vanadise

Vanadise is a fictional mineral species described in speculative geology and worldbuilding materials. In the stories in which it appears, vanadise is a vanadium oxide–sulfide mineral with an empirical formula often cited as V4O7S3. The name derives from vanadium and the common mineral-name suffix -ise.

Crystal chemistry and structure are described variably by different authors, but vanadise is typically portrayed as crystallizing in a monoclinic system with prismatic or tabular habit. The imagined lattice is said to comprise layered vanadium oxide–sulfide sheets stabilized by mixed-valence vanadium.

Physical properties attributed in fiction include a metallic to submetallic luster, an olive-green to brown color, and a pale gray streak. Mohs hardness is usually given as 4–5, with imperfect cleavage and a density near 4.8 g/cm3. As a rare mineral in these narratives, vanadise is often depicted as forming in hydrothermal veins within ultramafic rocks and occurring alongside magnetite, hematite, titanomagnetite, and other vanadium-bearing phases.

Occurrence and significance in fiction: vanadise is described as rare and geographically restricted within the imagined geology of a worldbuilding setting. Laboratories within the stories may describe high-temperature sulfidation of vanadium oxides with sulfur vapor as a method to synthesize vanadise synthetically for narrative purposes.

Applications in fiction: vanadise is sometimes proposed as a potential vanadium source for advanced alloys or energy storage concepts in speculative settings, though no real-world existence or mining basis is recognized.

See also: Vanadium; Vanadinite; Vanadium oxide; Mineral (fiction).