Aether-gold is a buoyant, gaseous mineral found drifting in seams high in the skies of the Mortal Realms, and it is the lifeblood of the Kharadron Overlords, the sky-faring duardin civilisation. Lighter than air in its raw state and immensely potent when refined, it lifts their armoured sky-vessels, powers their endrin-engines, buoys entire floating cities, and fuels the aether-weapons that defend them.
To the Kharadron, the substance is far more than fuel; it is the foundation of an entire society. Their culture was rebuilt around its pursuit after the fall of their ancestral mountain holds, and their famous Code, the great charter governing profit, conduct, and contract, exists largely to regulate who may claim a seam and how the proceeds are shared. Prospecting fleets range across the realms hunting fresh veins, and rival sky-ports compete, litigate, and occasionally skirmish over the richest strikes.
Aether-gold is also whispered to be something stranger than ore. Some duardin call it the very breath of their smith-god, and seasoned aether-khemists insist that rich seams murmur to those who work them, luring the greedy to chase them into storms. Whatever the truth, no other resource so completely defines a people's fortunes.