Mods/Thaumcraft/Node

Aura Nodes are the primary source of ../vis/ in Thaumcraft. They are scattered across the landscape, including over water. They may also be found above temples or near other structures. Each node has one or (usually more) types of vis that it produces, and a strength level for each type (usually all strengths are the same, but there are exceptions). When vis is drawn from a node, its strength is reduced until it regenerates, but if any type is completely drained, the node may fail to regenerate that type, or do so more slowly. The aspects of a node are random, but affected by the biome they are found in.

A node also has a "node type" which affects its behavior:
 * Normal: The baseline, no special behavior.
 * Bright: Regenerates faster
 * Sinister:  Normally found embedded in an ../Obsidian Tower/.  Regenerates slower (?), creates an "eerie biome" for a small distance around it.  This biome will spawn ../Hungry Zombies/ and perhaps ../wisp/s.  When seen with magical vision (see below) it has a distinctive dark core.
 * Hungry: Very Dangerous!  This menace to life and property will pull in any entities in the vicinity and damage them.  A player can easily be killed by this, especially since the pulling is quite disorienting.  If it's a player, their dropped items and experience will shortly be sucked in as well.  They will even rip nearby blocks out of the landscape and suck them in.
 * If a player is foolhardy enough to try and scan them, they will find that a hungry node keeps the aspects of all items and blocks it has absorbed.
 * Detection: If found on land, this will leave them in the middle of a distinctive crater, and if the block-ripping is visible, that will be quite distinctive.  If found at see, they may be less obvious, but squids dying in midair are a pretty good sign.  Even without magical vision, they have a distinctive pulsating appearance.
 * Tainted: These nodes create a ../Taint/ed Land biome around them, which can spread outward slowly but inexorably.

Nodes are faintly visible as a small shimmer in midair. With a ../Thaumometer/ or ../Goggles of Revealing/, they can be seen more clearly, and both devices can reveal their type, aspects, and current strengths.

A node can be tapped by right-holding a ../wand/ at it, but this will only drain Primal Aspects. More advanced work can capture a node and place it elsewhere, or use it in magical constructions.