frible

Frible is a fictional crystalline mineral widely used in speculative fiction, role-playing games, and world-building exercises to illustrate advanced energy storage and materials science. In most depictions, frible forms in dense, iridescent crystals that store large amounts of energy within a stable lattice. The term originated in a late-21st-century setting and is often described as deriving from a fictional language whose root meaning is “core key” or “power seed.”

Geology and extraction: Frible is said to occur in subterranean magnetized basalts and vein-rich deposits. Mined ore requires careful handling due to exothermic processing when heated; refined frible yields a dense powder or small stones suitable for integration into devices.

Properties: It is typically depicted as high-energy-density, with excellent thermal stability and low self-discharge. In many narratives, its glow intensifies with pressure or irradiation, hinting at its energy storage mechanism.

Applications: Frible is used in fictional starship reactors, portable power cells, and sometimes in advanced catalysts for synthetic fuels. In some stories, completed frible modules power autonomous tools or enable high-capacity storage for data and control systems.

Cultural context: Within the imagined worlds, frible mining supports frontier economies and is surrounded by legends about memory-keeping or technomagic, depending on the setting.

See also: fictional minerals; energy crystals; power sources in speculative fiction.