Zuchai Crystals

Zuchai crystal is dense glass like material that has red/purple hue consisting of six elements (carbon, phosphorous, silicon, germanium, silver and palladium) held in a carbon-palladium lattice. Zuchai has extraordinary energy containment and shaping properties for heat, magnetism and electricity which is used advanced technology. In particular these crystals form the heart of extreme energy capacitors used in nearly all interstellar jump drives.

In proportion to its density (~21 grams per cubic centimetre), it is the hardest and strongest known glass-like material and is resistant to scratching or breaking. The material can be manufactured, but few planets have the technology level and especially the ultra-high energy infrastructure needed to make synthetic crystals. However, under unique conditions it has been formed naturally on a handful of planets in the Imperium have these conditions (~1:20000 worlds). The natural version generally has longer (~35%) operational performance and has become of extreme value as an export ore.

The material is extremely difficult to extract and is a risky enterprise technically, financially, and politically. The primary issue is one of logistics, as the crystal normally occur in gigantic and almost indestructible reefs, usually dozens of kilometres long or larger. These reef structures cannot be moved by any profitable means.

So the miners must cut the material into slabs or blocks to allow for transportation to space or star ports for sale.

Secondarily the cutting equipment required is huge, technical, expensive and dangerous to operate. These devices are essentially plasma arch cutters that operate at hundreds of times the levels of normal industrial cutters.



Ironically small deposits (less than 100 tonnes) or shards of Zuchai are the highly prized finds. These small pockets are the easiest to work and move to market for smaller operators. Small finds are more common in sea floor mining which of course has its own challenges for operations. 

"Brofort Gravel" is the nickname of legendary finds of pieces of loose Zuchai. Immensely valuable due to the lack of need for cutting and easy smuggling. Many stories and songs from Brofort include a tale of a down and out miner discovering a small shard and striking it rich. A 2- or 3-kilogram piece of "Gravel" is easily worth enough credits to retire to a very comfortable lifestyle. Small pieces are often smuggled off world for use in black market jump drives. Gravel is also popular with the mega rich as the basis for art and jewelry.