Twenty years ago, miners working deep shafts beneath what is now Port Town Malachite discovered veins of an unusual black crystal. Initial tests revealed remarkable energy density—several orders of magnitude beyond conventional fuels. Within months, the mineral—dubbed originium—was being integrated into forge operations. Smelting processes that had taken hours completed in minutes. Industrial output multiplied.
Chrysalis’s response was characteristically methodical. Where Malachite embraced originium as an industrial fuel, Chrysalis saw a research opportunity. Chrysalis Labs—which at the time was a modest medical research institution—pivoted its focus toward understanding the mineral’s properties, potential applications, and risks. The Labs expanded rapidly. Funding poured in from the Oligarchy’s factions, who recognised that whoever controlled originium research would shape Terra’s future.
The city transformed alongside the institution. Originium-powered streetlamps replaced gas lighting. The University expanded, training engineers and medical researchers to staff the Labs’ growing departments. Evertide’s artificers began combining traditional woodcraft with originium-enhanced mechanical systems. Mistheart’s mages studied the crystal’s interactions with arcane energy. Chrysalis positioned itself not as an industrial centre—that role belonged to Malachite—but as Terra’s intellectual and medical capital, the place where originium’s mysteries would be solved.
The strategy worked. By the time Rhine Lab was founded fifteen years ago—a splinter institution led by two Chrysalis University graduates, Saria the Vouivre and Kristen Wright—the city had become synonymous with scientific progress. Rhine Lab’s founding strained relationships but also validated Chrysalis’s educational model: the city trained researchers capable of founding rival institutions.