Promethium & Decay

Promethium is gorgeous and impatient. Mining it is the easy part. Keeping it is the game.

Phase 1 — The Haul (safe)

Fresh from a mined block, promethium needs 100 blocks to reach the surface. While it's climbing:

• nothing decays — your stack is fully protected
• you can't move or stabilize it yet

Depth protects. Think of these 100 blocks as the calm before the clock.

Phase 2 — The Surface (the clock is running)

The instant promethium surfaces, it's exposed — and decay begins. Half-life: 17.7 hours.

   surfaced -17.7h-> 1/2 -17.7h-> 1/4 -17.7h-> 1/8 -> ... -> gone

It's not a cliff — it's a slope. You don't lose everything at hour 17.7; you lose half. Then half of the rest. Every hour you wait costs you. The decay is gentle but it never sleeps.

Phase 3 — Stabilize (the split)

You always run surfaced promethium through the Stabilization Plant. How much survives depends only on how fast you got there:

• On time -> the whole batch stabilizes into $PROM.
• Late -> you keep what survived as $PROM; the decayed slice settles into the Relief Fund and pays stakers.

   stabilize fast  ->  ~100% $PROM   |  ~0% lost
   stabilize late  ->  less  $PROM   |  the rest to the Relief Fund

You never lose everything — you lose a slice, and the slice grows the longer you sit. Promethium rewards the quick and quietly redistributes from the slow.

Pro move: stabilize the moment it surfaces. Every hour at the surface is a slice handed to the Relief Fund instead of to you. Better yet, let an agent do it the second it's ready — see Agentic Mining.

Next: Mining.