Celegian Metals and Materials

Return to Life in Celegia

Celegian Metals and Materials

The Dweomermetals and other Extraordinary Materials.

In the industry of the Empire there are several important metals, namely iron, steel, nickel, copper, tin, lead, etc.... These are the main industrial metals, with which the Empire arms its troops and builds its great works. But if you ask the average citizen the most important metal in the Empire, they will probably name one of the dweomermetals. The dweomermetals are those rare and magically active minerals that are required before the strongest magics can be rendered into an item. The actual importance of these metals is far greater than the quantity used of them would indicate, since only a small amount of them are required to create many important devices. An enchantment can be placed into any item, but metal is best at holding those enchantments. Any metal will hold an enchantment, but the dweomermetals will hold vastly more than any comparable normal metal.

The dweomermetals are argent, adamantium, cuprium, mithril, and aurium. Each of the five of them has properties that make it more or less ideal for various purposes. Cuprium has a moderate capacity for dweomer and is soft and brittle. Further, it is an unimpressive lackluster gray, and will not take a shine under even the best of conditions. However, it is readily dissolved in various acids, and can then be rendered into a powder and added to various paints, dyes, and coatings. It can also be soaked into cloth, wood, and leather, or added to various other ingredients to make powders, philters, potions, ointments, unguents,..well, you get the idea. Cuprium is actually the most widely used dweomermetal, but most people have never seen the actual metal itself, even experienced mages who have been actively making items for years. Nearly every piece of enchanted clothing, most potions, many magic staves and rods and wands, all have cuprium helping to bind the enchantment. Cuprium is almost never alloyed with anything, but occasionally it is used with a small amount of silver added to improve its physical properties or to improve its performance when it is to be used as a pigment. The color cuprium adds on its own, with no further pigments, is a very subtle iridescence, that when used on spidersilk or linen gives a very nice effect.

Aurium is very soft, even softer than cuprium, but it is also very malleable. It has the second highest affinity for dweomer of any of the dweomermetals. It is a brilliant red and ruddy metal that can be polished easily to an extremely bright finish. It is a very pretty and attractive metal that is often used in jewelry, even mundane jewelry, simply for the very attractive appearance it presents. Since it is far more valuable than gold, this jewelry is almost always enchanted in one way or another. Because it is not a very sturdy metal, aurium is often mixed with another metal to strengthen it, usually gold or silver. Most alloys of aurium are of silver and/or gold, two parts silver or gold to three parts aurium. This alloy is harder and more durable than either pure aurium or pure gold, and is commonly called bloodgold. Lesser grades of aurium alloy are also called bloodgold, and are also desired for their appearance since the aurium admixture remains the dominant effect. Lesser grades of bloodgold may also be enchanted, and there is little technical difference between them and higher grades, except esthetically. Bloodgold has a very attractive color and luster, predominantly aurium's ruddiness with a golden or silvery sheen to the highlights. This alloy is the one most commonly used for magic jewelry. Brooches, phylacteries, necklaces, bracelets, etc, are often made of aurium. But aurium is most commonly used in applications where it may be inlaid into a larger surface of a more robust material. The bright and strong color of aurium suit it well to such applications, and in such uses it is often found inlaid into wands, staves, rods, censors, bowls, doors, walls, etc. Nearly any surface can accept an aurium inlay, and as long as there is not an excessive amount of wear, it is quite durable when used this way. A less common but even more decorative use of aurium is when it is drawn extremely fine and used as thread in clothing and tapestries. The beautiful color of aurium is especially well suited for these applications, and as long as there is a sturdy backing these sort of garments are usually very durable.

Argent is a another attractive metal, so much so that it is widely recognized as the most beautiful of the dweomermetals. Argent is hard and shiny while being fairly malleable and can be polished to an extremely fine polish. The color of argent is a rich, mellow, buttery glow, darker than gold but having a richer luster than that lesser metal. The real beauty of argent comes from the way it seems to spread light falling upon it into a rainbow of metallic colors that play and dance over its surface. This effect is independent of the surface polish, and even a roughly finished ingot will show this effect. Most argent is used in an alloy with steel, copper, or nickel, usually at least one half to two thirds argent, and the remainder being alloy metal. When it is alloyed with precious metals argent's rich luster is amplified into a blinding rainbow of glory. When it is alloyed with ferrous metals argent lends it's golden color to the piece, but the surface lustre is somewhat muted. One especially notable alloy of argent deserves mention, and that is ambergold. Ambergold is one third argent, one third silver, and one third copper, and is phenomenally useful for jewelry, weapons, and the like. Argent is only rarely mixed with aurium, because the two metals are nearly completely immiscible. This sort of blending problem is usually easily handled with magic, but the intense dweomerfixing strength of the alloy defeats most such measures. When argent bloodgold is created, it is a pleasure to look at indeed, as well as being phenomenally capable of fixing dweomers. Argent is unique in that it is used both as jewelry and as a structural metal. Argent is a versatile dweomermetal, and is used in many items and also in some of the lighter magic weapons. Argent is widely used where the appearance of an item is of importance, and is a primary ingredient in magical mirrors. Nearly every item can be made with argent, and if it were a little more effective at retaining enchantments it would be even in higher demand than it is, but it is only a little better at holding dweomer than is cuprium.

Mithril is one of the oldest and best known of the dweomermetals, and for good reason. Mithril is hard, durable, resists shock well, has a high melting point, polishes to a nice sheen, and is a quite attractive metal. Mithril is often called true silver, due to its similarity to that metal, but to the trained eye it is immediately recognizable. The color of mithril is exactly like silver, a rich silvery luster, but the metal is actually shinier than silver and gives a sharper sheen. When well polished, mithril begins to look almost transparent, as if you were looking down into the surface of the metal. It is a most unsettling effect and instantly recognizable once you have seen it. Mithril is only barely less strong than aurium at holding an enchantment, and is hugely more sturdy. Mithril is much stronger than steel and is the most common dweomermetal used in magical armors and weapons. Add in the fact that mithril is a lovely metal and it is easy to see why it is the most widely used in weapons, especially those used to impress as well as defeat a foe. Unfortunately, demand for mithril is much too high to allow it to be used pure, for the cost would be prohibitive. Most magic weapons are made of an alloy called puremetal, which is one tenth part mithril, one tenth part argent, one tenth part copper, one tenth part nickel, one tenth part silver,and one half iron. This alloy is tough, very hard, easy to forge, can be heat treated to make it even harder while keeping its flexibility, and best of all, won't rust even before it is enchanted. Other common alloys of mithril use three parts mithril, three parts argent and four parts aurium to make peacemetal, and half mithril and half argent to make bladesilver. ( Most smiths feel bladesilver to produce the finest weapons of all, when the aesthetics of the weapon have any say in the matter.)

Adamantium is often called the king of metals, and with good reason. It is extremely tough, extremely hard, and is quite malleable, although the force required to forge it is excessive. It is so refractory that magic must be used to generate enough heat to melt it. A bowl of adamantium can be used to heat iron until it boils into a vapor, and the adamantium will still be unwarmed. Indeed, one of the biggest drawbacks of using adamantium to make anything is the difficulty in doing anything to it. Adamantium is always used as an alloy, because the pure stuff is impossible to work with. Adamantium is most often alloyed with steel and aurium. Another problem with adamantium is that it is, to be frank, not a pretty metal at all. It is a dull dark gray, which sullenly refuses to accept any kind of high polish at all. It reflects light poorly, but it does betray its extraordinary nature by the electric blue highlights it displays under strong light, as well as having a sort of moire pattern to its surface which (if examined closely) seems to extend both above and below its surface. Adamantium is also brutally heavy, and has the charming property of granting its unlovely appearance to any alloy made of it, completely overwhelming the other metal's properties. It also is extremely rare and highly expensive. So why does anyone bother using the stuff at all? Because it can hold over triple the magic of aurium, its closest rival. It is almost perfect for armor and weapons, since an adamantium blade can be used to whittle a horseshoe even before it is enchanted. The simplest alloy of Adamantium is one third adamantium and two-thirds iron, and is called adamantine, a confusing situation to be sure. The alloy most commonly used is the remarkably ugly Dolemetal, so called for the dolerous effect it has on appearance. Dolemetal consists of one third adamantium, one third copper, and one third iron. For really powerful devices, aurium is substituted for the copper, creating Truemetal. Very rarely, the greatest wizardsmiths have a technique for smithing an alloy which is one third each of adamantium, aurium, and mithril, referred to as paramount alloy. Given the difficulty of working paramount alloy, this explains the legendary reputations of those smiths quite handily!

Given the prevalence of the number nine, many sages believe there to be four more dweomermetals waiting to be discovered. If this is true, then vast fortunes are awaiting some lucky soul who is able to exploit these new resources. Many sages have advanced the proposal that seigestone is actually an ore for one or more of these unknown dweomermetals, but if that is the case, seigestone has resisted any effort to smelt it, refine it, or otherwise separate it from the stone. Seigestone's irritating habit of absorbing utterly any magic turned against it has greatly hampered efforts along these lines as well.

Another less widely used material is Dural. Dural is a type of stone found in the deepest mines which contains a very high proportion of fundamental Stone. Dural is not an especially good stone to work with in construction, (it fractures easily, has a difficult-to-find cleavage plane structure, and is friable) but its extreme heaviness (it is five times denser than lead) gives it a niche market in exotic Sling Bullets and Seige ammunition, as well as a few occasional uses in shipbuilding for keel weights.

There are also a huge number of unique magic fixing materials that have been found in extremely limited quantities. The most common of these are fallen stars, starmetal, pure fundaments, skyshards, and mountainheart crystals. The utter lack of any kind of ore and the limited availability of samples of these materials has precluded the chance of searching out commercially useful amounts. The largest supply of dweomermetals in the Empire comes from the exotic and dangerous groves of wolframith trees grown in the Great Barrens. These groves supply a small but steady trickle of all of the dweomermetals, which is supplemented by occasional finds in Frippe and by an aggressive program which gives large rewards for any dweomermetal scrap turned in to the Empire.

A Note on armor made of variant materials:

The weight of armor made of various materials is set in the writeups in the Armor page. The hit points of various types of armor may also change, as an optional rule, based upon the ratio of the hit points of the base material versus iron. For example, iron has 30 hit points per inch, and a suit of iron Warplate has 60 hit points. if that warplate was made of glassteel, which has 25 hit points per inch, then the armor would haveonly 50 hit points. Conversely, if the warplate was made of paramount alloy (expensive!) which has 60 hit points per inch, then the armor would have 120 hit points.

Note that solid armors always calculate their weight, and hit points if the variant rule is used, based upon their base metal. Inlay materials are not present in large enough quantities to make much difference, and are ignored for this calculation.

Material Hardness Hitpoints per inch Notes

Iron 10 30 Gorgon or Irontree iron. Basic material.

Adamantium 100 100 Unusable pure. The King of Metals. Five times as dense as Iron.

Adamantine 20 40 Alloy of one third adamantium and two thirds iron. All Adamantium alloys ignore the hardness of any metal softer than them. Twice as heavy as iron.

Dolemetal 25 50 One third Adamantium, copper, and iron alloy. Used for top notch armor and weapons. Ignores the hardness of any object softer than it is. Three times as heavy as Iron.

Truemetal 30 50 One third Adamantium, Aurium, and iron alloy. Rare, hard to make. Used for incredible armor and weapons. Ignores the hardness of any object softer than it is. Three times as heavy as Iron.

Paramount Alloy 40 60 One third Adamantium, Aurium, and Mithril alloy. Barely usable. Ultra-rare. Very expensive. Awesome stuff. Ignores the hardness of any object softer than it is. Twice as heavy as Iron.

Argent 15 40 Very pretty metal. Weighs 1/3 less than iron.

Ambergold 18 30 Argent, copper, and gold alloy, used for magical jewelry.

Aurium 2 20 Very soft, rarely used while pure. 1.5 times as heavy as iron

Bloodgold 5 25 Commonly used alloy of Aurium and gold, woven into cloth, rope, etc.

Cuprium 10 5 Brittle and dull, always used as a coating. Same weight as Iron

Cuprium coated +5 +5 Add these numbers to cloth, paper, or leather treated with Cuprium.

Mithril 15 30 Very pretty. Half the weight of iron.

Puremetal 12 30 Mithril alloy that is One tenth Mithril, One tenth Argent, One tenth part Copper, one tenth part Silver, one tenth part Nickel, and one half iron. Same Weight as Iron.

Peacemetal 15 35 Three parts mithril, 3 parts argent, and four parts aurium. 1/4th lighter than Iron.

Blade Silver 20 50 Half mithril and half argent. Half the weight of Iron

Blood Silver 20 50 Same alloy used for armor. Half the weight of Iron.

Dural 8 30 Super dense stone. 8 times the weight of iron, five times the weight of Lead

Seigestone 15 60 Absorbs/destroys/cancels magic. Twice as dense as average stone (800lbs/cubic foot.)

Stonewood 8 20 1/5th the weight of iron. See Spell for details

Ironwood 10 30 1/5th the weight of iron. See Spell for details

Steelwood 12 35 1/5th the weight of iron. See Spell for details

Glassteel 10+ 30+ 1/3rd the weight of iron. See Spell for details