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Netherese Library / Re: Contribution sent to the library of Vastiir
« on: June 29, 2018, 11:18:32 am »
For the library of Valstiir from Manus Morwegen. To increase the general level of public awareness, I compiled this booklet with a basic description of metals and alloys.
Spoiler
Iron.
Iron is often regarded as the most basic of metals. Indeed, this metal is found most often and is loved by smelters and smiths for simplicity of processing, strength and ease of making alloys.
Iron ore can differ significantly. The quantity and composition of impurities can easily determine the place of extraction of iron ore and significantly affect the price, as well as priceless for geological exploration. For example… The region around the Hadrian is unique in that the quality and composition of the ore found in it is approximately the same even in places of extraction with considerable distance from each other. Along with the formations of the lava cave, a shallow bedding of valuable ores and precious stones to the surface, and the close proximity of the passages to Underdark, this indicates a geological anomaly. Perhaps it is caused by a small thickness of a tectonic plate in this region, or points to its volcanic origin or a destructive earthquakes in the past. Of course, I'm not a professional geologist and my knowledge is derived from the general dwarven education and training courses of my order. Nevertheless, they are sufficient for basic analysis and geological exploration. For further study you need a specialist.
Iron ore also has a unique ability to retain energies, including planar ones. Many attribute this property to magnetism, but research in this area is still underway. Unfortunately, I would not be able to disclose their results even if I had this knowledge. Curious is the fact that planetouched iron subjected to processing preserves and even enhances the qualities obtained. But previously processed can not acquire them naturally and is only amenable to enchantment. The most striking example is the shadow iron that is common in this region, but other varieties exist. Despite the ease with which iron can be turned into alloys, this does not apply to the planetouched ore. The purity of the metal is extremely important for the retention of unusual qualities and any of its violations can lead to their loss or even cause harmful effects due to the energy outburst.
It is a mistake to assume that iron does not possess miraculous properties by itself. Processed at low temperatures, it retains quality unpleasant and even destructive for creatures of Fey origin and is called "Cold Iron". Unfortunately, such a blade is hardly suitable for long-term use as the main weapon.
Speaking of alloys. Most iron alloys are called steel. Some steel is not afraid of rust, some better hold the cutting edge, or more flexible. There is no ideal steel, it's all matter of purpose. In fact, most of the so-called iron weapons produced in the surrounding lands to some extent is steel. Otherwise, it would be barely fit for long heated battle. Among steel, of course, there are no stronger varieties than dwarven. Almost every clan has its own secrets of steel making and their features are different. For example - darksteel, extremely hard steel only produced by the clan Ironstar. If you have an opportunity to buy genuine darksteel weapon from an Ironstar dwarf, well… don’t think twice.
Truly, iron is wondrous metal, often underappreciated.
Arandur.
Knowledgeable dwarf can not talk about steel and not mention arandur. True, this metal is almost unknown to other races and is rare, but its existence is not a secret. Raised from the lava depths, it is found only in igneous rock. Blue-green streaked metal, it turns silver-blue after processing. Arandur by its qualities resembles steel. Not afraid of rust, moderately flexible, but its main feature is the retaining cutting edge. As if this metal becomes stronger becoming thinner. Arandur weapons is rare but fully deserve to be called “Keen”. Rare adventurers become happy owners of such weapons, and they wonder why they do not have to sharpen it. Because it’s not steel, lads and lasses.
Bronze.
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Copper itself mostly used for coins, but bronze has much more practical applications. It is even easier to process than iron, so it serves as a material for household items and furniture. Its color pleases the eye, it looks good with wood and over the years is covered with a noble patina that only add to the item value. Less well-known use of bronze is to cover the steel tools with a thin layer of it. This prevents sparks, reducing the threat of fire in dry places or places with explosive gas emissions.
Silver.
Not much can be said about silver, as this metal is widely known and everyone has to deal with it. Appreciated for its beauty, it’s also known to be harmful for shapechangers like werebeasts and for vampyres. Maybe there’s more creatures vulnerable to silver, who knows? Of course, do not expect that your enemy will crumble to dust from one touch to a silver necklace. Correctly made weapons and armor of silver, that's what can give you an advantage. Silver holds well the enchantments, especially those that protect against electricity (everyone seen amulets that protect you from electricity, very practical item to have). Under the influence of strong enchantment, silver becomes stronger and not much inferior to steel.
The so-called alchemical silver is the way to put silver on steel. Thus, we get a weapon that is destructive for some beings without extremely expensive enchantments to increase the strength of silver.
As a side note, use garlic in battle with a vampire, for a short time it will make it difficult for the monster to evade your attacks. Belladonna leaves will help you to avoid werewolf attacks much easier for a short time.
Electrum.
Electrum is a naturally occurring silver-gold alloy that usually worth half the price of equal piece of pure gold. Not much can be said about it except that electrum-plated steel is used to produce Storm Stars. Invention of Netheril empire, these morning stars allow user to hurl lightning at his enemies. Unfortunately those items is very rare and I do not know who has the secret of their creation.
Gold.
Gold is loved by everyone. Soft and easy to shape. One can judge the welfare of a region that stamping it’s own gold coins through calculating the content of pure gold in them. In addition to its undoubted economic utility, gold is widely used in jewelry and alchemy. A vessel of gold, albeit expensive, can hold acid without fear of being shattered. Enchanters love gold for its unprecedented ability to hold spells, especially protecting against acid and fire. Most of the magic jewelry is made of gold. There are even armor made of enchanted gold. Enchantments on them are powerful, but the cost and, most importantly, the weight of such armor make it hardly practical for a warrior.
Platinum.
Platinum is costly silver-like metal sometimes used as a currency to reduce the weight of gold in large transactions. From platinum, jewelry for the nobility is often made. The remaining qualities of platinum hardly deserve to be remembered, since other metals exceed it in certain properties at a much lower cost.
Mithral.
Mithral (or Mithril) is favorite of elves and armored spellcasters. Lighter than other metals, while maintaining strength and flexibility. Cleaner than even silver and platinum. Mithral ore is rare, but easily distinguishable as this metal naturally tends to purity and almost does not contain defects. The smelting of mithral is not much different from the smelting of steel, although the temperature of the smelter should be higher than usual. The real difficulty lies in its forging. This metal remembers its previous form and seeks to return to it until you "persuade" it to keep the new form. In other words, you need to apply the right amount of force to the right parts of the workpiece while you keep it hot, for a long time. It is painful to admit, but in the mithril forging, the elves have reached great heights than dwarves. Do not get it wrong, we are able to make many products from this metal. Just elves make them thinner and somehow manage to apply a pattern to them.
Some bards believe that a mixture of mithril and steel can create adamantine. The only thing you can achieve in this way is to make the dwarven blacksmith laugh before losing consciousness.
Adamantium.
Adamantium is a tricky beast. Adamantium is correct name since adamantine is the name of alloy. But since the difference is not obvious, it's easier to just use both names as you like and just clarify whether you're talking about a pure metal or alloy.
Adamantium ore can be found only in places of combined geological and magical anomaly known as earth nodes. Similar anomalies of a different nature exist in the underdark. I do not know their names, but the vile drows use them to protect themselves from magical influence from outside, which greatly complicates the battles. Rarely you can find small quantities of metal in the meteorites. For those who have not received special training it is extremely difficult to distinguish adamantium from ordinary stone.
Adamantium ore is hard to process since when it reaches a certain extremely high temperature, it very quickly passes into a liquid state and also freezes as quickly. The task is complicated by the fact that this ore contains a lot of impurities with a close melting point. If you fail to divide them, then the processed batch of ore will be simply ruined. Masters alchemists are able to process this metal in small quantities. Drow handle it in large quantities, but their methods are imperfect and they support the quality of metal with their foul magic. Such items is not very valuable since they will degrade under the sunlight. You can process a large number of high quality ingots only in specially equipped dwarven smelteries, which are rare even in the dwarven mainland since ore itself is found not so often.
Adamantine is an alloy of adamantium that looks jet-black but have a green sheen under the light produced by natural fire, or purple-white sheen under the magical light. Using this property to distinguish authentic adamantine from forgery. Adamantine is known for its strength and ability to remain undamaged under horrendous strikes. Adamantine weapons are equal to enchanted weapons and therefore able to penetrate through some kinds of magic shields. From here went the manner of comparing the fists of the most experienced monks to adamantine.
Many people consider adamantine to be the strongest of metals. This is a mistake, and I will write about the next metal to dispel this myth. Obdurium is a pale violet metal which is harder than even adamantine. This incredibly rare metal represents the pinnacle of non-magical metal strength. It is also extraordinarily expensive. I will be honest with you, I have never seen a product from this metal in my life, since it is stored in the most intimate dwarven treasures. I've heard of humans with a couple of items made from obdurium, but I do not know whether this is a simple rumor or truth.
Of course, there are many other less well-known metals and alloys that I would like to talk about. But this booklet is brief and is devoted only to the metals and alloys that most of you, with some degree of probability, will use or discuss.
Spoiler
Iron.
Iron is often regarded as the most basic of metals. Indeed, this metal is found most often and is loved by smelters and smiths for simplicity of processing, strength and ease of making alloys.
Iron ore can differ significantly. The quantity and composition of impurities can easily determine the place of extraction of iron ore and significantly affect the price, as well as priceless for geological exploration. For example… The region around the Hadrian is unique in that the quality and composition of the ore found in it is approximately the same even in places of extraction with considerable distance from each other. Along with the formations of the lava cave, a shallow bedding of valuable ores and precious stones to the surface, and the close proximity of the passages to Underdark, this indicates a geological anomaly. Perhaps it is caused by a small thickness of a tectonic plate in this region, or points to its volcanic origin or a destructive earthquakes in the past. Of course, I'm not a professional geologist and my knowledge is derived from the general dwarven education and training courses of my order. Nevertheless, they are sufficient for basic analysis and geological exploration. For further study you need a specialist.
Iron ore also has a unique ability to retain energies, including planar ones. Many attribute this property to magnetism, but research in this area is still underway. Unfortunately, I would not be able to disclose their results even if I had this knowledge. Curious is the fact that planetouched iron subjected to processing preserves and even enhances the qualities obtained. But previously processed can not acquire them naturally and is only amenable to enchantment. The most striking example is the shadow iron that is common in this region, but other varieties exist. Despite the ease with which iron can be turned into alloys, this does not apply to the planetouched ore. The purity of the metal is extremely important for the retention of unusual qualities and any of its violations can lead to their loss or even cause harmful effects due to the energy outburst.
It is a mistake to assume that iron does not possess miraculous properties by itself. Processed at low temperatures, it retains quality unpleasant and even destructive for creatures of Fey origin and is called "Cold Iron". Unfortunately, such a blade is hardly suitable for long-term use as the main weapon.
Speaking of alloys. Most iron alloys are called steel. Some steel is not afraid of rust, some better hold the cutting edge, or more flexible. There is no ideal steel, it's all matter of purpose. In fact, most of the so-called iron weapons produced in the surrounding lands to some extent is steel. Otherwise, it would be barely fit for long heated battle. Among steel, of course, there are no stronger varieties than dwarven. Almost every clan has its own secrets of steel making and their features are different. For example - darksteel, extremely hard steel only produced by the clan Ironstar. If you have an opportunity to buy genuine darksteel weapon from an Ironstar dwarf, well… don’t think twice.
Truly, iron is wondrous metal, often underappreciated.
Arandur.
Knowledgeable dwarf can not talk about steel and not mention arandur. True, this metal is almost unknown to other races and is rare, but its existence is not a secret. Raised from the lava depths, it is found only in igneous rock. Blue-green streaked metal, it turns silver-blue after processing. Arandur by its qualities resembles steel. Not afraid of rust, moderately flexible, but its main feature is the retaining cutting edge. As if this metal becomes stronger becoming thinner. Arandur weapons is rare but fully deserve to be called “Keen”. Rare adventurers become happy owners of such weapons, and they wonder why they do not have to sharpen it. Because it’s not steel, lads and lasses.
Bronze.
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Copper itself mostly used for coins, but bronze has much more practical applications. It is even easier to process than iron, so it serves as a material for household items and furniture. Its color pleases the eye, it looks good with wood and over the years is covered with a noble patina that only add to the item value. Less well-known use of bronze is to cover the steel tools with a thin layer of it. This prevents sparks, reducing the threat of fire in dry places or places with explosive gas emissions.
Silver.
Not much can be said about silver, as this metal is widely known and everyone has to deal with it. Appreciated for its beauty, it’s also known to be harmful for shapechangers like werebeasts and for vampyres. Maybe there’s more creatures vulnerable to silver, who knows? Of course, do not expect that your enemy will crumble to dust from one touch to a silver necklace. Correctly made weapons and armor of silver, that's what can give you an advantage. Silver holds well the enchantments, especially those that protect against electricity (everyone seen amulets that protect you from electricity, very practical item to have). Under the influence of strong enchantment, silver becomes stronger and not much inferior to steel.
The so-called alchemical silver is the way to put silver on steel. Thus, we get a weapon that is destructive for some beings without extremely expensive enchantments to increase the strength of silver.
As a side note, use garlic in battle with a vampire, for a short time it will make it difficult for the monster to evade your attacks. Belladonna leaves will help you to avoid werewolf attacks much easier for a short time.
Electrum.
Electrum is a naturally occurring silver-gold alloy that usually worth half the price of equal piece of pure gold. Not much can be said about it except that electrum-plated steel is used to produce Storm Stars. Invention of Netheril empire, these morning stars allow user to hurl lightning at his enemies. Unfortunately those items is very rare and I do not know who has the secret of their creation.
Gold.
Gold is loved by everyone. Soft and easy to shape. One can judge the welfare of a region that stamping it’s own gold coins through calculating the content of pure gold in them. In addition to its undoubted economic utility, gold is widely used in jewelry and alchemy. A vessel of gold, albeit expensive, can hold acid without fear of being shattered. Enchanters love gold for its unprecedented ability to hold spells, especially protecting against acid and fire. Most of the magic jewelry is made of gold. There are even armor made of enchanted gold. Enchantments on them are powerful, but the cost and, most importantly, the weight of such armor make it hardly practical for a warrior.
Platinum.
Platinum is costly silver-like metal sometimes used as a currency to reduce the weight of gold in large transactions. From platinum, jewelry for the nobility is often made. The remaining qualities of platinum hardly deserve to be remembered, since other metals exceed it in certain properties at a much lower cost.
Mithral.
Mithral (or Mithril) is favorite of elves and armored spellcasters. Lighter than other metals, while maintaining strength and flexibility. Cleaner than even silver and platinum. Mithral ore is rare, but easily distinguishable as this metal naturally tends to purity and almost does not contain defects. The smelting of mithral is not much different from the smelting of steel, although the temperature of the smelter should be higher than usual. The real difficulty lies in its forging. This metal remembers its previous form and seeks to return to it until you "persuade" it to keep the new form. In other words, you need to apply the right amount of force to the right parts of the workpiece while you keep it hot, for a long time. It is painful to admit, but in the mithril forging, the elves have reached great heights than dwarves. Do not get it wrong, we are able to make many products from this metal. Just elves make them thinner and somehow manage to apply a pattern to them.
Some bards believe that a mixture of mithril and steel can create adamantine. The only thing you can achieve in this way is to make the dwarven blacksmith laugh before losing consciousness.
Adamantium.
Adamantium is a tricky beast. Adamantium is correct name since adamantine is the name of alloy. But since the difference is not obvious, it's easier to just use both names as you like and just clarify whether you're talking about a pure metal or alloy.
Adamantium ore can be found only in places of combined geological and magical anomaly known as earth nodes. Similar anomalies of a different nature exist in the underdark. I do not know their names, but the vile drows use them to protect themselves from magical influence from outside, which greatly complicates the battles. Rarely you can find small quantities of metal in the meteorites. For those who have not received special training it is extremely difficult to distinguish adamantium from ordinary stone.
Adamantium ore is hard to process since when it reaches a certain extremely high temperature, it very quickly passes into a liquid state and also freezes as quickly. The task is complicated by the fact that this ore contains a lot of impurities with a close melting point. If you fail to divide them, then the processed batch of ore will be simply ruined. Masters alchemists are able to process this metal in small quantities. Drow handle it in large quantities, but their methods are imperfect and they support the quality of metal with their foul magic. Such items is not very valuable since they will degrade under the sunlight. You can process a large number of high quality ingots only in specially equipped dwarven smelteries, which are rare even in the dwarven mainland since ore itself is found not so often.
Adamantine is an alloy of adamantium that looks jet-black but have a green sheen under the light produced by natural fire, or purple-white sheen under the magical light. Using this property to distinguish authentic adamantine from forgery. Adamantine is known for its strength and ability to remain undamaged under horrendous strikes. Adamantine weapons are equal to enchanted weapons and therefore able to penetrate through some kinds of magic shields. From here went the manner of comparing the fists of the most experienced monks to adamantine.
Many people consider adamantine to be the strongest of metals. This is a mistake, and I will write about the next metal to dispel this myth. Obdurium is a pale violet metal which is harder than even adamantine. This incredibly rare metal represents the pinnacle of non-magical metal strength. It is also extraordinarily expensive. I will be honest with you, I have never seen a product from this metal in my life, since it is stored in the most intimate dwarven treasures. I've heard of humans with a couple of items made from obdurium, but I do not know whether this is a simple rumor or truth.
Of course, there are many other less well-known metals and alloys that I would like to talk about. But this booklet is brief and is devoted only to the metals and alloys that most of you, with some degree of probability, will use or discuss.