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"In WWII, they had a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. I think the modern equivalent of that is that there are no jaded, bored people in the high-tech industry, in the land of really good hardcore geeks."
- Neal Stephenson

Glowstone  
  A mineral that absorbs light by day and emits it by night.  

"...This is the city of High Kavalaan. Some people call it the Firefort."

He could see why at a glance. Built into the shoulder of the mountain, rock beneath it and rock to its back, the Kavalar city was also a fortress - square and thick, massively walled, with narrow slit windows... But the lights of the city itself were not reflected; the walls and streets of Larteyn burned with a dull, glowering fire of their own.

"Glowstone," Gwen told him in answer to his unvoiced question. "It absorbs light during the day and gives it back at night. On High Kavalaan it was used mostly for jewelry, but they quarried it by the ton and shipped it to Warlorn for the Festival."

Technovelgy from Dying of the Light, by George RR Martin.
Published by Baen in 1977
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