Mineral
Mineral is a form of material that occurs in NetHack.[1]
Description
Mineral is a non-organic material that cannot normally be eaten or subjected to erosion.
A hero casting the stone to flesh spell on mineral objects will turn them into flesh objects in some manner—the section below details which mineral items will be turned into which flesh objects. The dungeon's walls, floor and ceiling are made of mineral, as casting the spell in the direction of the floor, walls or ceiling will print unique messages about them being affected (though there is no actual gameplay effect).[2]
List of mineral items
The following items are made of mineral:
- any ring with the randomized appearance of "granite", "opal", "clay", "coral", "black onyx", or "moonstone"
- figurines
- any wand with the randomized appearance of "marble"
- rocks
- all gray stones—luckstones, loadstones, touchstones, and flint stones
- boulders
- statues
Polypiling enough gemstone objects has a chance of creating a golem, with a roughly equal probability of creating a stone golem or a clay golem.{refsrc|src/zap.c|1578-L1581|nethack=5.0.0}} A stone golem that is affected by the stone to flesh spell will become a flesh golem—conversely, a flesh golem or any other golem will turn into a stone golem when subjected to stoning.
Stone to flesh
Mineral is one of two materials to be affected by the stone to flesh spell, with the other being gemstone.
The stone to flesh spell has the following effects on mineral objects and monsters:
- Mineral rings will be transformed into meat rings.
- Figurines and statues of monsters will usually come to life as the actual monsters they represent if they are fleshy, with some exceptions.
- A statue of a unique monster or a quest guardian that belongs to any role other than the hero's current role will transform into a doppelganger taking the form of that monster.
- A figurine or statue of any golem will transform into a flesh golem.[3]
- A figurine or statue of a monster that is not fleshy (such as a lichen) or do not leave a corpse (such as a yellow light) will instead be transmuted into one or more meatballs, destroying that statue's former contents.[4]
- Mineral wands will be transformed into meat sticks.
- Rocks and gray stones will be transformed into meatballs.
- Boulders will be transformed into enormous meatballs.
The Heart of Ahriman has a 49⁄50 chance to resist being turned into a meatball this way, while all other items have a 1⁄50 chance of resisting.[5]
History
Mineral items technically first appear in Hack 1.0 with the regular rock and the enormous rock (another name for the boulder). The material is formally defined in NetHack 3.0.0.
In versions up to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, the crysknife is made of mineral and is the only mineral item to be unaffected by the stone to flesh spell[6][7]—per commit 83c28e6f, this is likely to be intentional. NetHack 5.0.0 changes crysknives to be made of bone via commit 60ec7256.[8]
Origin
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species refers to a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form. This is distinct from rock, which is any bulk solid geologic material that is relatively homogeneous at a large enough scale: a rock may consist of one type of mineral or may be an aggregate of two or more different types of minerals, spatially segregated into distinct phases—silicate minerals in particular are rock-forming minerals that comprise approximately 90 percent of Earth's crust.
The geological definition of mineral normally excludes compounds that occur only in living organisms. However, some minerals are often biogenic (such as calcite) or chemically organic compounds (such as mellite). Moreover, living organisms often synthesize inorganic minerals (such as hydroxylapatite) that also occur in rocks. Some natural solid substances without a definite crystalline structure, such as opal or obsidian, are more properly called mineraloids.
Variants
Some NetHack variants add new items made of mineral, while others that implement an object materials system make it possible for certain items–usually metallic ones–to be made of mineral. Items with a mineral material may also be referred to as being made of "stone".
As an object material, mineral is usually heavier than iron, but is also more durable and not especially costly: individual items made of mineral are not subject to erosion outside of specific circumstances, and can be turned into fleshy items if the stone to flesh spell is cast at them.
Variants may also enable some monsters to be lithivores, allowing them to eat items made of mineral.
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM retains all mineral items from NetHack 3.4.3 and adds the following items made of mineral:
- rings with a randomized appearance of "plain" or "glass"
- wands with a randomized appearance of "ceramic"
- healthstone
- whetstone
References
- ↑ include/objclass.h in NetHack 5.0.0, line 34
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 3359-L3376
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 751-L756
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2021-L2026
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2005-L2007
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 179
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1787-L1791
- ↑ doc/fixes5-0-0.txt in NetHack 5.0.0, line 21
