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DF2014:Pitchblende

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Pitchblende
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Uses

Location

  • Found within granite as small clusters
Properties
Fire-safe Magma-safe

Wikipedia article

This article is about an older version of DF.

Pitchblende is a magma-safe purple stone which occurs in small quantities within granite.

Pitchblende is also especially heavy, second only to cinnabar (and slade), so it is absolutely inappropriate for making large pots and other commonly-hauled items, and preferable for stone-fall traps and catapults. Additionally, pitchblende crafts are so heavyweight they can fill up a caravan. Hauling pitchblende is not realistic, or at least will take an eternity, without a wheelbarrow.

In real life

Pitchblende is an ore of uranium; while it cannot be smelted in Dwarf Fortress, it is often used for decorative purposes within "nuclear reactors" in megaprojects.

Uranium itself is only weakly radioactive while it decays into lead over billions of years, but among its intermediate decay products are radium and radon. Pitchblende (or uraninite, as it is now called) always contains small amounts of these elements, which are much more dangerous. Radon is especially hazardous as it is an invisible, odorless, tasteless noble gas that is easily inhaled (such as by uranium miners). Fortunately, dwarves are immune to the effects of ionizing radiation, and, provided they remain safe from other forms of fun, they can live long, happy, healthy lives dwelling in bedrooms and dining rooms carved out of pitchblende deposits and furnished by pitchblende tables and chairs.

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It has been speculated that, should the Dwarves work out how to refine and enrich uranium, the world would face a super-weapon even greater than that of the !!Thermonuclear catsplosion!!, as well as an incredible new power source. It is believed that Dwarves would proceed to use the new super-weapon to preemptively dispatch invaders, and ignore the potential new power source (since they have worked out how to create perpetual motion machines). Or they would find some way to brew it, giving them all mutant superpowers after a night of drunken partying.

Pitchblende with autunite crystals.
Sedimentary
Igneous
Intrusive
Extrusive
Metamorphic
Ore
Economic
Other