[✗] [World Lore/Metallurgy Addition] - Copper Alloys

[TheArtificer 24]

Craft Materials - Copper Alloys

“Loike other copper n’ bronze, but different.” - Frelvik Irongrinder

Descendants have long been making this material in various forms- by accident, but until now, it did not hold any distinction. It was simply another form of bronze. It was only known that copper could be mixed with certain other ores for wildly differing results. However, through a chance discovery, it was found that in close proximity to your common tin ore, a slightly different metal can also be found mixed about the rock, with a vaguely more glassy appearance. Isolating this not-tin ore, and then creating bronze with it as usual yields a new, distinct material. Ancient legends tell that alchemists of yore may have known of this new metal, and perhaps even held greater use for this zinc, but the knowledge of such has been long since lost to time. Certain Farfolk texts also bear reference to these more specific copper alloys. Copper alloys of all kinds are particularly notable for their ornamental usage.

 

Zinc Ore(Raw)

           Zinc ore is a gray lumpy rock, occasionally with a more glassy or crystalline appearance depending on the ore. It is found near veins of tin and lead, but can be difficult to distinguish. A skilled smith and metallurgist could learn to recognize the difference through experience, however. The ore itself would need to be separated carefully in an attempt to minimize the content of tin, and other unknown and unpredictable impurities. Little is currently known in significant detail about the ore’s specific compositions, and what various colors and appearances may mean. Trial and error with the material yields improvement, yet isolation of this supposed zinc is always an inconsistent art, rather than any sort of hard science.

 

Harvesting Method

            It is mined as an ordinary ore, striking the vein to collect chunks of the material deposit. However, when mined, the resulting collected ore will be mixed with tin or lead, and if simply used as such, the resulting copper alloy will be unpredictable- some other sort of bronze, unlikely a true or proper brass.

 

 

Brass(Refined)

A strange old Haenseni heirloom, cast in brass.

Plate armor of Haenseni make, embellished with brass etchings.

            Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. It is more malleable, and has a lower melting point than bronze. Its hardness varies depending on how much copper to zinc, to impurities were mixed in its making- something that can only be measured so finely; which is to say, not very. Other important properties of brass are that it can have resistance to corrosion- such as through formation of a protective patina similar to bronze. Additionally, like other copper alloys, it is believed to be somewhat self-cleaning by some means, though this has not been alchemically or scientifically verified as of yet. Most of brass’s value is in its aesthetic, namely its color. Though, some brasses of lucky quality may hold particular properties, such as conductivity of heat.

 

Applications

Its properties lead to its preferred use in decorations and fine instruments. As with other copper alloys, it is useful in navigation equipment such as astrolabes, optical equipment such as spyglasses and telescopes, scientific models such as armillaries, and alchemical equipment. Its extreme difficulty to perfect and its shiny luster when polished give it a value for trinkets and knick-knacks that aren’t quite that of aurum, but still suggest something of status. Brass parts can achieve relatively low friction, and maintain it with reduced corrosion, and thus are also used in clocks and things with small moving parts. Brass would most frequently be seen used in ornamental items such as candlesticks. Finally, while the material is not suitable for weapons or armor, it can be used to decorate them.

 

Refining Method

           Copper and zinc ore are mixed in a cementation crucible and molten. A lid might be added to the crucible at certain points to aid the process and produce slightly better results, though it is not yet known why exactly this works. A skilled and clever alchemist might be able to sort out that there could be a gaseous element involved, rather than simply just liquids.

 

Bronze(Refined)

An old bronze sword of Yong Ping origin.

           An alloy of copper and tin, it has been well-known since the most ancient of times. However, much like all copper alloys, its properties can vary wildly with often unidentifiable impurities. Bronze is one of the most diverse metals, because rather than a single universal recipe, it is especially subject to many, many variations. The presence of impurities in the form of other yet undiscovered and unknown metals such as aluminum, as well as known ones such as manganese or nickel, have significant part in making an assortment of differing kinds of bronzes more suited to some uses, but often unsuited to others. 

 

 

Applications

Bronze was the universal metal long before iron or steel, and thus a use can be found in most applications. Weapons, armor, tools, kitchenware, you name it, and it can be done. However, bronze is certainly weaker than other metals, and outside of certain applications, is generally an inferior, if not cost-effective, metal-of-choice. It can also have quite a nice appearance. Like many copper alloys, it is useful in statue-making due to its patina.

 

Refining Method

      Molten copper and tin are mixed. Various methods of doing so exist, and likely vary from smith to smith and culture to culture. It could be as simple as melting down raw tin ore and copper ore together, and then casting it.

 

Harvesting Method

            It is mined as an ordinary ore, striking the vein to collect chunks of the material deposit. 

 

Orichalcum (Refined)

            Orichalcum is another copper alloy similar to both bronze and brass, but believed to be some particular mixture of copper, tin, zinc, aurum, and lunarite. Some decoded ancient Dwedmar runic texts refer to its existence. Orichalcum could only be created by a masterful smith with full knowledge of lunarite(save for the name), and all other materials mentioned. If correctly made, it manages to retain certain key properties from its ingredient materials. It has a faint moonly glow of starsteel in the light, it has a slight pain to the otherworldly of aurum or slayersteel- yet it cannot kill the fully ethereal, and its material properties are weaker than ferrum. Modern orichalcum is mostly ornamental then, being generally inferior as a weapon, and mostly sought for its glowing gilded hue. Some legends may however hint that a more pure and perfect recipe for orichalcum may have once existed, that managed to leverage these mixed properties to some greater utility. Perhaps one day it may be rediscovered.

 

Applications

Orichalcum is generally used in ornamental decorations. It may have use in certain weapons or tools, but it is very much a jack of trades, but master of none.

 

Refining Method

       Simply pouring copper, tin, zinc, aurum, and lunarite into a pot, the materials would fail to alloy together properly into a truly new metal, instead producing a brittle mess. The copper and tin must first be mixed into bronze, and then ground powder of lunarite must be mixed into the molten bronze. This shiny bronze must cool into a solid, and at this stage, one could have a bronze with little sparkles in it if they so wished. However, from this point, one would then gild the solid starbronze with aurum, and then expose it to zinc vapors- which are created when melting zinc ore. Then, this must be kept molten again for the course of a day, and then solidified again at the day's end. Then, the orichalcum would be completed, and can be freely molten down and reforged again.

 

Redlines

Spoiler

- Creation of brass with current knowledge and technology is very finicky, and it would take a decently skilled smith about 2 IC years to be able to produce brass with some degree of reliability- and even still, the quality will always be inconsistent. These 2 years of brass experience are also required in making orichalcum.

 

- Anyone with some smithing and metallurgy background can choose to make this discovery, and to begin learning how to work with brass. It is recommended that within the 2 year period of practicing with it, the crafter does /roll d20. For a roll below a 10, the item will simply be of more a bronze than a brass, for above, it will be some grade of brass. This rolling is a recommendation, and not a strict requirement.

 

- A further addition could be made to this piece somehow incorporating zinc into alchemy if desired, but at the current time, that is outside the scope of this work.

 

- Creation of an orichalcum item will also require ST signing, as it is by nature a sort of lunarite item, and also has a particularly picky process for creation.

 

- Creation of these copper alloys is simply not yet understood to be anything of an exact science, and it is seen as a seemingly random and unpredictable art. Exact percentages of elements present within the alloys are not considered IC, and cannot be understood. Some might be done to attempt to roughly estimate what might occur, but copper alloy items will naturally vary widely in quality. Thus, it is recommended that anyone making use of these materials makes use of /roll to determine the results. If needed, a more precise table could be created with more specific outcomes for specific numerical ranges.

 

- Also see Lunarite redlines.

 

Purpose & Explanation

Spoiler

The purpose of this proposed lore is primarily to allow for the flavor use of brass as it was present in the late-medieval to early-renaissance periods. I feel that it is missing, and would be worth having on the server. The metallurgy section of the Techlock states "One cannot use any other real life existing metals, unless a submission is made on the way by which those metals would be refined." This lorepost is to act as my submission of how these metals would be refined. Brass is currently disallowed to be written about on the server, and I have come to understand there to be some contention regarding the subject, and so I thought that writing more specification and clarification might be necessary for this one, beyond the limited standard format in use on the current techlock. I know that this piece isn't the usual sort of flashy and interesting magical metal, creature, or creative lore that usually gets accepted, and that I might honestly be one of the few that will really personally care much about these additions. Regardless, this was my first attempt at submitting lore for the server, and it was a fun little adventure doing so. Thank you for the opportunity.

 

[wowj 2744]

Idk man, Brass seems too op.

[Valannor 6345]

Dear god, he's gone mad with power... Brass is too strong for any mortal man!

[Lojo613 1420]

This already exists besides orichalcum 

[TheArtificer 24]

15 minutes ago, Lojo613 said:

This already exists besides orichalcum 

I was informed explicitly otherwise by ST. I believe bronze has existed yes, and I mainly wrote this for the addition of brass, but I figured I might as well expand the scope a little to the subject of copper alloys in general, to properly officialize bronze as well, since it isn't technically mentioned by name in the techlock either, it can just be reasonably assumed that tin and copper could and would be mixed. 

[Sorcerio 4594]

Not bad.. but please just make an amendment to the main metallurgy page tbh. if I have to pull up copper lore to ensure Im not breaking redlines I might cry.

[Tabby64 1295]

3 minutes ago, Sorcerio said:

Not bad.. but please just make an amendment to the main metallurgy page tbh. if I have to pull up copper lore to ensure Im not breaking redlines I might cry.

Yeah true but can't staff do that? Honestly I am impressed in the speed of this post that was only a few hours.  We will have to wait and see if luci drops a paragraph about metallurgy.

[TheArtificer 24]

19 hours ago, Sorcerio said:

Not bad.. but please just make an amendment to the main metallurgy page tbh. if I have to pull up copper lore to ensure Im not breaking redlines I might cry.

To further clarify my purpose for writing this lore, the metallurgy section of the Techlock states "One cannot use any other real life existing metals, unless a submission is made on the way by which those metals would be refined." This lorepost is to act as my submission of how these metals would be refined. I wanted to ensure that what I offer is sufficient for that purpose.

[Kalehart 1061]

This lore has been denied. You will be sent a forum PM regarding the reasons for denial within the next 24 hours.

 

Brass will be added to techlock, however.