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Mahõra Flint
Pronunciation: “Mah-hoor-rah Flint”

Mahõra weepings are an inedible, poisonous fruit growing vertically in clustered formations from swamp canopies and underground grottoes. Easily distinguished by their dusty-orange colours and eye-watering fumes that assail the nostrils of those inhaling them, mahõra weepings yield a sticky, deep-orange syrup when properly extracted… nectar that burns exposed tissues and vomits stinging fumes when squeezed from the burned rinds of mahõra weepings. This syrup is highly volatile, combusting into scorching flames whenever exposed to direct heat or bathed in flames. The dusty-orange embers sear through flesh and armour alike with horrifying intensity, and survivors who’ve been exposed to a mahõra weeping’s flames reportedly lose all feeling in their scalded bodies forever, recounting an agony beyond words can describe.

As such, the most ancient and respected of our people’s weaponry has been drawn from the cultivation of this dangerous and flammable syrup. The Mahõra flint, deriving its name from the toxic fruit that yields the coveted, flaming nectar, is a larger, cruder variation of the standard flint, usually measuring between 6’-8’ in length, and intentionally left unchiselled and badly hewn. Instead of igniting flames from tindertwigs or campfires, the heavy flint is soaked in fermented mahõra nectar, absorbing the flammable syrup upon the flint’s stone surface. When withdrawn from the weeping extract an hour or so later, the flint is covered in a sticky, translucent coating of mahõra syrup that remains upon the flint indefinitely for considerable time (before eventually drying out entirely). When wielded in combat, a user strikes the mahõra flint quickly with sharp, exacted blows with an equally roughened stone. Friction builds, igniting the sticky syrup in a shower of dusty-orange embers that drift through the air with ferocious heat. Creatures exposed to these plumes of scorching flames suffer fatal burns and debilitating atrophy, with scalded muscles burning away… any miraculous survivor are left with their blackened flesh lifeless and gangrenous. Against crovalahn, the effects are catastrophic, literally capable of burning the alien’s flesh from within their twisted bodies… as it seems, the formic acid that flows through their disgusting arteries is particularly flammable, which makes crovalahn exceptionally vulnerable to the blazing fury of a mahõra flint’s flames, even when heavily-armoured. Crovalahn blood bubbles and blistering when the mottled, greenish-black tissues of our people’s most hated predators starts burning away from within. Wracked with agony, even the heartiest crovalahn warrior has difficulty concentrating on slaughtering its prey as its own blood rebels against it.

Each strike a user makes upon the mahõra flint’s surface wears away the coating of syrup slightly, eventually leaving the flint dry and useless until the next soaking within freshly extracted syrup. As hours pass, the nectar gradually dries more-and-more, making igniting the embers increasingly difficult as time elapses. As such, users are taught to only immerse the flint within mahõra honey if they know a confrontation is imminent.

While the embers are incredibly potent, controlling their flow is extremely difficult and much proficiency is required to prevent holder from exposing themselves to their own flames. For long-distance attacks, users strike the flint’s edge with slower, longer blows and allow wind direction to help guide the glowing embers upon faraway targets. The distance at embers can drift by careful striking the flint with delayed blows is enormous, but sparks become increasingly inaccurate at greater distances. Conversely, striking the flint with a blinding flurry of sharp, brief strikes guarantee an accurate stream of embers spiral into any creature unfortunate enough to be exposed to the mahõra flint’s plumes, but faster strikes make the embers shorter-lived over large expanses.

The approximate quantity of embers that a particularly skilled user wishes to ignite is also dependant on which angle the mahõra flint’s struck. Striking an edge where the clinging syrup has been worn-down over use, or even left shallow on purpose, spawns fewer sparks then would striking a surface where the nectar coating is thick and sticky. Aiming mahõra embers upon a single target is much easier when fewer sparks are lit from the flint, so long-distance attacks are best made when users are careful to light the syrup upon appropriate angles with precise force.

Despite the diversity of our people’s cultures and traditions, the secrets of cultivating this respected and deadly syrup have been remarkably well-preserved from being understood by other races. Even the galagi lack knowledge of how mahõra weepings are cultivated and crushed, despite the galagi’s closeness with nature and inherent skill at working with alchemical substances. Crovalahn are blissfully ignorant of how mahõra flints function… and as such, no heavily-armoured crovalahn warrior has ever expected the agonising inferno sparked from a deceptively primitive and crudely-chiselled flint carried by a beleaguered soldier. As our people’s proudest warriors have carried, wielded and set the blessed mahõra flints ablaze since the most ancient of times, it’s miraculous that such a closely-guarded secret has never been betrayed to or discovered by other races throughout history’s murky depths. Only selynah have ever been entrusted our knowledge with applying mahõra weeping extract to the sacred flint, being our people’s closest allies and most trustworthy creatures known to keep their word. In some cultures, mahõra flints are revered with almost religious fervour, with societies entrusting the most noble, reliable and highest-ranking champions with these powerful weapons.