Ruidium

Description

Pre-Exodus canon (Campaign Three): A reddish crystalline substance found in the ruins of Ruidus and the underwater ruins of Cael Morrow beneath Ank’harel. Exposure to ruidium causes physical corruption — gradual transformation of flesh into a reddish crystalline state — and eventual psychic domination by Predathos (the entity imprisoned within Ruidus). Ruidium objects granted powerful abilities at the cost of accelerating this corruption.

At the end of Campaign Three, Predathos was released from Ruidus (not re-sealed) — Imogen served as its temporary vessel, then released it at Vasselheim once the gods had gone mortal and become invisible to it. Finding nothing left to consume, its consciousness drifted back into the stars it originally came from. Whether active ruidium lost its corrupting properties after that point is not directly established in canon.

Status in Nuxan (1000 A.E.): Miners who discovered remnants of ruidium in the ruins of the shattered Ruidus went on to found the Children of the Hollow Moon. Whether ruidium retains corrupting properties after Predathos’s departure is an open design question — the Children’s founding suggests it at minimum has unusual effects, or they interpreted its discovery as ideologically significant regardless of active corruption.

Mechanical Effects

Historical — any current mechanical effects would need to be determined based on post-Predathos status.