Quickfire

Quickfire is a special sort of fire: crackling with magical energy, intensely hot, and extremely dangerous. It spreads through the air as fast as a man can run, and very little short of solid stone or a magic barrier will halt it in its path. As a result, it tends to cause indiscriminate and total destruction, and it is used less often in combat than in magical traps.

Quickfire does not occur naturally, and is only created by magic. Its creation was at one time believed to be a secret of the Vahnatai, but as the Skylark School of Magery, which closed more than a century before first contact with the Vahnatai, incorporated a Quickfire-based cleansing system into its toxic waste disposal facility, this cannot be the case. The substance is also known to be created and studied by many human mages, as well as some non-humans such as troglodytes and the undead. The magic which can create it is complicated. The magic which can control it is even more complicated, so much so that no known human has ever mastered the ability to do so (with the possible exception of Erika Redmark).

The flames of quickfire will die down on their own, if they are left in an enclosed area. They may last for hours, days, or even longer, depending on the space they have to burn in.

Special Applications of Quickfire

Certain types of augmented magic barriers dissolve when they come into contact with quickfire. The most famous of these barriers was developed by Garzahd and Enla.

The skilled application of crystallomancy is capable of trapping quickfire energy in a crystal, known as a Phoenix Egg. Although the Empire has attempted to create such crystals, notably at Pyrog Labs, only the Vahnatai have done so successfully. One such Phoenix Egg was given to the wizard Purgatos by a teleporting Vahnatai (almost certainly Bon-Ihrno). Purgatos then gave it to the Surface Explorers who employed it in the destruction of the Filth Factory.