon isolated reefs or atolls. It is delicate and easily shattered unless properly treated and mounted. Angelar's skin is slowly sun-baked on large, flat rocks to drive off water and tiny dead animals present within it that otherwise would give it an offensive odor and reduce its value for adornment.
• Aquamarine: This type of precious stone is a hard, transparent blue-green form of beryl found throughout the northern reaches of Faerûn and much employed by barbarian tribes for adornment because of its durability.
• Augelite: A soft, fragile ornamental stone found naturally in clear, colorless crystals, augelite is easily worked without special skill or tools but does not last long in normal use for adornment, though it is often used for such by the Uthgardt barbarians and other primitive peoples. It cannot be carved into delicate or intricate shapes without splitting.
• Aventurine: Sometimes called love stone, this semiprecious quartz gemstone contains many mica crystals that give a spangled appearance to the stone when it is viewed from the proper angle. Aventurine can be golden, medium to light green, or dark to pale blue in color. It is used for tumbled gemstones, cabochons, and ornamental inlays or carvings. It occurs in large deposits, and 20- pound blocks are not uncommon.
• Azurite: Azurite is a form of malachite slightly rarer than that mineral's banded, multitone-green normal color variety. This ornamental stone is a deep blue with opaque mottling in darker shades of blue. It is often smoothed from its irregular natural condition and used to ornament belts and rings.
• Banded Agate: This opaque stone is a waxy, smooth form of quartz that has striated bands of brown, red, blue, and white stripes. While it is primarily used as an ornamental stone in inlays on furniture, in cheap brooches, and as "soothe stones" that merchants fondle to relieve tension during negotiations, banded agate is also crushed and placed into sleeping drafts in small amounts to insure a long and restful sleep.
• Beljuril: Beljurils, also known as fireflashils, are unique to the Realms so far as any sage can determine. These jewels are found as smooth-surfaced, asymmetrical (but roughly spherical), fistsized stones. They occur in old rock, and most frequently are quarried from blue claystone. They are durable and very hard, and cutting one typically wears out several sets of metal tools. Because of this, beljurils are usually worn whole or simply split in half in pectorals or shoulder plates that are fashioned with pronged (claw) settings. No beljurils significantly larger or smaller than approximately 3 to 5 inches in diameter have yet been found. Normally a deep, pleasant, sea water green, beljurils periodically blaze with a sparkling, winking, flashing light. This discharge is pleasantly eye-catching in a candlelit great hall or a lantern-lit dancing grove, but in a dark chamber or the murky night, it is dazzling. At random, beljurils absorb some small amounts of heat, light, and vibratory energy from their surroundings (the area within a 30-foot radius around them) without negating that energy's normal effects. Periodically, they then discharge this stored energy in a sparkling flash. Beljurils usually flash about once per hour, but rates vary from stone to stone, regardless of size or age and for no known reason. Their discharge is silent and cold; the sparks given off are few and do not carry a strong electrical jolt.
• Black Opal: Black opal is a greenish type of opal with black mottling and gold flecks. Usually found in ancient hot springs or their dry remnants, this gem is most often tumbled smooth and cabochon cut. The Faerûnian phrase "Black as a black opal" means, effectively, not very black (or evil) at all. It is used to describe good-hearted rogues and similar individuals who would be embarrassed by praise.
• Black Sapphire: Black sapphires are a rare variety of sapphire that is a deep, rich black with yellow or white highlights. These jewels come mostly from the South, in particular the Great Rift, as they are most plentiful in the Deep Realm of the dwarves and are brought up through the Great Rift to the surface world for trading. Dwarves prize them highly.
• Bloodstone: Bloodstone is a dark greenish gray variety of semiprecious quartz gemstone flecked with red crystal impurities that resemble drops of blood. Ninety percent of the bloodstones in the Realms come from the Vaasa/Damara area (the Bloodstone Lands), and most of those come from a single mine that is manned by human, dwarf, and gnome miners. Bloodstones are the chief export of this region, and as a result, they are readily found throughout the Inner Sea lands. The output of this mine is so plentiful that the stones are used, uncut, as currency along the Sword Coast, in the Moonsea North, and among mercenaries all over the Realms. When worn as gemstones (typically by farmers and foresters who have little wealth to spare on such things), these semiprecious stones are usually cabochon cut with beveled edges into smooth ovals.
• Bluestone: A colloquial name for the ornamental stone sodalite (sometimes called ditroite), this soft, brittle gemstone is rich blue and sometimes veined with pink, cream, white, and yellow. It can be found in old and weathered rocky environments such as the Galena Mountains, the Storm Horns, and the Thunder Peaks, where it is plentiful. It is usually cut cabochon or tumbled in barrels of gravel and sand, because it is very rarely hard enough to be cut in facets.
• Blue Quartz: This ornamental stone is a transparent, pale blue crystal usually employed only for adornment. In rare cases, blue quartz crystals can be fist-sized or larger.
• Boakhar: Also known as wulfenite, this extremely soft and fragile semiprecious stone sees some use in ornamental situations because of the brilliant red-and-orange flash of the translucent gemstones cut from its flat red and orange crystals. Most often seen in old Sembian and Calishite furniture adorning inlays.
• Brandeen: Also known as stibiotantalite, this rare, hard mineral yields small reddish-brown to honey-yellow faceted fancy gemstones which are worn by many merchants and courtiers who are unable to afford more expensive gemstones.
• Carnelian: Also known as sard, this is the clear reddish or reddish- brown form of chalcedony. Tumbled smooth or cut cabochon and polished to a high gloss, this semiprecious stone is used as an adornment.
• Chalcedony: Chalcedony stones are often very large and are used in the carving of statuettes or coffers. Chalcedony is usually cabochon cut and polished, looking rather like ivory when finished. Varieties of this semiprecious stone are mostly white, but rare variations slip to gray or black. The more colorful variants of this translucent stone include carnelians, chrysoprase, and agates; in Faerûn, the term "chalcedony" is used to refer to all the rest of this sort of gemstone.
• Chrysoberyl: This hard, transparent green fancy stone is usually facet cut for adornment.
• Chrysocolla: Chrysocolla is a translucent variety of chalcedony that has been colored blue-green to green by traces of copper. This ornamental stone is most highly valued when of uniform color and free of inclusions (flaws caused by the incorporation of other minerals and impurities into its structure). Most specimens are tumbled for use as earrings and pendant stones; some chrysocollas are faceted for the same uses.
• Chrysoprase: A translucent chalcedony with an apple-green color, this semiprecious stone is found throughout the Realms, but its greatest concentration is in the Storm Horn Mountains of Cormyr, where it is called stormrock. A popular pectoral and earring adornment for Cormyrean ladies.
• Citrine: Also called false topaz, this semiprecious stone is a transparent yellowish quartz. It cleaves well and is usually cut into facets in brilliant or marquise styles.
• Clelophane: Clelophane is the exceptionally beautiful pale green variety of sphalerite (a rock called zincblende or blackjack). This semiprecious stone yields transparent gemstones of green flash (color-play reflection) and unusually large size. Faceted specimens 3 inches across have been cut. Clelophane is, however, soft and fragile, and such gemstones wear quickly.
• Coral: Coral is formed by small animals that live in the warm seas of the Realms, including the Sea of Fallen Stars. The pink and crimson varieties of this fancy "stone" are considered valuable enough to class as ornaments and be treated as gemstones. Sunbaked to dry them and drive off any smell of rot, coral pieces are smoothed and polished for carving purposes and used as the stems or leaves of mock flowers that are then set with gemstones.
• Corstal: This ornamental stone is more rarely called petalite. This rare mineral is found in crystals ranging from colorless to pink. It is fairly hard, brittle, and commonly has inclusions; when free of these impurities it can be faceted, but otherwise it is cut cabochon. Worn for adornment mainly by nomadic tribes and poor folk.
• Crown of Silver: Crown of silver is the colloquial name for psilomelane chalcedony, a variety of chalcedony containing abundant, minute plumes of black manganese arranged in bands. These bands polish to a brilliant, metallic black. Crown of silver is an ornamental stone usually sliced and polished for inlays so as to best show its black bands, but it can also be tumbled or cut cabochon.
• Datchas: The common name for the semiprecious stone datolite is datchas. Pink datolite is also called sugar stone. Datchas is cut into faceted gemstones of very pale yellowish green if of the fine variety. Massive datolite, colored by copper and other minerals, is found in the form of warty nodules up to 10 inches in diameter. Such nodules range from white to red, reddish brown, and orange. The most valuable gemstones of the massive variety are orange, and all massive datchas are usually cabochon cut or sliced and polished for inlay work.
• Diamond: Translucent jewels that catch fire when properly faceted, diamonds are hard, translucent jewels that can be clear (appearing blue-white), rich blue, yellow, or pink, among other hues. The hardest of gemstones (save for a few very rare types unique to the Realms) and among the most valuable, diamonds are found in scattered locations throughout the mountain ranges of the northern half of Faerûn and in current or former volcanic regions across the face of Toril. Many of these locations are far underground, making them only accessible to dwarves and underground races that trade with the surface world for other goods.
• Dioptase: A soft, brittle semiprecious stone of vivid emeraldgreen hue, dioptase (also known as diopside) is found in tiny, flawed crystals and yields only the smallest of faceted gemstones that are used in figurine adornment or to decorate lace. Larger specimens are extremely rare and highly valued, commanding the same prices as more valuable color and clarity variations.
• Disthene: Also known as kyanite, disthene is an abundant ornamental stone that is easily cleaved, but difficult to cut in facets without unintended splitting occurring. It usually has many inclusions. Disthene is found in crystals ranging in color from dark blue to pale green. Translucent, blue, facet-grade crystals are the most prized.
• Emerald: A brilliant green beryl, the emerald cleaves along straight, boxlike lines. This jewel is so often displayed with a particular rectangular faceted cut that the cut's name has become an "emerald" cut, and it is known—more properly—as a modified step cut only among gemcutters. Emeralds also lend themselves to the baguette or table faceted cuts.
• Epidote: This abundant ornamental stone can be cabochon cut or faceted. Its smallest crystals are clear, but larger crystals are progressively darker shades of red. A variety of epidote known also as piedmontite can be cut into large cabochons of a deep rose color.
• Euclase: Euclase is a rare precious stone found in small, readily cleavable crystals ranging from colorless to pale yellow, vivid yellow, pale green, and blue. The blue stones are the most prized. (Especially valuable samples of euclase are blue euclase).
• Eye Agate: Eye agate is similar to banded agate, but instead of striated bands, the layers within the stone appear as concentric circles. These rings are usually gray, white, brown, grayish-blue, and drab green.
• Fire Agate: Fire agate is the name given to chalcedony which contains thin lines of iridescent goethite (a rustlike impurity). When properly cut, the iridescence of this ornamental stone displays red, brown, gold, and green hues. The finest specimens are partly translucent, which allows the best display of color. (Treat improved variations of this gemstone as this translucent variety)
• Fire Opal: A brilliant orange-red type of gem, fire opals are usually uniform in hue or contain golden or greenish flecks. They are most often found near active hot springs and geyser activity.
• Flamedance: This precious stone is an extremely rare translucent gemstone found in small crystals or fragments. It is hard and resists cleaving when worked, making it ideal for use in carving. It is usually used in lapidary work only when faceted gemstones can be cut from the crystals. A very pale yellow or green in hue.
• Fluorspar (Fluorite): Fluorspar, also known as fluorite, is a soft, readily cleavable ornamental gemstone occurring in many colors, If the rough gemstone is pale blue, green, yellow, purple, pink, red or is physically small, it is usually cut into faceted gemstones. The pink or red varieties, sometimes known as cabra stones and are the rare, more valuable varieties. A massive, purple- and-white banded variety known as archon or Blue John is used for carving.
• Frost Agate: Also known as frost stone, this rare, beautiful ornamental gemstone has frostlike white markings, It is usually tumbled and polished glassy smooth. A gemcutter of unusual skill (such as one possessing more than one nonweapon proficiency slot devoted to gem cutting) can cut the fragile stone into facets without splitting it so that at each point where the facets meet (such as in a polyhedron cut, which forms the stone into the shape of a d20), a snowflake of white "frost" appears.
• Garnet: Garnets are general class of crystals ranging from deep red to violet in color. These precious stones are normally isometric in shape, with 12 or 24 faces to a typical crystal, though 36- or 48-faced crystals have been found. Garnets are found in granites and in metamorphic rocks, such as marbles, in a number of locations throughout northern Faerûn. Thought by some fading faiths to be the hardened blood of divine avatars.
• Gold Sheen: Gold sheen is a rare variety of obsidian that is golden in color and flecked with minute spangles. When used as a gemstone, gold sheen is usually tumbled so as to retain as much of the stone as possible and polished to a glassy, gleaming finish. This semiprecious stone is brittle but in the past was often used to ornament belts or shields. Chips of gold sheen are sometimes used as a form of currency among mercenary encampments.
• Goldline: Goldline is the name given to quartz with lines of gold-colored goethite imbedded in it. It is sometimes called cacoxenite. The native quartz stone that forms the base for the goldline can be citrine, amethyst, or smoky quartz, and the goethite appears within this base as brilliant yellow or gold fibers or tufts that run in parallel lines. This ornamental stone usually occurs naturally in pieces 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and it is tumbled or cabochon cut for decorative use. Sometimes larger slabs of goldline are found, but these rarely survive travel unbroken.
• Greenstone: Greenstone is the common name of chlorastrolite, a gray-green variety of pumpellyite found in nodules of up to 3/4-inch diameter in solidified lava flows. It is a soft ornamental stone and is usually cabochon cut. The finest quality greenstone can be polished to a glassy finish, and such stones are sometimes called chlorastras.
• Hambergyle: Hambergyle, also called hambergite, is a semiprecious stone that is found in crystal or fragmentary crystal form. It is rare, colorless, and fairly hard, yielding small, faceted gemstones.
• Heliodor: This precious stone is a deep yellow variety of golden beryl varying in hue from greenish yellow to reddish yellow and yielding large or medium impressive faceted gemstones.
• Hematite: Hematite is a shiny gray-black gemstone often cut in a baguette fashion (rectangular with beveled sides).
• Horn Coral: This precious stone is a deep black coral similar to Angelar's skin save for its solid color. It is also called night coral. Horn coral is used in jewelry as a polished twig or branch of material or is cabochon cut.
• Hydrophane: Hydrophane is a gemstone much favored by sailors and aquatic races. This semiprecious stone is a variety of opal that is opaque and of a frosty-white or ivory color when dry. In this state, it appears rather unattractive. When soaked in water, it becomes transparent and iridescent, reflecting a rainbow spectrum of colors like a prism. It is usually cabochon cut or sliced into layers for use in inlays.
• Hypersthene: Also known as bronzite, hypersthene is normally an opaque brown color containing silvery spangles, but it is sometimes reddish or greenish in hue. This semiprecious stone and is rarely found in untracked pieces larger than 1/2 inch across, and as a result it yields small gemstones. It is usually cabochon cut.
• Iol: Also known as iolite, cordierite, or violet stone (despite its usual overall hue of blue), this semiprecious stone is usually cut into faceted gemstones to best display its color change when viewed from different directions. Iols so viewed appear straw-yellow, blue, and dark blue. Small, cut iols can be clear, but larger specimens usually contain silky inclusions of another substance that gives them an internal star effect or even trapped hematite crystals, which give the same rich golden flash of color as is found in sunstones.
• Irtios: Also known as danburite, this hard, transparent-totranslucent semiprecious stone is found as crystals in deep rock or as water-worn pebbles in streambeds or gravel deposits. It is either colorless or a very pale yellow.
• Jacinth: Also called hyacinth or flamegem, this fiery orange jewel is a relative of the sapphire and other corundum gemstones. It is found only in the Realms; in other crystal spheres, an inferior type of garnet or essonite takes the name jacinth. At the heart of every jacinth a tiny flame flickers and dances—not enough to illuminate surroundings, but enough to be seen from afar. This property of the jewel forms the basis for many splendid cloaks and gowns worn by wealthy nobles.
• Jade: Jade is a class of fancy stone including both jadeite and nephrite. It is often found in a massive, carvable form of a lesser grade and is then classified as a hardstone. It appears as an opaque, waxy mineral of light to dark green or white. As jade ages, it darkens further to become a rich brown.
• Jargoon: Jargoon is a rare, red variety of zircon much prized for its deep ruby luster. The name "jargoon" is often carelessly applied in the Realms to any large group of mixed gemstones, as in the favorite pirate catch phase: "a duster of jargoons, matey, with garnets as big as yer hand."
• Jasmal: Jasmal is a durable, very hard gem. It is found in small veins or, very rarely, larger seam deposits in the Thunder Peaks and the Spine of the World mountains. When polished, jasmals catch sunlight or torchlight and give off haloes of amber light, although they themselves remain transparent and colorless. Jasmals are usually cabochon cut and thus appear as small, glassy globes of orange light when worn on cloaks or tunics. Jasmal is so hard that it can hold a cutting edge and even be worked into small nonmetallic weapons or mounted in a row along a blade.
• Jasper: Jasper is an opaque quartz semiprecious stone found in reds, browns, and blacks. Vary rare specimens are blue or have bands of blue against the other colors.
• Jet: A deep black gemstone, this fancy stone is a tough variant of bituminous coal that can be facet cut and displayed either as a pendant or inset into a larger setting. It is the stone of mourning and sorrow in wealthy cities (such as those in Amn, Calimshan, and Sembia, as well as Waterdeep and Westgate).
• Kings Tears: Sometimes called frozen tears or lich weepings, kings' tears are unique to the Realms and are very rare. These jewels are clear, teardrop-shaped, smooth-surfaced, and awesomely hard; in fact, none have as yet been fractured, cut, or chipped, even by hammer and forge. The origin of these gemstones is unknown, but folklore believes they are the crystallized tears of long-dead necromancer kings and queens. Sages value kings' tears above all other gemstones for the scenes that can be seen in their depths. In each gemstone, it is said, can be seen that which the weeping monarch loved long ago: in some, women or men; in others, lands now lost and forgotten or greatly changed with time; in yet others, bizarre and incomprehensible dream scenes and battles. It is indisputable that these scenes are so bright, sharp, and detailed as to seem alive—and that they are immobile and never change—but what they truly are is unproven.
• Kornerupine: Kornerupine is a hard, rare, brown or green, translucent fancy stone usually found in streambed or esker ridge deposit gravel that yields faceted gemstones of up to middling size.
• Laeral's Tears: Named for the famous sorceress Laeral of Northern history, these soft, brittle, colorless fancy stone crystals tend to be large and to keep a glossy, magnificent finish.
• Lapis Lazuli: Lapis lazuli is an opaque, dark to sky-blue ornamental stone with gold flecks. The deeper blue the stone, the more highly it is prized. Incorrectly called lazurite in the South, lapis lazuli is usually cabochon cut and polished to show off its golden inclusions. Often the cabochons are carved into fanciful shapes such as scarabs, unicorns, or griffons.
• Lumachella: Also known as fire marble, this hardstone is a rare, dark brown fossil marble variety containing small, iridescent, opal-like snails. (Lumachella means little snail.)
• Luriyl: A soft stone, easily worked and widely used, luriyl is also known as apatite. Found in crystals, this semiprecious stone commonly yields attractive faceted gemstones of vivid yellow, green, and yellow-green and on rare occasions comes in hues of blue and purple. Large specimens of blue or purple command high prices (commanding six times the price of the other luriyls or more) and are often used in necklaces, pendants, belts, and as insets in gowns or cloaks.
• Lynx Eye: Lynx eye is a specific type of labradorite (a feldspar gemstone). Labradorite as a class of stones is pale to dark gray and has patches of colored reflections. This flash is most commonly blue but can be of any shade. Green-flash labradorite is called lynx eye. Lynx eye is usually cabochon cut and fractures easily, so that most of these ornamental stones are less than an inch in diameter.
• Malachite: Malachite is a green ornamental stone with striations of darker green. It is related to azurite, which is bluer in hue, and is usually cabochon cut to provide poorer folk with jewelry.
• Malacon: This glassy brown variety of zircon is found in crystals and provides large faceted gemstones. This semiprecious stone is hard but easily chipped and so is not used in rings or the like; the large gemstones its crystals yield see most service as room adornments rather than for wear.
• Mellochrysos: Mellochrysos is a vivid yellow variety of zircon found in large crystals. In the Realms, these are seldom cut, but rather they are polished as is and mounted in metal claw settings for rings, brooches, and knife hilts. This semiprecious stone is hard, and when left in crystal form, mellochrysos resists chipping.
• Microcline: This feldspar ornamental stone is usually tumbled or cabochon cut. It is deep green to blue-green in hue and is sometimes referred as amazonstone. Tiny cleavage cracks within the gemstones reflect light so that a polished microcline stone visibly shimmers. Microcline crystals cleave easily, and finished stones may split if handled carelessly.
• Moonbar: Moonbar crystals are pearly white, opaque gems found in desert and tropical areas of Toril. Moonbars are naturally large and rectangular with curved corners. They have a smooth, shiny surface, and so when found and washed clean, specimens are immediately suitable for use as decorative stones. Cutting a moonbar to finish the stone is only required when fragmentary moonbars are found. The largest known moonbar serves as the lid of an unknown king's casket in a barrow on the Trollmoors and is almost 7 feet long, but most of these gems are approximately 1 foot long and 4 inches wide.
• Moonstone: Moonstone is an opaque, white, semiprecious feldspar gemstone usually polished to a bluish sheen. Moonstone glows faintly with captured light for an hour or so in darkness after surrounding or nearby light sources (for example, a torch) are gone. Folk legends say (falsely) that merely seeing this stone forces a lycanthrope into his or her animal form, but magical items that control lycanthropy, affect lycanthropes, or protect against lycanthropy often use moonstones as ornamentation. To dream of moonstones, seers say, is a warning of danger. These semiprecious stones are also considered sacred to Selûne in her faith.
• Moss Agate: This pink to yellow-white agate quartz has fernlike, gray-green manganese inclusions that make it look like a white stone covered with moss. It polishes well, and is sometimes used in coffer inlays or even (when the growths form eyes, circles, or other striking or meaningful shapes) as a ring or pendant jewel.
• Mykaro: Also known as smithsonite, this massive semiprecious gemstone can be yellow, straw yellow, pale brown, reddish brown, green, blue, and blue-green. It is brittle when in crystal form, but is both soft and durable when found as a crust in a rock cavity; such crusts can be 2 inches thick and cover a huge surface area. It is usually cabochon cut, particularly if it is patterned with thick bands of varying colors, but it is sometimes faceted.
• Mynteer: Mynteer is the name given to phenakite, a hard, colorless, and rare gemstone. This semiprecious stone occurs in crystals, usually with inclusions. Because of this, the crystals yield only small faceted gemstones.
• Nelvine: Nelvine is the common name of albite, a variety of white feldspar. It is soft and fragile, but easily cut with crude tools. It is found in large amounts in older rocks. Nelvine is occasionally called pigeon stone due to its white, cream, fawn, or brownishpink color. This ornamental stone exhibits a beautiful celestial blue flash of iridescence known as peristerism.
• Nune: Translucent, brown crystals also known as staurolite, cross stone, or fairy stone, nunes occur in small, cross-shaped crystals up to 1 inch across either arm in size. The crystals of this ornamental stone are commonly polished to a smooth sheen and pierced to be worn as pendants or linked to form bracelets.
• Obsidian: Also called natural glass or volcanic glass, obsidian is a hard, glossy, and black ornamental stone. It is volcanic in origin. While it is often chipped into arrowheads or, in larger chunks, used to make weapons, serving as a blade or club, the ornamental grade of stone is usually polished and smoothed. (Waterdhavian parcel-binders wear rings with obsidian roundels for easily snipping twine on the insides of their fingers.) An inferior form of obsidian (stones of decreased value) is called pitchstone and is both duller and rougher than volcanic glass; it is used for many grinding purposes. Many folk wear polished and tumbled obsidian for adornment, either as jewelry or as inlays on copper or bronze bracers and pectorals. Obsidian is one of the most favored materials for the carving of small figurines and ornamental fingerbowls.
• Octel: Also known as scheelite, this fancy stone occurs in soft crystals that yield sparkling faceted gemstones of pale yellow or orange hue. Larger, irregular octel crystals are sometimes mounted on silver for wear as pendants (some jewelers call them "savage fire"), used for slicing and polishing as inlays, or carved and mounted..
• Onyx: Onyx is an opaque agate of black or white hue or bands of both colors in straight lines. This semiprecious stone carves and wears well. In addition to being finished into gemstones, it is often used for figurines, statuettes, and game pieces.
• Oolite: A quartz variety which occurs in minute spherules, this ornamental stone is solid brown in color and is very similar in appearance to wave-patterned algae gemstones. Oolite spherules (or ool stones, as they are known in the Inner Sea lands) are commonly up to 1/16 of an inch in diameter and are too small to be cut. They are usually polished to bring out their color and mounted in silver jewelry, particularly tiaras or pectorals, to form patterns or the eyes of chased and sculpted figures.
• Opal: Opaque, smooth gems, opals are pale blue with green and gold mottlings.
• Ophealine: Ophealine is also known as axinite, glass stone, or (if violet) yanolite. Ophealine is cut in facets, and although it does not possess one of the most attractive gemstone hues, it can yield finished gemstones of considerable size that are both hard and durable. On the streets of Waterdeep, such gemstones are once known as knuckle stones because they are often sharpened and worn on rings to serve as punching weapons.
• Orbaline: Also known as benitoite, this blue to colorless, soft precious stone shatters easily and is usually found in fragments. These can yield small faceted gemstones, but orbaline is most often used in inlays in statuettes and small ornamented boxes and coffers.
• Orblen: A mineral unique to the Realms, orblen crystals yield deep golden gems of large size that can be faceted or cabochon cut. The hue of this gem has earned it the nickname "honeystone," and it is much favored in the Sword Coast North. Though found in large masses, it is quite rare. The largest known honeystone in existence, a huge hunk of rock 6 inches in diameter, is in the possession of Ring Azoun IV of Cormyr.
• Orl: A gem believed unique to the northern half of Faerûn, orls are found only in "blue caves" such as those at Wheloon. Orls occur in the softest rock as sharp-edged, spindle-shaped, symmetrical crystals. These crystals are of red, tawny, or orange hue, but redhued orls are the most valued. Some orl fanciers prefer to wear the unfaceted, natural crystals rather than faceted cuttings, but most orls are finished into faceted forms.
• Orprase: The common name in the Realms for pollucite, orprase is a brittle, colorless or faintly straw-yellow gemstone of medium hardness. This semiprecious stone is found as clear areas in fragments of rock and yields faceted gemstones of small to mid- dling size. Orprase is in high demand by followers of Tymora.
• Pearl: The product of oysters and other mollusks, these precious stones are layers of aragonite formed around a bit of grit or other irritant. The resulting pearl has a rich, deep luster. Most pearls are white in the Realms, though rare and more valuable versions come in different colors. (Rainbow and black pearls are the most valuable.) Pearls of exceptional size (3 inches or morel are usually marred or otherwise less valuable, though in one extreme case a head-size, perfect pearl was enchanted and turned into a crystal ball.
• Peridot: This translucent version of olivine is usually olive green in appearance. It is normally found in basalts and with other quartz deposits.
• Phenalope: Also known as rhodonite, this rose-red or pink semiprecious gemstone related to rhodochrosite is occasionally found in deposits large enough to yield cut slabs the size of books, which are shattered, tumbled, and then cut into attractive faceted gemstones.
• Rainbow Obsidian: Rainbow obsidian is an obsidian variety in which all colors save yellow are included in the black or gray base, sometimes in pronounced bands or spangles. These semiprecious stones are usually tumbled into irregular gemstones. Like other obsidian, rainbow obsidian is hard but brittle and rarely finds use in places that receive wear.
• Raindrop: The common name given to cassiterite in the Realms is raindrop, which refers specifically to the flawless, colorless crystals or areas in larger, dark brown cassiterite crystals. These crystals can yield small, hard, durable faceted gemstones. The precious stones are usually fashioned into teardrop shapes polished to a velvety smoothness and used on cloaks and other garments for decoration—hence their name. Dark brown cassiterite is much less valuable and known as woodtine.
• Ravenar: Ravenar, a glossy, black variety of tourmaline that is also called schorl, is highly valued in the northern half of Faerûn. The gem is less prized in other lands, where it is rare and carries little value. Ravenar is commonly used for inlay work on daggers, buckles, and the like.
• Red Tears: Also called Tempus' weeping, these teardrop-shaped, glossy crystals of vivid cherry-red, blood-crimson, or fiery orange hue are thought to be unique to the Realms. They are found in deep mines or gorge walls where old rock has been exposed. Legends say they are the tears of lovers shed for their beloveds who were slain in battle stained red by the spilled blood of the fallen.
• Rhodochrosite: A translucent, pink stone with a glassy luster. Rhodochrosite is usually tumbled smooth and polished, displayed in pendants and rings. Rhodochrosite is a pink, glassy, translucent ornamental stone that is usually tumbled smooth and polished for wear in rings and pendants, though at times it is left irregular.
• Rock Crystal: Rock crystals are clear, transparent stones that are generally softer and less wear-resistant than higher-priced gemstones; it sees more use as adornment on furniture and crowns than as everyday jewelry. Rock crystals of particularly fine grade—that is, lacking any impurities—are used for optics and prisms (such as eyeglasses, magnifying eyepieces, and spectacles).
• Rogue Stone: Rogue stones are small jewels of a shifting, rainbow-colored, iridescent hue. Their fluid shades of color appear almost liquid under normal sunlight. Rogue stones are extremely rare and always found as singleton gemstones among others in gemstone hoards or in cold regions or underwater in swamps; no more than one is ever found in one place at one time. No one has as yet managed to determine in what sort of rock they are most likely to be found. Rogue stones cleave into natural facets, and it is these surfaces that are iridescent. Some primitive human tribes believe rogue stones to be the sentient essences of dragons or mighty heroes, but sages hold this view to be folk nonsense.
• Rosaline: Also known as unionite, thulite, or pink zoisite, this ornamental stone is found in either in massive, soft quantities about the size of a human head or in small, harder crystals displaying vivid trichroism: the exhibition of three different colors when viewed from three different angles. The soft variety is cut in 1-pound blocks for trading and later cabochon cut for final sale. The trichroic type, which most often displays either purple, blue, and red or purple, green, and red hues, is cut into facets. Large trichroic crystals have brought higher prices when fashions have turned to brooches and rings adorned with rosaline. (Treat the trichroism variety as a higher value stone.)
• Ruby: This rather common (in Faerûn) clear to deep crimson red corundum stone is highly valued because of its sparkling shine and vivid hues. From least value to greatest, it can be found as a clear stone, crimson, or deep crimson. Of about every hundred rubies, one has a white star at its heart and is known as a star ruby. Folklore generally holds rubies to be lucky objects.
• Rusteen: Also known as microlite, this dark reddish brown to pale brown precious stone is much prized for its durability. It is used to adorn swords, armor, and even shields. Its magical use is as a spell component of wall of force and forcecage magics.
• Saganite: Saganite is a variety of chalcedony with numerous straight, needlelike inclusions of a different color. It is usually ivory or yellow in color with brown or greenish-black needles, and the needles often radiate, starlike, from a common center. Saganite occurs in large deposits and is often sold in fist-sized or larger chunks. In Amn, one may hear two tradespeople discussing the sale price of "a fist of saganite."
• Samarskite: Samarskite is a hard and heavy, velvet-black rareearth mineral with a metallic luster. These semiprecious stones are cabochon cut for use as mourning gemstones or in black ceremonial finery in the Realms.
• Sanidine: A feldspar gemstone that is pale tan to straw yellow in color, sanidine is found on the surface of gravel screes or sand dunes. This ornamental stone is cut into faceted gemstones of a size to be set in finger rings or smaller and is a favorite of nomadic desert peoples, such as the Bedine.
• Sapphire: Sapphire is a brilliant blue, translucent corundum mineral. Sapphires vary from a clear, pale blue to a radiant azure.
• Sardonyx: Sardonyx is a form of onyx with alternating bands of carnelian in a red and white pattern.
• Satin Spar: Also known as feather gypsum, this extremely soft but sparkling and easily polished ornamental stone is too fragile for wear. It is white, pink, pale orange, or pale brown in hue. It can readily be dyed to any hue at the cost of its sparkle and is often used in gemstone carvings.
• Scapra: This name is given to the finest scapolite stones: pale to medium yellow fancy stones that are soft and easy to cut into facets, but also too soft for use in rings or on clothing.
• Serpentine: Serpentine refers to a wide variety of related minerals known more precisely as williamsite, ricolite, verde antique, picrolite, taxoite, bowenite, or poor man's jade. Those varieties used extensively for carving are traded as serpentine stone. The most common usage of serpentine as a semiprecious stone in the Realms refers to the finest translucent, vivid, pure green williamsite. This intensely green stone is cut into faceted gemstones or cabochons. Serpentine of this type is most widely used in cabochon form and is set into ornamented weaponry, armor, and harnesses, rings, and courtly jewelry of all types.
• Shandon: Also known as natrolite, this fancy stone occurs in slender, colorless crystals that yield tiny faceted gemstones used by skilled clothiers to adorn veils and robes with ornamentations to impart the effect of beads of water glistening on the material. Such gemstones fetch their true value only when sold to gemcutters and others familiar with them; they are too small and colorless to impress the eye of the uninitiated.
• Sharpstone: Sharpstone is another name for novaculite, a quartz variety that occurs in various colors. Commonly quarried as a gritty sharpening stone, it is sometimes fine enough for gemstone use (as an ornamental stone) when a high-grade chunk is cabochon cut. It is difficult to polish to a high luster since it is both hard and dense, but it can yield large stones.
• Sheen: Sheen is a variety of obsidian that has many minute, spangly inclusions ranging in color from mahogany to russet to silver and gold. The most valuable of these, gold sheen, is a semiprecious stone, but most forms of sheen are merely ornamental stones. Sheen is usually tumbled if it is large in size and attractive or cabochon cut if smaller or possessed of flaws that a skillful cutting could eliminate; it can be polished to a glossy, gleaming finish.
• Shou Lung Amethyst: Shou Lung amethyst is a corundum mineral closer in compositions to ruby and sapphire than it is to the Faerûnian amethyst. Shou Lung amethyst takes its name from its deep purple hue. This gem is said to come from the lands of Kara-Tur in the uttermost East, where its is used to protect the lives of noblemen.
• Shou Lung Emerald: A much harder and more lustrous variation of the western (Faerûnian) emerald, the Shou Lung emerald is called the bureaucrat's stone in the fabled lands of Kara-Tur. Legend says that only three of these jewels exist, but since at least a dozen caches of them are scattered throughout the west, this statement is discounted as myth. Regardless, the bright green gemstone is highly valued. This eastern stone is little seen in Faerûn, and little is known of it, though its pleasing appearance makes it highly valued.
• Shou Lung Topaz: A fiery yellow corundum mineral, Shou Lung topaz is only imported to the western Realms by travelers from Shou Lung and the other mysterious nations of the East.
• Silkstone: A quartz ornamental stone, silkstone is a special, fibrous variety of tiger eye which has a faint sparkle. It is found in many colors, yellow being the most abundant, and can be cabochon cut, tumbled, or engraved to make seals for nobles and merchants.
• Sinhalite: A rare stone, sinhalite is found only in streambed gravel or the deposits left by vanished streams as pale strawyellow to yellow-brown water-worn pebbles. This fancy stone yields cabochon gemstones up to 1 inch in diameter known as sinhalas.
• Skydrop: The common name given in the Realms to clear or lightly colored tektite material, especially fragments of glass of celestial (meteoritic) origin found in the vast shifting sands of Anauroch and other deserts.
• Smoky Quartz: Also called cairngorm or moorland topaz, smoky quartz ranges from a gritty yellow to brown or black in color. As a black gemstone, it is called morion. This semiprecious stone is usually brilliant cut into faceted gemstones. Often found in quite large masses, it is much used as a weapon adornment.
• Snowflake Obsidian: Snowflake obsidian is a brittle, weak, volcanic, black glass with grayish, flowerlike inclusions that resemble snowflakes if the stone is properly cut. This ornamental stone is found in large deposits and either tumbled to gemstone form for sale or sold as quarried in large, irregular chunks (trade blocks) of up to 25 pounds. It is sometimes carved into small figurines.
• Spinel: A translucent, durable precious stone found in red (from the hot deserts of the South), blue (from lands east of Faerûn, and green (from the jungles of Chult and Mhair) hues. Green spinels are the rarest sort.
• Spodumene: A hard and quite durable stone, spodumene is also known as kunzite in its pink-to-purple varieties and hiddenite when emerald green in hue. This semiprecious stone is readily cleaved and can often be cut into faceted gemstones of great size. The kunzite variety suffers from a strange phenomenon: Its color fades with the passage of time to a pale shadow of its former self. Such variants of kunzite are called ghost stone.
• Star Diopside: Star diopside is the most prized form of a hard, durable mineral that is rarely found in attractive colors. This mineral is usually too dark green in color for great beauty, but mountain- and streambed-pebble crystals of pale to medium green hue produce attractive semiprecious stones. (See dioptase above.) A few mineral specimens of darker green appear to radiate four- or six-rayed stars when cut, and these fancy stones are rated at higher values for gemstone variation under this classification rather than that of dioptase.
• Star Metal: Star metal is another name for metallic meteorites. These hardstones are extremely rare and usually no larger than a human's thumb in size, though larger examples the size of an ogre's head or bigger have been found. Smiths have mastered the technique of forging star metal by adding small amounts of alloys of more common metals to make weapons of great strength and durability, ideal for taking enchantments. Combined with alloys such as steel, star metal adds to the sharpness and flexible temper of bladed weapons and is reputed to heighten the strength and duration of all enchantments laid upon blades of which it is a part.
• Star Rose Quartz: This smoky, rose quartz is asteriated; that is, when cut, it reflects or transmits light in a starlike pattern. It is often used as a centerpiece in pectorals and earrings worn by mature matrons and courtiers of "old family" standing.
• Star Ruby: A variation of the ruby (red corundum), this jewel is less translucent than a normal ruby and has a white star highlighted at its center. Such stars are caused by the optical properties of the mineral crystal. They most commonly have six points, though other even-numbered combinations are possible. Of every hundred rubies, one is a star.
• Star Sapphire: An exceedingly valuable variation of the sapphire (blue or black corundum), this jewel is less translucent than a normal sapphire and has a white star of four or more points highlighted at its center. Such stars, caused by the optical properties of the mineral, always have an even number of points—most commonly six. For every thousand sapphires found, one is a star.
• Sunstone: Sunstone is a feldspar ornamental stone closely related to moonstone. It is more properly known as oligoclase. Sunstone can be colorless or faintly greenish and of facet grade, but most common by far is its softer variety suitable only for being cut cabochon. The cutting of a cabochon rarely yields a gemstone larger than 3/4-inch diameter. Such gemstones have bright red or orange spangles (minute crystals) suspended in parallel in a nearly colorless background, giving the whole a rich golden or reddish brown color.
• Tabasheer: This semiprecious stone is an opal-like silica found in the joints of certain types of bamboo. Tabasheers are irregular in shape and are usually tumbled and buffed to a velvetsmooth finish and worn as tiny stones in rings or fringe stones on jeweled pectorals or shawls. Most common in the South, tabasheer sees use as a trading currency there and when southern traders deal with barbarian tribes.
• Tchazar: Also known as aragonite, this soft, fragile strawyellow gemstone is found in elongated, prism-shaped crystals. This semiprecious stone requires skilled cutting to yield faceted gemstones, and cabochon-cut tchazar is much less valuable than such faceted gemstones.
• Thuparlial: Also called prehnite, this hard, tough, translucent volcanic ornamental stone can be found in various hues from rich green through pale greenish-yellow and yellow to brown. It is abundant in hardened lavas as a crust lining gas cavities in the rock, but only rarely is this crust thick enough or colorful enough to be cut into gemstones.
• Tiger Eye Agate: Tiger eye agate is a golden agate with dark brown striping; the coloration and striping give the ornamental stone its name. Legends state that unenchanted tiger eyes are useful in repelling spirits and undead creatures. This has never been proven to be true, but the buying public expects potions of undead control, the inks used to mark caskets and tombs to prevent their dead kin rising in undeath, and other items having to do with repelling or controlling the undead to employ powdered tiger eye agate, so many alchemists shrug and include it.
• Tomb Jade: This rare, highly prized gem is jade that has turned red or brown through being buried for great lengths of time. Buried jade can also be turned green if bronze objects are buried near it; jade of such hue is no more valuable than normal jade.
• Topaz: A very hard, durable, golden, translucent precious stone found in large crystals in granite. Usually yellow or brown, it can be made pink or a bright light blue if exposed to great temperatures, such as by thrusting it into forge fires.
• Tourmaline: Long-crystalled tourmaline in its multicolored varieties is considered a fancy stone and is abundant throughout Faerûn. The black variations are called ravenar; they are valued more highly and considered gems. Tourmaline hues vary from green to blue, brown, or red, all in pale shades. Often a tourmaline crystal may display multiple hues, and in this case it is classified as rainbow tourmaline and is more valuable than purely monotonal stones.
• Tremair: Also known as hexagonite (a pink variety of tremolite), tremair is found in small, translucent, pink crystals that yield even smaller faceted gemstones. Sometimes sewn onto debutantes ' gowns in Chessenta, Sembia, and Waterdeep to signal the unmarried availability of the wearer.
• Turquoise: This opaque, aqua-blue ornamental stone most often has darker blue mottlings; elves especially prize specimens that lack such mottlings for use in sky-related spells.
• Ulvaen: Also known as amblygonite, this soft, but shatterresistant, pale to rich yellow fancy stone can readily be worked by the unskilled into large cabochons or faceted gemstones and so is very popular for jewelry.
• Variscite: Also known as lucinite and peganite, this deep to pale yellowish-green, translucent ornamental stone is found in nodules or in rock seams. It is cut cabochon, and on rare occasions displays gray and yellow bands and eyes (rings) when so cut.
• Violine: A purple variety of volcanic gemstone found in patches mixed with other minerals, violine is cabochon cut or faceted into a baguette shape. Deposits of this ornamental stone occasionally yield gemstones of unusual size (as big as a human fist, for example).
• Water Opal: Water opal is a clear, translucent variety of opal with only a play of color to it, like oil on a clear puddle. Transparent opals without a play of color are known as hyalite. They are considered inferior and are those variations of the gemstone which are nigh worthless. Water opals are rare and valuable gems used as ornaments around mirrors and windows or in the crafting of magical scrying devices (such as crystal balls).
• Waterstar: Also known as achroite or colorless tourmaline, waterstar is a rare, colorless, and sparkling stone. The only material of this stone valued for gemstone use (as a fancy stone) is that entirely free of flaws and inclusions. Crystals of this flawless type yield quite large faceted gemstones.
• Webstone: The ornamental stone known commonly as webstone is more properly called spiderweb obsidian. Webstone is an obsidian variety in which small pieces of the stone have been cemented together by heat and pressure in an irregular mass; the joints show as irregular, weblike lines. It is usually black with whitish join lines, but webstone of brown, reddish brown, and rust-red hues with lighter webbing has been found.
• Witherite: Witherite commonly occurs in large, fibrous deposits containing translucent areas large enough to yield faceted, pale yellow to whitish gemstones. More rarely, this semiprecious stone is found in clusters of translucent yellowish crystals that are also faceted when they are cut into gemstones.
• Wonderstone: Wonderstone is a rhyolite variety displaying bands of red, brown, tan, or purple. This ornamental stone occurs in large deposits and can be cut into blocks of almost a cubic foot in size when quarried. It is typically cabochon when finished and takes a fair to good polish.
• Woodtine: The name of this stone is a corruption of the odd term "wood tin," applied colloquially here to a variety of cassiterite. This brownish, fibrous ornamental stone is found in large nodules and is cabochon cut as a gemstone.
• Zarbrina: Also known as cerussite, this very soft, leadlike, colorless mineral is easily cut into brilliant faceted gemstones. This ornamental stone is usually mounted in ceremonial, little-used jewelry or set in small metal claw mounts into the sleeves or collars of gowns because of its softness and fragility.
• Zendalure: A mottled blue-white gem presently unknown outside of Faerûn, zendalure is found as large, egg-shaped crystals 2 to 6 inches in diameter in solidified lava flows. Polished to a glassy finish, zendalures are used for inlay work and as tiny cabochons in rings, earrings, and pendants.
• Ziose: Ziose is the name given by sages to a particular facetgrade variety of ziosite. This rare mineral yields cut stones that flash three vivid hues depending on how the light catches them or in what direction they are viewed: purple, blue, and red or purple, green, and red. Very large, human head-sized specimens of this fancy stone are sometimes found, and they are prized for use in pendants by giants.
• Zircon: A brownish crystal found in igneous (volcanic) rocks, zircon attains the pale blue shade valued in the gemstone trade through skilled heating and cutting. It is usually cut into facets. These semiprecious stones are occasionally passed off as more valuable gemstones, though anyone with the slightest knowledge of gemstones—a jeweler, a gnome, a dwarf, an even an adventurer of long standing—can tell the difference.