Phonolite

Phonolite is a type of igneous stone that is known for its resonant properties. While not common anywhere, it occurs locally throughout Idiri, emerging in dikes and outcroppings from Raziya and Ifru in the north of the continent to Ulamba in the south. It has a very fine, dense grain and comes in a number of varities and colors, usually greyish with different subtle tints. While not particularly remarkable in appearance, phonolite is renowned for the musical chiming or humming it makes when struck. Besides the variation in coloration, different types of phonolite also sound slightly different, producing "music" of different pitch and quality.

Regardless of whether one is pagan or Azadi, communes with spirits and the ancestors or gives burnt offerings to the God of Good Thought, phonolite is viewed as a uniquely special stone that resonates with the great Song of existence. The musical sound produced by striking a piece of phonolite is thought to be some small part of the music of the spheres, made audible to mortal ears for a brief moment. This makes it a stone as treasured by the wise as it is an object of superstitious awe among the ignorant.

Phonolite is a particularly cherished stone used in Azadi prayer. It is considered to be the superlative type of "ringing stone," and small pieces of it fetch a good price for use as ritual objects.

Legend tells of a great tower of phonolite somewhere in the Great Thirsty Mountains, but it is said that anyone who stumbles across it can do so only by purest chance, and however hard they try they will never be able to find it again.