Otataral
Otataral: a magic-negating reddish ore mined from the Tanno Hills, Seven Cities (GotM, glossary)
Duiker: 'The specific properties of Otataral as a magic-deadening ore remain largely mysterious...'(DG, UK MMPB, p.23)
Gunth Mach : 'What is Otataral, you ask? Otataral is the opposite of magic. Negation to creation, absence to presence. If life is your god, then Otataral is the other god, and that god is death. But, please understand, it is not an enemy. It is the necessary manifestation of a force in opposition. Both are essential, and together they are bound in the nature of existence itself. We are reviled for revealing the truth. (DoD)
Otataral, I believe, was born of sorcery. If we hold that magic feeds on hidden energies, then it follows that there are limits to those energies. Sufficient unveiling of power that subsequently cascades out of control could well drain those life-forces dry. Further, it is said that the Elder warrens resist the deadening effect of otataral, suggesting that the world’s levels of energy are profoundly multilayered. One need only contemplate the life energy of corporeal flesh,
compared to the undeniable energy within an inanimate object, such as rock. Careless examination might suggest that the former is alive, whilst the latter is not. In this manner, perhaps otataral is not quite as negating as it would first appear . . .
Musings on the Physical Properties of the World
Tryrssan of Mott
(HoC, UK Trade, p.628)
Kulp: 'Otataral destroys sorcery, drives mages insane - ' (DG, UK MMPB, p.83)
‘The precedent of shipping prisoners to the Otataral mines on the island reaches back to the Emperor’s time, although he generally reserved that fate for mages...madness claimed most of those sorcerers, although it is not known if that was the result of exposure to the ore dust, or the deprivation from their Warrens.’(DG, UK Trade, p.23)
See (DG, UK MMPB, p.314-5) for an example of a mage driven mad by Otataral.
'...Otataral never ran down into true bedrock. Found only in limestone, the veins ran shallow and long, like rivers of rust between compacted beds filled with fossil plants and shellfish.
Heboric: Limestone is just the bones of things once living...So now I'm led to believe that Otataral is not a natural ore...If not natural, then what?...Otataral, the bane of magic, was born of magic...Those veins we dig...they're like a layer of once melted fat, a deep river of it sandwiched between layers of limestine. This whole island had to melt to make those veins. Whatever sorcery created Otataral proved beyond controlling...' (DG, UK MMPB, p.118-9)
Effects of Exposure to Otataral:
'...her (Adjunct Lorn) own senses, honed by the strange, unpredictable effects of the Otataral.'(GotM, UK Trade, p.409)
'Mostly healed,’ she (Adjunct Lorn) replied. ‘Otataral has that effect on me.’(GotM, UK Trade, p.416)
Applications of Otataral:
in armour:
'...Otataral links interwoven in Baria's chain armour' (DG, UK MMPB, p.129)
Walls:
'Aren’s walls are high, well impregnated these days with Otataral, I (Duiker) believe – proof against any sorcery.' (DG, UK Trade, p.641)
Otataral Swords:
'...the weapon’s dusty red blade...An Otataral sword...the ore that kills magic...And mages'(GotM, UK Trade, p.205)
Closing wounds in the warrens
'...scatter that handful of otataral dust in the cabin – the Tiste Edur sorcerer’s warren remains open and, in this place, it will quickly become a wound . . . a growing wound. The time has not yet come for such unveilings.’(HoC, UK Trade, p.145)
Materials
