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Special Materials

In the World of Mythania, there are many magical and alchemical materials that go above and beyond ordinary materials such as wood, stone, iron, and steel. Though some materials can be found in nature (such as novarite from Nuram or starshard and tektite from meteors), alchemical metals can only be forged by an alchemist. Most special materials have a detectable magical aura.

Tektite Glass

Tektite is a type of glass refined from meteorites that have fallen from the sky. It is only possible to find tektite ore in meteor impact sites, and it usually occurs along with starshard iron. Tektite, like starshard, is very rare, but rich deposits have been found in Freyor, where a great meteor was thought to have struck long ago. Tektite can be made into glass that is as strong as steel. Tektite has a slight magical aura.

Orichalcum

Orichalcum is a red-colored metal that is highly malleable and ductile, with a high melting point. Orichalcum, or "orich", can conduct energy of any type, including thermal, electrical, magnetic, and even magical and mental energy. It can be made into wires, sheets, plates, or any other form that metal can be shaped in to. The Triclops are experts in its usage and have created Orichalcum capacitors, batteries, and other devices to help harness their mental powers.Orichalcum has a notable magical aura.

Adamantine Steel

Adamant is a bluish, crystalline metal that is not found in nature. It is an advanced alchemical metal that is forged using a now-lost process that mixes a variety of metals with diamond powder, is purified in aqua vitriol and spiritus salis, then refined in complex processes using a high concentration of aethergy and rays of elemental light. Some adamantine armor and weapons dating back to the Age of Marada when the forging of adamant was understood can still be found. Adamant has a strong magical aura.

Argent Steel

Argent steel is a durable, alchemic alloy of silver and carbon steel. It is not significantly different from normal steel except that it has about 15% silver. This makes it more expensive, but weapons made of argent steel are generally used to fight undead. Furthermore, armor made of argent steel is more resistant to magic. All armor and weapons made from argent steel have a metallic silver color.

Starshard

Certain meteorites contain a golden meteoric iron called "starshard", since it was once believed to be a fragment of a star. Starshard is stronger than steel, but has a much higher density; therefore, armor made of starshard is thinner and stronger, but has the same weight as normal steel armor. Starshard must be melted and shaped at very high temperatures, requiring that it be forged in special furnaces. Armor made of starshard is immune to heat and fire. All armor and weapons made from starshard have a metallic gold color. Starshard has a detectable magically aura.

Alchemical Steels

Apart from argent and adamantine steel, there are a number of other advanced steels that are treated through alchemical processes. All armor that is forged from these alchemical steels offer more protection than normal steel and offer some magical protection, but cost more. Weapons made from alchemical steel weigh less and but cost a great deal more.

There are four major types of alchemical steel, which are only distinguished by their components and color. Cobalt steel has a dark blue metallic color. Azure steel has a shiny, light blue color. Viridian steel is a green to deep-green steel. Cinnabar steel is a blood-red metallic color.

Some imitation steels are colored similarly and passed off as alchemical steel, but do not be fooled. All alchemical steels have a detectable magical aura.

Dworghen Steel

Dworghen steel is essentially the same as alchemic steel; however, it is a little more common and lacks both the magical aura and the magical resistance found in other alchemical steels. All Dworghen steel has a smooth but dull ocher color.

Chardite Steel

Often called "black silver", Chardite steel is made from a rare black metal that is similar to silver, but stronger. It has a slight magical aura that is the reversal of silver, and it has other chemical properties that seem opposite to silver as well. Common lore suggests that chardite is evil; though it is used by evil sorcerers, the metal itself (like all inanimate things) is neutral. Undead wearing chardite as armor are immune to the effects of silver and are not harmed by contact with silver. In addition, chardite steel, when worn, is said to enhance Spirit Magic.

Because of these facts, chardite is commonly used as armor for undead (especially by vampires), or in weapons and magic items that harness necrolic energy. This is probably why chardite has a reputation as an evil metal.

Severite

Severite is a rare metal sometimes mistaken for lead due to its density and malleability. It is, however, much darker than pure lead (dark gray to black), it is also difficult to alloy with other metals. As such severite would be utterly useless were it not for its one astonishing virtue--it can utterly negate the effects of magic. Current theories suggest that severite causes a form of magnetic interfere in the aether, scrambling and disrupting magical energies into a random discord. Whatever the case, 2 pounds are enough to completely suppress a person's magical abilities, however powerful they are. Severite bonds (cuffs or manacles) are often used on prisoners who possess magical powers, or occasionally by mages and wizards wishing to temporarily hide their magical aura. Wearing severite can also make one immune to most magical spells and many (although not all) alchemical potions. However, secondary effects, like the fire from a fireball or the kinetic impact of a magical attack, will still have its full physical effect.

Da-Zhu Silk

Da-Zhu silk comes from the spinners of certain giant cavern tarantulas found only in Tai-tsing, which make massive webs to catch deer, pigs, and even men who fall into their holes. A typical web has over a ton of silk, but it's the most expensive silk in the world because of its rarity and the danger of harvesting it. The silk is alchemically treated, then woven into an extremely fine weave that is so tight not even water can run through it. Da-Zhu silk can be as light as any silk fabric, but as strong as thick leather or even sheet metal.

Dragon Leather

Dragon leather is, quite obviously, made from the thick hides of dragons. Most dragon leather comes from smaller lindwurms and wyverns, but even these dragons are extremely difficult to capture and kill in large numbers. As a result, dragon leather is very rare and typically only used in leather vests. It's as tough as mail, but as flexible as any leather. Dragon leather is immune to heat and fire.

Obsidian

Obsidian is a heavy, black volcanic rock (a glass, actually) that, when polished and cut, can be used to make ornaments, statues, and ritual items. Obsidian can also be cut to form perfect blades with an edge sharper than any other cutting edge known. Weapons made from obsidian range from small daggers to knives to full-length two-handed swords. Such swords, however, are very heavy and impractical for all but the strongest warriors. Though obsidian blades are reinforced with steel sheathings to prevent breakage, obsidian weapons do chip and break much more frequently than regular weapons.

Corundum

Corundum is an extremely hard crystal that is second only to diamonds in hardness. It can be found in mines all over the world, and inclusions in the crystal can be such gems as rubies and sapphires. The best corundum for use in weapons and tools comes from the Stone Valley of Kharam or the Crystal Caves in northern Cylinica. Here can be found large corundum formations, and, though not of gemstone quality, the crystal may be cut to form blades such as knives and daggers. Such blades never lose their edge and can cut though nearly anything. In very rare cases corundum may also be integrated in armor, increasing its durability, but this increases its price considerably. Corundum may come in blue, green, red, or foggy-white colors.

Novarite

Novarite (magra novanus volcanite) can only be mined from the great volcano of Nuram, the largest and deepest volcano in the world. This seems to indicate that novarite may originate from somewhere deep within the planet's core or mantel. Floating rocks containing novarite ore can also be found at high altitudes around the world, having been flung out when the volcano Nuram undergoes an eruption. Novarite's most useful property is its negative buoyancy, which gives it a kind of "levitation effect".

Mining novarite is extremely dangerous work, and the Novanus Mining Guild works its people, as well as criminal slave labor and indentured servants, to the brink of death. Because of the extreme difficulty, one ton of pure novarite can take up to one year to mine and process to a usable form. Raw novarite rocks, properly called novatite, can still be used to levitate objects, though less efficiently than refined novarite. Raw novarite (novatite) is much less expensive and more common than pure, refined novarite.

Novarite (both refined and unrefined) has mass, but has a negative (or very low) weight. This is rated as a buoyancy factor, which gives the novarite's total negative weight in terms of pounds. A "Six Pounder" of novarite implies a minus six pound weight at ground level (buoyancy drops at higher altitudes). A novarite rock with a two-ton mass may only have a net negative weight of ten pounds, but that's enough for it float. The Highline tells the altitude (from ground level) at which the unburdened rock will meet equilibrium with gravity (having then zero buoyancy). Highline is directly related to a rock's buoyancy with consideration to how much excess mass it has. The final price is based on these two factors. Refined novarite has no excess mass, therefore its Highline is meaningless. It is not possible to rate the Highline for pure refined novarite as it has no maximum altitude. It will simply shoot up into the air and be lost forever unless held down or alloyed with other metals.

A 1-pound mass of refined novarite, which has a 33-pound buoyancy at 1000 ft (that is, it can lift 33 pounds to 1000 ft) is valued at 25 guilds. Thus, one ton, with a 33-ton buoyancy, costs 55,000 guilds. For comparison, a ton of pure gold costs 35,200 guilds (at 1 guild an ounce, and 35,200 ounces in a ton). Unrefined novatite costs considerably less, about 5,000 to 10,000 guilds for a ton, but has very low buoyancy depending on purity.

The magical properties of this remarkable ore are still a mystery to scientists, though the mage Soren has hypothesized that such matter exists in the center of the world and acts as a counterbalancing force to that of gravity, much as one pole of a magnet repels the same pole of another magnet. The pure novarite metal exists as minute flakes and specks on the raw novarite rock (novatite), which is itself a light and porous volcanic rock. The novatite rock may slowly sink or float gradually upward, depending on the purity level of said rock. Purer (and more valuable) ore often floats quickly away, and many such rocks could still be high in the sky. This causes a tremendous problem for miners, since the most valuable rocks often get away during an eruption. In some cases, rocks rich in the novarite ore get stuck in the volcano or in magma caves; these are the most sought after rocks. Raw novarite rocks can range in size from pebbles to enormous chunks that are hundreds of feet in diameter. The ancient Sky Castles of Marada were carved from such great novarite islands such as these.

If raw novarite, or novatite, is to be used to levitate an object (such as a ship), which is a common usage of this substance, the buoyancy of the stone must reduce the weight of the ship to zero or less. For instance, if a ship weighs 100 tons, then the stone must at least have a 100 ton buoyancy, which is fairly high (the stone would probably be as big, or bigger, than the ship). More often, four to six smaller novatite stones are used, as these are more common than a single massive block. If the ship is made to have a buoyancy-to-ground level (so that it can float unassisted), it must have some way to actually regulate its buoyancy using sandbags, ballasts, and anchors.

In most cases, however, ships are simply lightened, either with large unrefined stones or with refined novarite alloys, in their structure and plating. Some ships have a central novarite core (a large metal sphere of pure novarite), but these are very rare and highly expensive.

Beyond all of this, the greatest usage of refined novarite resides in its special ability to align with the earth's magnetic field. When unrefined, novarite is amorphically distributed in the volcanic rock, which causes such rocks to simply float. This is also the case for perfectly homogenous spheres of pure novarite. However, when forged into a sheet, cylinder, or other elongated form it becomes possible to control the "balance-effect" of the novarite. This works just as it does with two magnets repelling from one another. A magnet (laying flat) will repel another flat magnet with greater force than it would to a magnet which is set "on-end" to the flat magnet. This principle manifests in refined blocks of novarite even more so.

For example, a block of novarite has a tendency to remain level with the earth and will remain at its natural point of equilibrium above the ground. Turned on end, it will tend to fall flat again, but if held in place it will sink to a different, much lower point of equilibrium, thereby having far less buoyancy. This is because far less of its counter-magnetic force can interfere with the downward pull of the earth, which continues to act on its absolute mass. Controlling novarite in this way can give ships much greater maneuverability.

Another interesting property of novarite is that aethergy can increase the overall power of it. When a current of aethergy is passed through novarite (between 1 and 100 maits per ton of refined novarite) while spun on an axis of rotation, a "field", or bubble, of energy is created that increases the effective buoyancy from 1 to 50 tons per mait applied (basically, increasing its buoyancy from x50 to x5000). This principle was known by the Maradians, who built devices call "ballastats" based on this, but the technology has since been lost (some ballastats do remain as Maradian wonder machines).

Novarite has a significant magical aura.