Irradiated Valakkar Pearl (Grade A)
Harvesting
- Category
- Animal
- Sub-type
- pearl
- Source
- Valakkar
AI Overview
Compiled by AI from community sources — may be incomplete or inaccurate; verify before relying on it.
A radiation-altered organic pearl harvested from the hide of a Valakkar sandworm, the lowest of the irradiated grade tiers, collected primarily to trade or to turn in to the Banu merchant Wikelo.
What it is
The Valakkar pearl is a biological concretion that forms inside the skin of a Valakkar, a gigantic sandworm creature. When a large piece of grit penetrates the worm's thick hide and cannot be expelled, the surrounding skin grows to encase it; layers of organic matter then coat the grit, isolating it from the creature's vulnerable dermis to prevent infection. Over time these encased grains build into substantial "pearls." This "Irradiated" variant comes from a Valakkar that was exposed to radiation over a long period, which is described in-fiction as giving the pearl unusual properties. As an in-game item it is a two-handed carryable object: roughly 0.21 x 0.19 x 0.21 m, about 12 kg, with a cargo volume of 2,900 microSCU (0.0029 SCU). Internal class name: `Carryable_2H_FL_Vlk_Pearl_Irradiated_Medium_03`.
Sources:starcitizen.toolsapi.star-citizen.wikifinder.cstone.space
Gameplay use
Valakkar pearls are primarily a trade/turn-in commodity rather than a crafting or medical consumable. The headline use is the Wikelo Emporium: Wikelo is a Banu trader and mission giver who runs collection contracts, and irradiated Valakkar pearls are among the rare materials he requests. Players accept a contract physically inside the Emporium bazaar, then deposit the required items via the on-site freight elevator; the reward is delivered once per contract to the local inventory at that turn-in location. High-grade pearls (Grade AAA) are listed as a requirement for premium rewards such as the Starlancer MAX, alongside other rare goods (Wikelo Favors, Ace Interceptor helmets, Pure Carinite). As the lowest grade, a Grade A pearl is the most common drop and is generally used to fill lower-value contracts or sold off rather than saved for top-tier ship rewards. Pearls can also simply be sold for credits as loot.
Value & where to sell
There is no fixed NPC vendor buy/sell price for this item in the item databases (cstone lists it as not directly sold). Value is set on the player marketplace and is highly volatile and grade-dependent. UEX marketplace listings show the broad Valakkar-pearl market clustered in the high-six- to seven-figure aUEC-per-unit range: a generic "Valakkar Pearls" listing around 450K aUEC/unit; Grade AA listings around 2M aUEC/unit and as high as 10M aUEC; Grade AAA want-to-buy orders near 800K-1.3M and want-to-sell asks up to ~2-3M aUEC/unit. Grade A, being the bottom tier, sits below these AA/AAA figures and is the least valuable of the irradiated variants. Treat all figures as snapshots that drift patch to patch.
Sources:uexcorp.spaceuexcorp.spaceuexcorp.spaceuexcorp.spacefinder.cstone.space
Where to harvest
Pearls come from killing Valakkar sandworms and looting their body. The Valakkar is native to Leir III in the Leir system, and also appears as an invasive species on Monox in the Pyro system (revealed at CitizenCon 2954), which is the practically accessible spawn location in the current build. The creature was introduced around Alpha 4.1, and the Storm Breaker / Apex Valakkar encounter (a raid-like event with radiation hazards) was added in Alpha 4.2.0 — players summon and fight the worm, then loot pearls and Valakkar teeth/fangs from it. The "Irradiated" pearls in particular are tied to the radiation-hazard encounter context.
Sources:mmorpg.comrobertsspaceindustries.comrobertsspaceindustries.com
Source
Source creature: the Valakkar, a species of gigantic sandworm. The pearl forms within its hide as described above. Confirms the catalog's existing "source creature: Valakkar" entry.
Grades & variants
Valakkar pearls are sorted by quality into multiple visually distinguishable tiers with unique per-tier names (the 4.2.1 Wikelo rework introduced five quality levels and removed random reward rolls). The irradiated pearl line spans Grade A, AA, and AAA (with lower grades B/C also referenced in item data). Grade reflects purity/rarity: Grade A is the lowest/most common irradiated tier, while Grade AAA is the rarest "luxury collectible" and commands the highest prices and the best Wikelo rewards. The distinction of THIS item (Grade A) is that it is the entry-level irradiated grade — lowest value, easiest to obtain, and suitable for filling cheaper contracts rather than the marquee ship turn-ins. Parallel irradiated body-part variants exist (fangs graded up to Apex, hides, eggs).
Effects
No medical, consumable, or buff/healing/poison effects are documented for this item — it is not an edible or medical harvestable. The in-fiction "unusual properties" from radiation exposure are flavor and a value/grade justification, not a gameplay buff.
Lore / discovery
The Valakkar entered Star Citizen lore as a giant sandworm native to Leir III that became an invasive species on Pyro's Monox. Its pearls are a natural defensive byproduct — the worm encasing foreign grit to protect itself, biologically analogous to how a mollusk forms a pearl. The irradiated variants are framed around long-term radiation exposure, tying them to the hazardous environments where the worm is hunted. The creature and its harvestable loot debuted in the Alpha 4.1 era, with the dedicated Storm Breaker encounter following in 4.2.0.
Trivia
- The internal asset name marks it as a "Medium_03" carryable, distinguishing pearl sizes/grades at the data level. - It is a two-handed carryable, so a player must physically carry it (occupying both hands) to move and deposit it — relevant for hauling stacks to a Wikelo freight elevator. - Despite "Irradiated" in the name, it carries no documented player-damage/radiation effect in inventory; the label is lore/grading flavor.
Some data from starcitizen.tools (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).