Oil

“We dig and dig and dig. Sometimes we find nothing, but sometimes we find the black water. The black water is good. It is used to make other things. I don’t like the black water, though, because it makes fire happy.”
- Horde worker

Oil is a neutral chemical substance that is composed of either synthetic or organic compounds, resulting from the natural metabolic decay of animal or plant life. While oil can be synthesized in a laboratory environment by using gathered organic resources, the bulk of its existence is attributed to layers of dead animal and plant life that have been buried beneath layers of a planet’s crust. Over time, immense heat and pressure form deposits of oil beneath the planet’s surface.

Oil is found in abundance on both oceanic and temperate planets. On these types of worlds, drilling platforms are used to break beneath the surface to find the oil deposits beneath. Oil is still used in primitive cultures as a fuel source, but its main application is to be used in the production of starships, weapons casings, and other synthetic plastics.