# Bone > [!material-gem] Material Details > | | | > |---|---| > | **Aliases/Varieties** | Long Bones. Flat Bones. Bone Salt. | > | **Category** | Gemstone | > | **Color(s)** | White to ivory | > | **Cost** | —— | > | **Environment/Habitat** | —— | > | **Profession(s)** | [[Jewelcrafter]], [[Tinkerer]] | > | **Qualities** | - Healing<br>- Ornamental<br>- Protective | > | **Rarity** | —— | > | **Size** | —— | > | **Weight** | —— | > [!material-gem] Specifications > | | | > |---|---| > | **Crystal System** | Amorphous | > | **Formations** | Inside most vertebrate animals | > | **Formula** | varies | > | **Hardness** | 5.0 (Mohs) | > | **Mineral Class** | Organic material | > | **Primary Components** | hydroxyapatite, collagen fibers, calcium | > | **Refractive Index** | —— | --- ## Description Rigid organ of animals and humanoids, used in magical practices throughout the world as means of evoking spirits, bestowing animal traits, and raising the dead. ### Physical Description The bones of vertebrate animals are an abundant yet important material in artistic expression, magical practice, and manufacturing. Bone tissue, composed of organic (collagen) and mineral (primarily hydroxyapatite) compounds, is accompanied by other tissues like bone marrow, nerves, blood vessels, and cartilage. --- ## Occurrence Bones are commonly found inside most vertebrate animals. ### Extraction & Preparation Do not kill living animals to obtain the bones. Clean collected bones with water, soap, and hydrogen peroxide. --- ## Properties ### Culinary Properties Bones are full of flavor and nutrients, as long as they are prepared in a digestible way. Use them to make bone broth, cook marrow, and enhance stews with collagen, fats, glycoaminoglycans, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium. ### Decorative Properties Bones are well suited for carving and commonly employed for decoration in the form of beads or small ornaments and amulets. In some circles, bleached or painted bones are worn in their natural shapes or used for interior or outdoor decoration, similar to game trophies. ### Industrial Properties Lightweight and durable, bones make great tools and may be crafted into dice, poker chips, arrow tips, buttons, etc. Prolonged boiling of ground bones results in bone glue used in antiques restoration. ### Magical Properties Many magical traditions use bones in their practices, and the methods are as varied as the belief systems. The common thread is that the bones carry a connection to the animal from which they were extracted. The correspondences of the bones are therefore equal to the correspondences of the animal, like rabbit bones evoking speed, fertility, and alertness. In that regard, the bones may often be replaced by other animal body parts, such as feathers, claws, or tufts of fur. The remains also help to connect with one's animal mentor spirit. This general concept reaches beyond the species; bones of humanoids of certain professions, sexes, or social standing are employed in more personal—or nefarious—spells. The demand for bones of criminals, called for in a multitude of rituals, caused many unethical practices to arise, from grave robbery to murder. Unsurprisingly, bones of the deceased are also a common requirement of necromantic spells, from resurrection to animation of skeletons. Some traditions practice magic only with bones of ancestors, tapping into the potency of bloodlines, ancestral wisdom, and a mental and spiritual connection. Tools, amulets, and weapons handcrafted from ancestral bones are both easy to enchant and unusable by anyone not considered a descendant by the invoked spirit. The divination with bones, called osteomancy or bone casting, uses multiple small bones cast upon a surface and interpreted through set meaning and the practitioner's intuition. Other traditions employ wishbones for divining the future.