Naurnen, believed to be a chemical composed of natural sulfur, resin, naphtha, salt and quicklime, was a secret of the Crown for most of Gondor's history. It was originally developed in Númenor, but saw little use by the Faithful, who considered adhesive flame weaponry to be unnecessarily cruel and inhumane, Tarannon reversed this policy in the eighth century of the Third Age. He made extensive use of Naurnen weapons in his campaigns of conquest. The recipe for Naurnen was known only to the king and a few select naval officers. Unfortunately, at the time of the Kin-strife, these officers were naturally beholden to Castamir and fled with the rebels to Umbar, enabling the Corsairs to turn the weapon against their former countrymen. When the royal line perished, soon after the loss of Minas Ithil, the knowledge of the creation of Naurnen was lost. And although rumors of it surfaced from time to time during the era of the Ruling Stewards, it never achieved widespread use among Gondor's Fleet, Umbar, on the other hand, continued to make use of it as late as the War of the Ring. In practical use, Naurnen was a flammable oil kept in ceramic jars that permitted neither light nor air. It was hurled at the enemy through the use of catapults. When the ceramic broke, the contents would spill and splash, bursting instantly into flame upon contact with any amount of moisture. (It was this watery requirement which made Naurnen almost exclusively a naval weapon.) When the jars struck the water they would break open and release their contents as a pool of flame, floating atop the surface and threatening to burn any nearby ship. Gondorian marines were sometimes equipped with hand-held ceramic jars containing the mixture. At various times in Gondor's history the Fleet experimented with the use of a pump mounted on the prow of its warships, which could be used to launch the flaming liquid at close-range enemy vessels. A variation in the common formula was used to create a resin which coated ballista bolts, arrows and crossbow projectiles. These bolts could be lit with regular fire and then fired. When they came into contact with moisture-—even sea-spray was enough to trigger the chemical reaction——the resin would burst into violent flame. Weapons of this sort transformed many vessels into floating pillars of flame. Costly to produce and dangerous to use, Naurnen was a risky business. Captains and officers were well trained in its use, and took care to prevent accidental explosion or ignition. Some accidents occurred, but by and large the sailors and marines treated the jars and barrels of this weapon with due Care.