What is opal?

VerboseQuips

So, I know it might not be the most timely moment considering all the turmoil around this event, but we're seeing new outfit styles that are opaline/made out of opal. I know opal is a real-world mineral, however, there are materials in the TES world which are not at all like their real-world counterparts (e.g. ebony). So I was wondering, what is opal in TES lore, what are its magical and alchemical properties, whence does it stem?

Dusk_Coven

My guess would be it's similar in concept to glass. And over the various TES games we've seen the evolution of how glass use in armor and weapons have been depicted so they could handwave anything in honestly. For example there is a big difference between the inserted shards in Morrowind and the polished plates in Skyrim and the looked-like-forged plates in Oblivion.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Glass#Glass_Armor
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Malachite#Glass_Armor
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-item-Glass_Armor.jpg

Opal looks like a cross between opal gem color + metal in Oblivion style full worked material instead of inserts -- assuming that this "opal metal" is it's own material instead of just a colour.
Or, they could sell Opal as a dye later for metallic sheen.
Honestly it also looks like the sort of prismatic effect you sometimes see with oil slicks presumably when the light hits at a certain angle.

The main "problem" with lore questions of this nature -- similar to "is the Noweyr Pony lore friendly" and all that -- is ESO doesn't answer to a third party intellectual property. They make their own intellectual property.
Therefore, if you are cynical, you could suspect that they retroactively justify it after marketing passes it by the focus groups based on marketing criteria. ("looks cool -- put it in")

Salix_alba

they might have meant opalescent which means showing many colors

Dusk_Coven

Salix_alba wrote: »

they might have meant opalescent which means showing many colors

And I would be impressed if the colour changed to reflect a change in the viewing angle. Otherwise it'd be just another texture.

faeeichenlaub

Fossilized Ruby Ash?

Tawniey

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

The main "problem" with lore questions of this nature -- similar to "is the Noweyr Pony lore friendly" and all that -- is ESO doesn't answer to a third party intellectual property. They make their own intellectual property.

It's a little tiring to hear ZOS spoken of as though it's a third party to Bethesda when they are literally both branches of the same company. Zenimax is Bethesda's parent company, created by Bethesda's founders to publish under. Zenimax Online Studios is the online-specific publication sub-company, since online games require different resources. They are the same company in all ways except on paper.

Yes, though, it's likely just an effect created for aesthetic that doesn't have any deep lore meaning to it yet. It's a blank slate in that regard. The only information I've found is in the Opaline Steed flavor-text, and it's about as vague as it gets, just referring to a transmutation ritual.


(Edit: Whoops, only had the top bit of that image shown, my b)

That said— I think it can be pretty well accepted to be some type of magical residue. It doesn't have a stand-alone association, but seems to coat or alter other things. That leads me to think daedric right off the bat, but that's pretty much padomaic in general. I'm kinda formulating my own ideas on how I might use it in my stories in future.