What is nora? To be more detailed, I quote this Also of note, it was mentioned that humans are extinct mostly in Poxnora and were never really suppose to be in the game for...reasons. This is intentional and somehow related to the nora (according to gedden again.)
nora is souls. or maybe energy leaking out of Poxanthuru's worldsoul or something. maybe it's like the rukh from Magi
Seemingly, nora is a universal resource that can be used to make almost anything, directly or indirectly, it also is the material of the "souls" of things and is the driving force of things like elementals/constructs. Also, Pox, is a curse, you'll see it used in phrases like " Euan, you poxer!" So pox nora can be translated as "[swear word] + [resource]" so it applies to many analogies to current problems. Also, there is a particular event in the history of pox that changes the world after this resource is used by one faction in a war, leading to terrible consequences, called the catastrophe and it talks about a chain reaction of exploding nora. These things make me believe that poxnora lore was initially a analogy to the misuse of nuclear energy to make weapons.
Nora is soul energy simple enough. The power of the soul is limitless and breathes life into inanimate objects like constructs and ragdolls like stitched.
I would say that it's just "souls" except that Gedden said that it darker than anything else in PoxNora. There's certainly parallels between Elsarin's Fall and the theoretical WW3. Also there's some weirdness with the idea that nora is "souls" and the fact that nora is mined from underground. On an additional note Deepcave Extractor's flavor text (which @Gedden says knows what Nora is) states "If they could still speak, perhaps we could understand their amazing ability to draw nora from the ground, and why it brings them such sorrow." I would posit the question, "If it brings them such sorow, then why do they keep drawing it from the ground? Is there some greater good concept at play here?" Also, do we know exactly what nora fonts are? Why are there points above ground where nora will seep out over time? Another note, Norafire Elementals flavor text taken with Magma Elementals flavor text implies that the fires of Sheoul are underneath all of Poxanthuru or at least as far as the Ironfist Stronghold. As a quick note towards saying that Nora comes from the ground we have the Nora Miner ability (and the many units with flavor texts related to it, such as Norafire Elemental above) as well as the flavor text of Nora Seep. Although Nora Seep brings up another question, why are the elves thinking it's a message from the Gods? The only gods I'm aware of in the Pox Mythos are Al'Mara and Il'Tara and I see no reason why both would be in on the same omen, or same anything, ever. Also, the FS faction bonus and much of the lore surrounding them (including the existence of Marsh Song and Nora Well) seem to indicate that the Boghoppers especially have some kind of stronger affinity for nora to the point that Gekaal has an ability like "One With Nora". Wonder why? Alot of questions but one thing is incredibly clear, Nora is a very pliable resource. It can be used to (either summon units or spawn units not sure), it can form physical barriers, it can create fire, it can create weather, it can reveal unknown knowledge or it can conceal what we once knew (UD spell Darkness). Nora is capable of both destruction, creation and modification. Kind of reminds me of Moirai.
It's blue nature spooge that has ridiculous surface tension, always forming balls when left to its own devices.
