Warpstone

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For the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay fanzine of the same name, see Warpstone (magazine)

Warpstone is a substance found in the Warhammer world, and also in the Warhammer 40,000 world during the first and second editions. Humans and most other races in Games Workshop’s campaign game Mordheim refer to it as Wyrdstone.

Warpstone is a greenish-black crystal, described as somehow being able to “suck all the light from around itself, leaving it black, whilst still emitting its own green glow”; the result is a rather complex optical illusion. The substance is apparently solidified Chaos Energy (i.e., Magic), and as such it holds tremendous transmutatory powers.

During the time period detailed in the Mordheim game, Warpstone is discovered to be the catalyst in a working philosopher's stone: Warpstone can be used to turn base metal into gold! After being devastated by a comet made of the stuff, Mordheim is quickly besieged by adventuring gangs hoping to strike it rich. After Emperor Magnus the Pious ascends the throne, it is discovered that Wyrdstone, once believed to have all manner of beneficial properties, is actually a creation of Chaos, and so its use is outlawed. The recipe for the transmutatory elixir has been forgotten, though some still attempt to rediscover it, and now it is mostly wizards who have any dealings with this substance, as it is a key ingredient in many magical spells.

Warpstone has a special tie to the Skaven race, who simultaneously use it as fuel and regard it as sacred. Unlike the Beastmen, which they are often classed as being by ignorant Human scholars, Skaven are not a degeneration of Man, but rather an evolution of Rat, created by exposure to Warpstone.

Warpstone is used extensively by the Skaven, and Warptokens are generally recognized as their major form of currency (and sometimes sustenance); however, each clan utilizes it in a different way. Perhaps the most recognized use is that of clan Moulder, to mutate creatures into unnatural forms for their diabolical purposes by dissolving it into a paste that can ‘glue’ disparate body parts together. Clan Skyre uses the magic-infused stone to run huge war engines and strange inventions out of a mad scientists’ worst nightmare. The Clans Pestilens and Eshin use it for slightly more mundane purposes, to increase the potency of their poisons and toxic brews.

The undead (see Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings) also use warpstone extensively. It was used by Nagash in his early life preserving elixirs along with human blood, and it is from these elixirs that vampires were eventually created. It was also used by Nagash in his first experiments at animating corpses. His fortress was built atop a mountain rich in warpstone. Here he employed his undead workers in mining it. This warpstone also attracted Skaven and started a tradition of warfare between the two races over the magical substance.

See also

The Immaterium, also called the “Warp”, is the “hyperspace” of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It is filled with pure energy, and is the realm of Chaos.

Some Fictional elements and Fictional chemical substances have properties similar to those of Warpstone:

• Chaos Emeralds are mystical items of various colors (appearing in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games) that also have certain transmutational powers.
• Magestone from the Mage Knight miniature wargame is a magically-infused mineral that, in unprocessed form, produces highly dangerous radiation.
• Materia are small balls of crystallized Mako energy (the ‘substance’ of Gaea) used in the magic system of the computer role-playing game Final Fantasy VII. They have some mutagenic properties and allow the user to cast various magic spells and use special abilities.

The maban (magical essence) of Australian Aboriginal mythology is by some tribes identified with tektites, black or olive-green natural glass objects that most scientists believe to have been formed by the impact of large meteorites on Earth’s surface.