The Forges Of Karsul

[chaotikal 2236]

Threads related to this lore! 

 

The Start Of The Work

 

The Secrets Within The Halls

 

 

Dormin stood upon his anvil, the Doom forge. He had long been awakened during his sleeps by the echo of his hammer. He had abandoned his bed for months on end now. He would only sleep standing on the forge, holding Ruhnord before being waking up by the sound of the metal he was working, ringing. Hermitage. He had been a hermit for 56 years, three months and twenty one days. He had been infrequent, but he always chased one goal. To discover the true meaning of Kal’Asgol, the city of Asulon. He looked to his forge and tried to back engineer it dozens of times, only to get a mashup of a forge that could barely brittle iron and was all without a guideline. A mess, this was truly a mess, one that defied Dormin’s wits every step of the way.

 

Suddenly, a song. He heard a whisper, and looked up, down, left, right, to the gates, to the floor again. Nothing. He had heard the whispers of the Forge, but those days had long been gone... But this whisper was different. This was the whisper of someone who becomes impatient, of someone who had waited long enough. Dormin knew this because of the breath that the whisper carried. It was in the language known as Inithar Lorvathiik, an ancient, old fashioned version of the Ancient tongue of the Dwarves. “Valáras...” He knew what it meant well enough. It was a proverb of despair. “Valaras, Valarun, Odros norazvak’sul.” This translated roughly to “In the end, and in the beginning of all my endurance, this wait is slowly killing me.” He looked about. It was a proverb usually yelled at Slaves when they took too long to do what they were commanded to. Was Dormin, this old experienced Dwarf who had fought in so many battles, being ordered by his own forge? What kind of Dwarf would allow this? Then the yelling began.. Dormin began yelling to his clan mates, who were startled by the Wise yet insane Dwarf’s commandments. He asked for all assorted of minerals and items until he had hoarded three chests around the Anvil. He had started tinkling with a strange metal, which was called Karsul, or Black Steel of Asgol. This metal was unreactive, tough, hard to forge into, and barely better than Iron. But there was something. When the Doomforge approached him, asking why he was using the scrap Black steel, or why he was looking at it with such greed. The Dwarf smiled, a smile of hope. “Valársak! Odros narbokk’sul!” The Doomforge looked at their clan father with the tilt you stare as a mad man slowly fades into the abyss of madness. What he had said was usually what was said after the despair proverb. “In the very end, this wait has brought me to life!”

 

Then the yelling ceased, and in it’s place, a hammering, an oh so frantic hammering of Dormin now filled the halls, if not the entire Dwarven Kingdom. Dormin ordered the gates to be shut before he began on this trance like smithing spree. However, upon the first day of the Hammering, Dormin was not on the forge, he was hammering down on his own room, making a new forge room. He had filled the room with lava, and the room’s temperature was completely intolerable for the common Dwarf. The Forge had an anvil and a small steel casket on one end, the casket with a lift that was used to bring it down to the lava.

 

Dormin had built the anvil off Karsul, however, this metal was no longer as raw as the ones Doomforge had been using for Iron Bars, but this was a refined metal, with fine detailing, and linework. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that it had been beveled with several layers of chiselwork and fine hammering. Once this room forge was done, he began working on another. If you would enter Dormin’s room, the bed had been turned upside down so the stone lower level of the bed could be used as a secondary desk for all the schematics in the yellowed papers that cluttered the bedroom of the Doomforge. These were labelled; Skyforge, Lavaforge, Iceforge, Warforge and Stormforge.

 

The new forge hall was done within two days of it’s start, and it sported aurum pipery, that lead up to an exhaust shaped like the famous Dwarf God Dormmar. Within it, laid a smaller room with a white anvil and a hammer that was shaped like a winged mace. Dormin explained to his younger kin how this forge worked. One would enter, and placing the metal on the forge, you’d fill the room with the cold air from the mountains using the pipery. Then you closed the pipes, enclosing the metal into a deep bath of air. The metal was so special it could latch onto this air, and become lighter, usually the room was filtrated in such a way so that water was also added into the mix, since the metal is so isolative water would not damage the metal.

 

Afterwards, he returned to the forge room with the large anvil in the middle, and enclosed himself in there for days on end, the hammering still ringing across the Kingdom.

 

After a few days, he arose from his clan hall, brandishing an armor that looked like it was a part of the Doomforge itself. Black metal plate, with a thin dark trim, and lava in the thicker bevels that gave it a glowing blazed effect. It looked incredibly heavy, and Dormin’s eyes seemed incredibly tired from the Smithing.

 

 

Dormin first made his way to the Ireheart clan in his insomnia, and handed them two chests of Karsul explaining briefly how it worked. The Irehearts were baffled at the sudden action, only to be met with Dorming handing over the plans to create one of the forges he had designed: “The Stormforge,  Fit for those touched by Lightning, my blood.” His visit continued, but this time to the Irongriders (particularly Zahrer), to whom which he gave “The Warforge, the forge of kings.” The beneficiaries of Dormin’s hard work were satisfied, astonished by the sudden show of friendship, but Dormin withheld much more than he betrayed.

 

Three. Three more anvil designs Dormin had made. The more masterworks that he kept hidden in that dark mind of his, tucked away in depths that not even an Aengul could spelunker.

 

Karsul

 

Karsul was a metal found in Asgol, most likely due to the contact of the Doomforge for the extended periods of time with the stone below Hanseti. The metal was black in it’s raw appearance, although the more superficial veins sported a golden tint with blue speckles, however, once mined and processed, this metal would always sport it’s dark reddish tint. The metal was first considered to be useless by the Doomforge, as it was incredibly hard to forge with, and it’s end results, even when forged by Yorri, were barely any better than Iron items, let alone the items of Carbarum that could probably reduce this metal’s quality to ashes. This metal usually produces naturally around the Doomforge's presence, even a glimpse of it's presence can begin the process of creating veins of this mineral, it is comparable in rarity as Iron and in areas with much less stone, to gold or carbarum.

 

It wasn’t until Dormin understood why Asgol stood on lava and ice at the same time that he became aware why this metal was precious and so numerous. The Metal is an isolant, it does not mingle with other metals even at high temperatures, which is why it is so hard to melt. The metal itself has no quality, but with the right processes, the items you can get out of Karsul are incredible and unique. Since it is quite a “Lonely” metal, in that it takes little to no outside input, it is incredibly hard to shape, but also incredibly durable, since it rusts at a very very slow rate. Water has little to no effect on the item’s state, although this steel IS with weight, and it shall weigh down the user like any other metal item.

 

Karsul is stronger than Iron, as said earlier, and is black in it's raw form and basic processed form.  However, it is completely impossible to smith on it correctly on the first try, the material is so hard that if heated wrongly it'll become brittle, and it will also remain in shape as it does not melt like all the other metals. It's a slow, cold melt, at the highest temperature of a forge. Hotter than lava itself is needed to melt this metal, although it will heat, just that it has a higher needed temperature for melting. Any mistakes done on the metal won't be able to be fixed and will always leave a scar. This metal cannot be reforged, so in RP you wouldn't be able to repair Karsul Armor. You have to reforge it. While this lore seems to put Karsul onto the Doomforged Clan, the Doom Forge is the responsible one for the spread of this metal, and it is now spreaded all along the Dwarven Valley, and not just the Doomforge, any dwarf will find Karsul below his home's floor and some has been spotted on Kal'Karaad's stone walls, as black veins, thin and potruding from the seams of the stone bricks. This metal requires quite an RP experience to handle, so if an even intermediate Smith would smith on this, it's about 90% chance he will fail. (I'd like all smiths to please roll when forging this, If you're intermediate, or even experienced, You need 18+ to forge it perfectly in each roll.) If you're quite the crafty, like Dormin, and other legendary Smiths of the Dwarves, smithing this will get some time to accustom to, but won't be a problem. Still, this metal requires full concentration and can't be divided into days of works. Once you start on a piece, you have to finish the piece.

 

(KARSUL is a metal that is about 1.6-1.7 times better than Iron.)

 

The different forges take advantage of this particular property to give it an unique spin, and some minor advantages to the items crafted with it.

 

The different forges are;

 

The Warforge

 

The warforge is a forge comprised of a single anvil with golden trimming on the bottom, and a black topping as it is made from Karsul. The Karsul item is taken to this anvil and using the particular furnace, which is a furnace built into the ground with a pulley system, one can bathe the item in heat and then, manually refining the item made of Karsul with another metal or material. This is incredibly hard to do with any other metals because different materials on one plate armor or weapon usually brittle it down. But Karsul’s properties help keep each metal on each metal’s side and thus performs sturdy constructions. Warforged items usually glint a small grey after being heated.

 

The Lavaforge

 

Lavaforges are characterized by their inhuman temperature. Nearly no Dwarf can hold more than five minutes within the rather smoke-filled lava room that is the Forge. A single anvil laid on the center of a small podium, with a small bridge leading to the exit. Below the anvil and the small construction, laid a lake of Lava. Poured from the bottom of the earth itself. There was a Karsul pulley system on one side of the Anvil, to allow to bathe the item’s thickest bevels into Lava, which were then sealed in the casket of Black Steel, and kept like this for six days, when removed, the items had now obtained this fiery look and lava burbling about on it. This allowed the item to be quite resistant and become quite tough in dry areas or warm areas, yet became quite brittle like an inferior Iron item in humid areas. (Iron also becomes quite brittle on humid areas. This one just minimizes this change of temperature to have a much more stable and warm-oriented function. Though most of this forge, and Iceforge are just for the looks.)

 

 

 

The Iceforge

 

This forge is quite peculiar. It works exactly like a lavaforge, but it replaces lava with snow and packed ice, tombing the items in Ice for 2 weeks. This causes the effect of ice and snow being embedded into the bevels of the items. Giving it a blue snow colored mist around them. Iceforged items usually have more affinity with Humid environments, and become tougher when humid, however they are incredibly brittle when in dry environments. They are quite more durable than the other forge’s items.

 

 

 

 

The Stormforge

 

This forge is the most unique of all of them, according to Dormin. The Stormforge, or the Thunder Forge is a forge that allows the user to embed plates below the items to make them runesmith-able, due to the metal’s easy isolation, allowing for much easier compatibility with Runes. Dormin planned this to replace all runic gear, and he believes all runic items should be crafted on this forge. Stormforged items usually have sparkles of lightning running along them. Like lightning.

 

 

 

The Skyforge

 

The Skyforge is quite straight-forward. It is a lengthy process to remove weight from armor. This forgehall is usually a large room with pipery rising out to height, and a small chamber. Water and air will fill the void closed door with the item inside. While the weight removal can be minimal, it will also have a consequence on the item’s durability and sturdiness. This forge is meant to be used with weapons, as the weapons of the Skyforge are usually incredibly light, and allow for larger weapons with little to no tax on the weight. The difference in full plates is usually minimal, if not noticeable by Dwarves and their already heavy bodies. Skyforged items acquire a white mist around them. NOTE: The weight removal becomes less noticeable as more mass is added on the shape. So a full plate armor would have really small weight loss, but a sword would be noticeable. You cannot have feather weight armor and featherweight weapons, they WILL weigh, just a bit tiny less.

 

 

 

 

Reasons to add this lore;

 

Dwarven metallurgy supremacy! We are specialized blacksmiths, and we had this due for a long time, we have never written lore on different forges and the use of an universal metal, one that really puts us apart, like Mithril on some books, we’ll have Karsul. Which is mechanically not different, but lorewise unique. I know this isn’t realistic, and I NEVER meant it to be realistic. I really liked some of the ideas that popped in my head, and after hearing some improvements from people I decided to go for it. We dwarves need this to add relevance to our epic facets. With this lore Dwarves also open up possible new events, like new forge types and such! Karsul is the metal I want to become incredibly prominent in Dwarven smithing, and mechanically it will be crafted as Iron, or, if Warforged with Diamond, as Carbarum armor. There’s no reason to add a mechanical standard as it is only a RP object, unless the techies really want to, which I don’t even hope for.

 

This lore opens up possibilities for new armor types and new weapon types, something that has long been needed in the Dwarven Smith environment. I think Dwarves will like this lore, and while I also think other races may find it irrelevant, I think we Dwarves, who base around smithing, can make the best use out of it. The Forges schematics will begin in several clans, but I will not regulate where they end up, I’d love to see everyone in the server who’s interested in smithing able to obtain one of the forges.

 

Also please note. That all these forges are incompatible with each other, save for the Warforge. Every forge can refore it's items on the Warforge because it doesn't change the item, but trims it and reinforces it with another metal. An Iceforged weapon CANNOT be reforged in a Lavaforge, and it also can't be reforged in a Thunderforge or a Skyforge, the armor or weapon or item reforged will crumble or hulk up. An iceforged item on a lavaforge will form a shell around the item rendering it unusable and unwearable as the armor or item is now only a hulk of ice. This happens in this nature to every item that has already been forged on one Advanced Forges, and reforged in another. They can be reforged in normal forges, but it will cost much more as the hard metal is meant for these forges.. This is to avoid abuse.

[Vekrus 395]

[i definitely have to give this my support! Great job bruh. +1]

[SodaiKamikaze 651]

((I like. Alot.))

[Aengoth 2883]

[]Yes

[KarmaDelta 968]

Sitting on the steps messing with his hands, Lilum can feel a difference within the air. 

He had the urge to give a thumbs up, and so he did. He did not know why he had this feeling, but he did not go against it. He also had the urge to say,

 

"Go for it, +1"

 

[Pandan 1448]

Question!

Regarding the several forges, more so the Lightning, lava and ice, do the athsetical features provide any benefits? Aka; does the Lightning cause shocks, and the lava heat?

Along with that, I'm personally slightly iffy about the idea involving the removal of some weight.. Now, whilst I don't doubt the lore does not attempt to abuse it I'm having distant images of dwarves throwing around war hammers like paper.. Just a personal opinion..!

Thanks :)

[chaotikal 2236]

Question!

Regarding the several forges, more so the Lightning, lava and ice, do the athsetical features provide any benefits? Aka; does the Lightning cause shocks, and the lava heat?

Along with that, I'm personally slightly iffy about the idea involving the removal of some weight.. Now, whilst I don't doubt the lore does not attempt to abuse it I'm having distant images of dwarves throwing around war hammers like paper.. Just a personal opinion..!

Thanks :)

 

I actually never thought of adding real benefits. They add some protection to the user like, Iceforged weapons will be more effective in humid places, while the Lavaforged items are effective in dried environments. Removing weight is something that doesn't mean weapons will not weigh. The player simply can roleplay as they become much more fluent, allowing for wackier designs, and perhaps more material into weapons. I meant it to amplify the design spectrum of weapons of the Dwarves so they can have much more designs than before, allowing  a different kind of RP, where designs of weapons can stretch a little bit! :D 

 

PS: I still think a Skyforged dagger would be incredibly strong... But perhaps it'd be too quick for the person who would end up numbing himself up with it. 

[Gnomemancy 983]

Wonderful idea +1

[chaotikal 2236]

Added a paragraph on Karsul defining it's strong points and it's weak points. Aswell as clarifying why the metal is NOT on the hands of the Doomforged. Also I'd like to clarify once the schematics of the Forges were given to the clan lords, Dormin has no regulation over them. This is to seamlesly implement them from an in-character perspective.

[Moot 1715]

This lore has been Denied

I'll use one of the responses the Lore got during the voting process, as I personally agree.

"Beyond the physical and ethereal dynamics of this not quite making too much sense, I get an certain vibe when I look over the lore. It is reasonably fleshed out, but I am confident that it will 1) not contribute in a meaningful way to collective Dwarven role-play, 2) be abused somehow and 3) remain within a specific clique."