Lago 2569 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Been planning to write this for a while. Managed to even get an explanation for orcs and dwarves wearing each other's armour in there. "Throughout my travels, I have noted much of the blacksmiths and carpenters of Asulon. While each culture, and indeed each individual blacksmith, crafts weapons, tools and armour in their own unique ways, they all display similar attributes. I have ultimately pinned this down to the materials from which they are made, and in this section I shall detail each and the properties it exhibits. Wood The creation of wooden tools is more in the domain of the carpenter rather than the blacksmith, and at first sight they appear unremarkable. Indeed, wooden swords and shovels are little more than glorified sticks, but it is the axes which are the most remarkable. It is a common fact of the world that when two objects collide, it is the softest one that breaks. Yet a wooden axe can fell a tree far stronger than the wood from which the axe is carved, and a wooden pickaxe can shatter stone. It seems impossible, but I eventually discovered that such tools are made with an old, possibly druidic, elven technique, which compacts the wood down to a much harder material. The setback is that it requires entire planks of wood, but the resultant wood is hard enough to break common stone and fell all but the most resilient of trees. While this technique is widespread, I have heard tales of more powerful versions of it, a secret closely guarded by the elves, allowing them to make wood the strength of wrought iron, from which they make gates strong enough to keep out anything short of a battering ram. Stone Stone weapons are considered to be primitive by most cultures, and are most often seen far from major cities. Stone axes are essentially sharp rocks tied to sticks, and other stone tools follow this trend. Stone tools are unbalanced and unwieldy, liable to break from their wooden handles and hilts, and have no true advantage save their great weight, allowing them to shatter weaker stone and fell trees with ease. There are a few ceremonial stone weapons, relics from times long past, but a stone weapon is only used when no better alternative is available, as the weight advantage of a stone weapon is offset by the difficultly of wielding it artfully and the relative bluntness of the blade compared to anything other than wooden practice swords. Ferrum By far the most ubiquitous among civilisation, cast iron and steel, forged from ferrum, also known as iron, are rightfully popular. Tools forged of ferrum are almost invariably better than stone. Iron blades are balanced if forged well and easy to wield with proper training, and ferrum is one of the three materials blacksmiths primarily work with to make tools, weapons and armour, the others being Arcaurum and Carbarum. Ferrum armour comes in two main varieties, the more protective but heavier Plate Armour, and the lighter Chainmail Armour. Ferrum smithing occurs all over Asulon, but it varies from nation to nation. Oren blacksmiths forge an 'alloy' from ferrum they call 'Steel', which is stronger and less brittle than your average ferrum blade or plate. The orcs stubbornly forge their weapons from base ferrum, but their smiths are so masterful at working with it that their cast iron (they call it Skahiron) weapons are comparable to Oren's steel. I have never discovered how the dwarves work their metal, but it must be impressive, for while I have seen orcs look at human blades in disgust, it is not unheard of for them to keep and use dwarven blades they pick up on the field of blade in lieu of their own. Arcaurum Arcaurum also known as Magegold, is a soft metal nigh indistinguishable from normal gold to the untrained eye and one of the most magically receptive materials in existence. Magegold weapons are popular amongst the weathly and privileged. They are something of a status symbol, as they are indisputably the most dangerous weapons in Asulon, and their lack of durability means they are prohibitively expensive to replace. To use an Arcaurum blade or battleaxe is shows either desperation or great wealth. Arcaurum is not a material suited to making weapons. Both softer and more brittle than normal gold, it shatters after but a single strike as if it were made of glass. The trick is that, due to Arcaurum's great ease of enchantment, if it is smithed to a very strict method, even a blacksmith with a very low magical potential can unconciously enchant it to repel anything that touches it, which means that the enchanted blade can cut through mail and pierce plate with ease. There are two caveats. The first is that the magical blade is unstable, shifting weight frequently as the enchantment fluctuates, meaning it takes great skill in swordsmanship to wield it without hurting oneself. The second is that the enchantment does not last long: it wears off quite quickly as the sword or axe is used. Once it is gone, all that is left is a flimsy, unenchanted Arcaurum weapon that will almost certainly break upon the next strike. Arcaurum smithing is relatively new. Arcaurum only became widely known after the creation of the first golems in Aegis, and it still took a while to discover how to use it to make weapons more powerful than Carbarum swords. Before this, golden weapons were made of normal gold, and were inferior to even the most ineptly made iron. It is perhaps from here where the practice of royalty being clad in gold came from, as wearing gold not only showed affluence, but also confidence in one's combat prowess. Carbarum The light-blue hued Carbarum is arguably the rarest and most prized metal in Asulon. Colloquially called Diamond due to its hardness, rarity, and its glimmering appearance, this rare metal is as prized as those rare gems and can be used make hugely durable weapons and nigh indestructible armour. Carbarum smithing is almost as old as ferrum smithing, but it has changed over the years. Due to carbarum's rarity, any piece of carbarum is greatly prized, even if it doesn't fit properly. Dwarves tend to melt down any carbarum armour they acquire in order to reforge it in their size, and it is common practice for orcs to tear carbarum plate from their fallen adversaries and strap it onto their armour for added protection. Normally carbarum is mixed with ferrum in order to make more from less of the rare metal and to make it easier to work with, but it is not unheard of for master smiths to attempt to work with pure carbarum, resulting in armour that often outlasts several owners." 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiser 1357 Share Posted September 22, 2012 This does explain why some armors and such are stronger yet made the same way.... I like it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jchizz 114 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Well done. Very well done. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawd 222 Share Posted September 22, 2012 A wonderful idea, Lago. We may get some more than "my armour is diamond u cant break it" if this goes through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zayden (Znes6) 17 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I like this idea, makes the whole armor system a bit more fluid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonAulus 2076 Share Posted September 22, 2012 The orcs have both iron smithing as well as steel smithing. We call our steel skahiron due to the cow poop we burn to blow carbon though the iron to create steel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lago 2569 Author Share Posted September 22, 2012 That sounds like cast iron to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiser 1357 Share Posted September 22, 2012 The orcs have both iron smithing as well as steel smithing. We call our steel skahiron due to the cow poop we burn to blow carbon though the iron to create steel. Hay! The orcs pay me pretty well for my poop! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancora (pandalex12) 20 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Hay! The orcs pay me pretty well for my poop! Ah, I just clocked; Ur a cow ^.^ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRoyalOnion(Aris) 101 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Me Gusta, Well done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supremacy 3357 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Error? Magegold is not normal gold. Magegold is magically struck by lightning (usually necromancer lightning) gold. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lago 2569 Author Share Posted September 23, 2012 I wrote the Arcaurum/Magegold lore, which is in the golem lore. I know what I'm talking about. The creation of the core is complex. Magegold, the material the cores are made from, is rare, and charging it with the life force needed for a golem, turning it into Lifegold (also known as Black Magegold, for reasons detailed further on), is harder still. Binding a soul can turn base gold into Lifegold instantly, or an existing piece of Magegold can be turned into Lifegold when directly struck by conjured lightning while being held aloft, usually by the blacksmith. As the Magegold absorbs the lightning (or, more correctly, absorbs the elemental spirit used to conjure it), this is non-fatal. A golem core made with a mortal soul rather than a spirit results in a Soulbound golem, a core made with a lightning spirit results in a Lightningbound golem. There are almost no differences, save for Soulbound golems being slightly more intelligent and more prone to instability and corruption. Striking Magegold with lightning is part of the lightningbinding ritual used to imprison elemental spirits or souls in order to make golem cores. This makes Black Magegold/Lifegold. Magegold in itself is a naturally occuring, magically receptive metal easily confused with more valuable normal gold. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonAulus 2076 Share Posted September 24, 2012 You can call it cast iron, but the orcs call it skahiron. Also, other nations do not have steel, they have iron... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbrek the Ancient 139 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Fantastic lore, Lago! Brings a much greater depth to Blacksmithing and mining, and I can't wait to use it in my RP. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lago 2569 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 You can call it cast iron, but the orcs call it skahiron. Also, other nations do not have steel, they have iron... Steel is an alloy of carbon and iron, and occasionally other things. It's not unfeasible for humans to have steel. They're the technological ones after all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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