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In faraway Silithus, geysers of a strange red crystalline dust have started to appear in the desert. Both the Alliance and the Horde have taken an interest in this new substance, which is called Silithyst, and researchers on both sides have discovered unique and valuable properties in the dust. The Horde and Alliance camps in the region have both been outfitted with turn-in stations where adventurers can unload the Silithyst they collect.

Overview

To pick up Silithyst, locate a geyser and pick it up. The geyser will despawn, and the player will be carrying the Silithyst. While carrying it, your movement speed is reduced (abilities like "Sprint" will not have any effect) and you will be unable to mount without dropping the Silithyst. The other way of getting Silithyst is locating a player of the opposing faction carrying some. Upon damaging that player, he will drop his/her Silithyst, creating a Silithyst Mound allowing any player to temporarily pick up the Silithyst.

After collecting Silithyst, run to your faction's turn in point, displayed on the map. A player may only carry one Silithyst at any time, so after each pickup, you will have to run and turn it in. The first faction to collect 200 Silithyst wins the race.

Rewards

A single turn in of Silithyst awards the player with the following:

• 20 Reputation with the Cenarion Circle faction.
• 19 Honor points
• Traces of Silithyst, a 30 minute buff increasing Melee and Spell damage dealt by 5%.

In addition, the faction that completes the race to 200 Silithyst will receive a zone wide buff, increasing Cenarion Circle reputation gained from killing monsters by 25%. The buff will apply to any player within Silithus and the Ahn'Qiraj instances, even to those who enter them at a later time. It will persist through death until the opposing faction has collected 200 Silithyst and therefore won the race. A server reboot will reset the battle, which means both sides start at 0/200 Silithyst and lose their buff.

This buff is most useful in instances because of the greater amount of reputation collected from each kill. Although non-instance kills only grant 2 points of reputation, while the buff is in effect, every fourth kill will reward 4 reputation points. This of course is not a large bonus, but it is still slightly faster than non-buffed reputation farming.

Unfortunately, many may find that the honor and reputation bonus are not enough to reward their efforts. The reputation and honor given are both too low to make a day of Silithyst collecting worthwhile compared to the rewards given through the battlegrounds or the various methods of Cenarion Circle reputation farming. As a result, you will rarely find many people collecting any Silithyst. Most often, if at all, you will find players doing this activity while waiting for their turn to enter a battleground, and sometimes raid groups while forming an instance run.

Trivia

This story makes obvious references to Frank Herbert's Dune. The similarities are very striking: a faction of "good guys" (Atreides/the Alliance) battles against a faction of "bad guys" (Harkonnen/the Horde) for possession of a vital area (Arrakis/Silithus) known for a "precious substance". In Dune spice is formed in geysers known as spice blows caused by the lifeprocesses of its famous sand worms. Based on the quote, "The spice must flow"(spice/silithyst).