Zanium

Zanium
the zanium mine
Category:	reagents
Appearances
Ultima Underworld glowing rock, from Ultima Underworld Known As: glowing rock Mass: 0.0 stone Location: the fifth level

Zanium is a blue rock-like material found in the zanium mines on the fifth level of the colony of the Great Stygian Abyss.

Description

When looked at, pieces of zanium are described as "glowing rock" and only Anjor referes to it as "zanium". Both [Shak]] and Dominus identify it as "glowing rock".

Zanium is a rock-like mineral that is light blue in color and is attracted to other zanium in the Avatar's possession, meaning it is collected automatically when the Avatar approaches it.

Zanium is weightless and is seen in the mine floating at about waist-level to the Avatar.

Zanium is the rare principal reagent in Anjor's recently discovered procedure to turn lower metals into gold.

Zanium Mines

Zanium seems to be unique to the geology of the Abyss as zanium is not know elsewhere in Britannia. The mines cannot be accessed directly and must be entered via teleportation, which can be facilitated by the mine dispatch chamber. However the mine is not currently in service, and there is no mine dispatch chamber operator posted, and the controls to operate the mine dispatch chamber device where not immediately understood by the Avatar.

The mine is haunted by dangerous hostile white ghosts and also a similar variant of ghost that is light blue in color. It is not know if this coloration is related to the nearby zanium or not.

Lore

“

Many years ago, I began research into methods for turning lower metals into gold. During the course of my research, I discovered a new and better method that depends on a particular, very rare substance. I quest to find more of this substance. [...] When I started, existing methods required a great many reagents to operate, and could produce only a fraction of an ounce of gold for each pound of lower metal. The new method requires a much smaller quantity of reagents and produces much more gold. However, the principal reagent is rare, and I have been able to locate only trace amounts of it. [...] It is a blue rock-like mineral called zanium. The only samples I have found have been on this floor of the Abyss in tunnels with rough-hewn walls. I believe there is a mining area in the southwest where there may be larger deposits, but I cannot gain access to it. [...] Zanium has the property of being self-attractive. Deposits near the surface can be collected merely by walking over them while carrying a sample. In an underground environment such as this, if there is zanium present, there is likely to be some near the the surface. Thus, in a sense, it is collected automatically. – from Anjor (Ultima Underworld)

Gallery

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  Screenshot in the zanium mine

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  A white ghost haunts the zanium mine

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  A light blue ghost haunts the zanium mine

Trivia

• The zanium mines have a similar layout to the first level of the original Pac-man game. The mines are haunted by four ghosts, also similar to the original Pac-man game. Zanium is collected automatically when the Avatar collides with them, similar to how Pac-man collects cookies (AKA dots or pellets). The key difference is that the Avatar does not make the "wanka wanka" sound during the collection as Pac-man did.
• Zanium has a mass of 0.0 stones. In reality it is not possible for a physical object to have a zero mass, but in the game mass is simply a number used to calculate the player's carrying capacity.
• Zanium has no mass and it effectively weightless - it is found floating in the air rather than sinking to the ground - but because of limitations of the game's physics engine, it will be affected by gravity when it is dropped or thrown by the player.
• The name for the material, zanium, is a joke name. In development it was called unobtanium until they could think of a better name. Zanium was picked as a way to have a material with the word zany in its name.^{[Citation needed]}