Requiem 84 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Ikurn’Celiah, Silvered Steel History For much of their history the children of Larihei sought purity, beauty, and perfection above all else and thus the first ingot of Ikurn’Celiah, otherwise known in common as Silvered Steel was forged. Being unique to the High elves and by extension, only crafted by them historically. A metal alloy gleaming like pure starlight, light as air. This metal has been cherished and used by the Mali’thill for countless generations before the fall of their cherished city. Used for numerous purposes due to it’s beautiful appearance, light weight, and incredible malleability; countless forms of armor, weapons, and jewelry were created, fastened by this unique metal. It carries the unique property of being 1/3 the weight of normal steel, while being mildly weaker. As mentioned before the metal in its purest form gleams and shines unlike most metals. It refracts light very much like a jewel, causing it to shine and sparkle to the extent that it seems to nearly even glow in dark environments (Though this is an illusion similar to a cat’s eyes seeming to glow in pitch darkness). Armor made from pure Ikurn’Celiah Forging process: The process of forging Silvered steel is a rather tedious and sometimes dangerous one requiring many steps that must also then be repeated to produce high quality alloy. On top of this, many of the ingredients used in this process are extremely toxic and corrosive. This can be clearly seen in forgers of this metal by the calloused chemical scars on their hands. For these reasons it is immensely difficult to nearly impossible to mass produce Silvered steel, or even forge copious amounts of it in any reasonable time period without sacrificing quality. Ingredients: The required materials are actually somewhat cheap though there are more secret nuance ingredients to it as well. However, the three major parts of this metal are Iron, pure silicon, and sulfuric acid. The acid is to be introduced to the quenching fluid to decrease the PH. The quenching fluid mixture is a very important part of making the metal correctly, as such it’s recipe is a closely guarded secret. Step one: The (refined iron, not ore) and silicon are to be mixed at an 85% iron, 15% silicon ratio. This mixture must be raised to a minimum of 2900 degrees, though 3000 is preferable since this will allow the alloy to mix more thoroughly. It is recommended to allow convection to mix the alloy due to the low atomic mass of silicon compared to iron. Step one: The (refined iron, not ore) and silicon are to be mixed at an 85% iron, 15% silicon ratio. This mixture must be raised to a minimum of 2900 degrees, though 3000 is preferable since this will allow the alloy to mix more thoroughly. It is recommended to allow convection to mix the alloy due to the low atomic mass of silicon compared to iron. This should be maintained for upwards of an hour, maintaining a consistent temperature throughout the process. Mixing is recommended, but only with a clean rod to prevent impurities entering. Step two: This step is rather tricky and very delicate to perform. The alloy must now be poured into an ice cold cast with as little contact with the air as possible to prevent as much oxide forming as possible. Once the metal is cooled down to the point where it will not fall apart on lifting but still red hot; the thick sheet must then be quickly plunged into the quenching mixture. The time it must be kept in the mixture varies depending on the amount of metal being refined but the core of the sheet must remain molten until the next step. Step three: After the outer portion of the metal has been allowed to react to the quenching fluid a thin shiny layer of Silvered steel should be visible, however this is a very thin reacted layer. Thus next it will need to be folded and hammered back into its previous dimensions. The kinetic energy from the hammering will have the added benefit of keeping the metal hot, which quickens the alloy’s reaction with the quenching fluid. After it is hammered to its previous dimensions and plunged into the quenching fluid once more the entire sheet must be fully melted down once again. Step four: Once the metal has been melted down once more step two and three must now be repeated. However, there is no longer as much worry of an oxide forming since Silvered steel has around the same reactivity as tungsten though it is still recommended to keep the metal away from the air as much as possible. Beyond that step two and three must be repeated as many times as possible, the more times it is repeated, the higher the purity of the alloy. A shard of successfully forged Silvered Steel Properties: Silvered Steel is an almost white silvery metal that reflects light far better than most materials, causing it to sparkle much like a multi-faceted gemstone. It is also far lighter than steel, being merely ⅓ the weight by volume. Unfortunately it is slightly weaker than mild steel with a tensile strength of 360 MPa at it’s purest. For these reasons the Mali’aheral cherish it, for in their eyes it shares many figurative characteristics as them. When heated to around 1000 degrees it takes on another interesting property, it becomes extremely ductile and malleable. Though due to its reflective abilities it takes quite a substantial amount of time for it to heat to that temperature. Once it does however, it remains malleable for quite some time, especially if being worked with a hammer. The metal corrodes in a very interesting way, instead of rusting, the oxide form of Ikurn’Celiah actually vaporizes into a gas. This causes items made of it to lose mass over time when left to the open air, though this process is extremely slow when the item is taken care of sufficiently. A white blade forged from Silvered steel. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Red Lines Diluting Silvered Steel with regular steel to increase its strength while maintaining some of its low weight properties works but at an exponential loss, to such a degree that it’s essentially pointless to do so. Due to the risk of forging Silvered steel and the many steps required to forge it; the most that even an expert could produce in one day is around seven ingots. But such greed most surely lead to injury to the smith in some form or another. This metal is not a sufficient replacement for steel. It is a low-weight alternative for those who value speed and stamina over raw protection. A steel sword of average strength can indeed shatter an identical sword of Silvered steel, though this would still require a great deal of force. Armor made from this alloy are indeed much lighter, but mechanically would have the same protection as chainmail. The advantage being that a person wearing armor made from it would have more ease of movement and would stay cool inside the reflective metal. While this alloy is reflects heat rather well it has just as much protection against direct fire as normal iron/steel armor. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasty_cheesecake 915 Share Posted August 17, 2019 you know electroplating existed as a medieval forge technique right Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Etan 2839 Share Posted August 17, 2019 21 minutes ago, Requiem said: sulfuric acid I can hear the alchemy LT reeeeing from here. @Dunstan 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Requiem 84 Author Share Posted August 17, 2019 15 minutes ago, Tox said: I can hear the alchemy LT reeeeing from here. @Dunstan Perhaps changing it to simply acid will fix that lmao. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlphaMoist 1707 Share Posted August 17, 2019 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermy 1346 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Not bad at all 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yaldabaoth 743 Share Posted August 19, 2019 neat 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodmodeGolem 146 Share Posted August 19, 2019 THIS IS EPIC 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elennanore 2723 Share Posted August 23, 2019 On 8/16/2019 at 9:51 PM, tasty_cheesecake said: you know electroplating existed as a medieval forge technique right this is not true, plating did exist in the medieval ages, electroplating on the other hand did not exist in the medieval ages Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quavinir_Twiceborn 1041 Share Posted September 3, 2019 … Though silica based stones have been used since ancient times, silicon itself was discovered in the early 1800s, and the process of refining such came far later, so... how are high elves getting weighty portions of pure silicon???Likewise, silicon has a evaporation point at about 2400 farenheit. (That is, if the listed temperatures are infact farenheit. If theyre celsius, than the listed temperatures would evaporate the iron.) The extreme reduction in weight (atleast while using actual materials, rather than fictional/fantastical ones) leaves one extremely perplexed. (Does 50-66% of the iron just... vanish in the forging process???) I adore new metals and flavorful materials, but when based with actual real life materials a level of logic is needed to be applied. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luciloo 2649 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Why does it need to be lighter? Full plate isn’t even that heavy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnsider 4542 Share Posted September 3, 2019 11 hours ago, Aethling said: Why does it need to be lighter? Full plate isn’t even that heavy. Truth. And quite flexible too. I've seen people do backflips in historical gauge steel armor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Requiem 84 Author Share Posted September 6, 2019 On 9/2/2019 at 7:20 PM, Quavinir_Twiceborn said: … Though silica based stones have been used since ancient times, silicon itself was discovered in the early 1800s, and the process of refining such came far later, so... how are high elves getting weighty portions of pure silicon???Likewise, silicon has a evaporation point at about 2400 farenheit. (That is, if the listed temperatures are infact farenheit. If theyre celsius, than the listed temperatures would evaporate the iron.) The extreme reduction in weight (atleast while using actual materials, rather than fictional/fantastical ones) leaves one extremely perplexed. (Does 50-66% of the iron just... vanish in the forging process???) I adore new metals and flavorful materials, but when based with actual real life materials a level of logic is needed to be applied. Most of the properties of the metal come during the quenching process where much of the impure metal flakes off while the volume of the ingot increases at an equal rate. All in all the metal itself is a homage and metaphor to the high elves desire for purity, the acidic quenching bath is kinda like a pun for how high elves throw impures into acid pools. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScreamingDingo 16985 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Hello @Requiem Post is here to confirm that you have gathered all the feedback necessary for your lore and wish to proceed with the reviewing process. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Requiem 84 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 3 hours ago, ScreamingDingo said: Hello @Requiem Post is here to confirm that you have gathered all the feedback necessary for your lore and wish to proceed with the reviewing process. I have. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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