Magical X: what are magic items made of?

[Ascalaphus]

I'm tinkering around with a more elaborate system of harvesting valuable bits from slain monsters. This has to do with a Stone Age campaign with no monetary economy to speak of.

So now I'm looking at creating magic items and wondering exactly what kind of precious components get used?

I'm not looking for a RAW/rules explanation. Creating a magic item costs X GP worth of components. I'm looking for fluff ideas about what those components might be.

It's interesting to note that you can enchant an item quite a while after it's been made. You can take the centuries-old ancestral masterwork sword and enchant it. So it's not (necessarily) something mixed into the ingredients of the item itself; more like some infusion.

Is there perhaps a universal ingredient, that you spray onto a magic item to make it receptive to magic?

I'm hoping for interesting fluff ideas here :)

[Zarzuakar]

Daemons like to use souls to enchant items. They even discuss how much certain souls are considered to be worth. Not exactly good fluff for a good aligned game, but still fun nonetheless.

Scroll down until you hit The Soul Trade.

Otherwise, I've seen crushed various gems, poultices, liquids, etc.

[Ascalaphus]

Hmm, souls are interesting, although maybe a bit out of reach for low-level nice-alignment PCs *eg*

[Lathiira]

Rare woods, perhaps treated in unusual ways (e.g. struck by lightning, growing from a magical pool, etc.).

A crystal grown from the lip of a volcano, somehow surviving the turbulent eruptions of the fire mountain.

Pixie wings, a lock of hair from a nymph freely given, ye olde unicorn's horn, dragon scales (preferably freely given).

If you have access to 2E Monster Manuals, lots of those critters had notes on what their body parts were good for.

[Sesharan]

Well, you can start getting soul gems as early as level 3- Cacodaemons can do it for you, and Summon Cacodaemon is a 2nd level spell. Remember kids, one commoner is worth a second level scroll, two are worth a third level scroll, and four are worth a fourth level scroll! Know your soulconomy!

[Jeraa]

The necessary components could have something to do with the item itself.

If you want to make a Ring of Regeneration, you need trolls blood, or something else from a regenerating creature. Belts of Giant Strength might require something from a particularly strong creature (say, minotaur horn). Ghost Touch weapons could require a piece of an incorporeal creature (if you can figure out some way to get that). Bane weapons might require samples from creatures its used against (dragon parts for dragon bane, undead bane requiring parts from undead, etc.)

Items granting flight could require rare feathers. Bonuses to armor class may require scales or hides from creatures with a high natural armor. Cloaks of Displacement require displacer beast hides (or something equivalent, as displacer beats aren't in Pathfinder.)

Then there are the components that are really hard. A Robe of Scintillating Colors might require essence extracted from a rainbow.

If a creature is particularly well known for something (like fire elementals and fire), then its body parts can be used for similar enchantments.