Ashblack (continued)

The creation of Ashblack is a complicated process which requires geomancy to separate the ore down to its basic elements of carbon and iron. It requires an immense amount of heat to get the process started, and that heat has to be sustained long enough for the entire metal to heat up. Ashblack heats up layer by layer, exposed surface inward, meaning that only when the entire layer of a metal is heated can it be worked laterally.

Consequently, since so much heat is involved, it requires ashblack and soniarium tools to work ashblack. Easy for dwarves to procure while they live in Arboria, nigh impossible for just about everyone else.

The result from this heating is that the iron melts and the carbon mixes and all impurities are beat out of it in a consistent pattern using simple tools. The rhythm causes the metal to form its initial layers. The result is a mass of dull, gray metal like soniarium. The metal is quickly cooled by throwing water on it, causing the metal to crystallize into its striated layers. It is then heated again, this time without the pounding of iron tools. Instead, soniarium tools are used so that no extra vibrations can disturb the pattern of the layers.

Once heated, ashblack becomes brittle (once again, an incredibly difficult task considering iron's. It can be bent in a limited fashion, but not much (2-3 degrees per inch?). It requires an extremely skilled blacksmith to determine the exact point of breakage, limiting further the number of blacksmiths capable of producing it (a great number of ashblack-certified smiths are strong in the gift of earth). When brittle, ashblack can be cleaved along its flat edges. The only time ashblack can be sharpened is while it is hot. Rough diamond with ashblack-plated gloves, tremendous heat, and lots of guts can turn a rough edge into a smooth one, but it is a very dangerous process, so the smaller the edge, the happier the blacksmith. A greatsword or a spear made of ashblack is a dwarven joke. A warhammer is not, although it has to be custom made and the hilt of the weapon often costs more than the rest of it.

Materials are not a figure in making ashblack. The initial process is simple when the secret is handed down and once you have availability to a tremendous amount of heat (lava vents and magma pools are very useful). The biggest concern is time. Scale mail is easy, a rough series of pierced plates held together by rings of any random metal. Bladed weapons take the most time. Concussion weapons are rarely made because of ashblack's weakness. But those that are useful are usually illegal by way of soniarium accents to dull the effects.

 

Note: This information was donated by Arch Redux (14-June-2003)