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Neon Knight
2011-07-10, 09:58 AM
Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky, but Crom is your god. Crom, and he lives in the earth. Once giants lived in the earth, Conan, and in the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and they took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered, and the earth shook, and fire and wind struck down these giants, and they threw their bodies into the waters. But in their rage, the gods forgot the secret of steel and left it on the battlefield, and we who found it. We are just men, not gods, not giants, just men. And the secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan, you must learn its discipline, for no one, no one in this world can you trust, not men, not women, not beasts... This you can trust.


~ Conan the Barbarian (1982 film.)


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Gold is for the mistress -- silver for the maid --
Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade.
"Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall,
"But Iron -- Cold Iron -- is master of them all."


~Cold Iron, by Rudyard Kipling


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I'm looking to make a list or resource of legendary and mythical metals from both historic real world folklore and from fictional sources. Stuff like Corinthian bronze, bulat, wootz steel, orichalcum, and things along those lines. Primarily I'm looking for sources and information on the historical stuff, since it is typically much easier to find out information about the outright fictional stuff, for some odd reason.

I'm hoping that the playground can help me in my search.

Kuma Kode
2011-07-10, 11:28 PM
This is probably a good place to start (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_elements,_materials,_isotopes_an d_atomic_particles).

Xuc Xac
2011-07-11, 12:56 AM
I'm looking to make a list or resource of legendary and mythical metals from both historic real world folklore and from fictional sources. Stuff like Corinthian bronze, bulat, wootz steel, orichalcum, and things along those lines. Primarily I'm looking for sources and information on the historical stuff, since it is typically much easier to find out information about the outright fictional stuff, for some odd reason.


I'm confused. Are you asking for real metals or fictional metals? You say you want legendary or mythical metals, but most of your examples are real metals and then you say you want "the historical stuff". So which is it?

Neon Knight
2011-07-11, 09:06 AM
I'm confused. Are you asking for real metals or fictional metals? You say you want legendary or mythical metals, but most of your examples are real metals and then you say you want "the historical stuff". So which is it?

Both. But what that was meant to convey was that I was having more trouble finding out details about historical stuff, and finding more historical materials. And of course at some point the line between history and myth/legend becomes a little blurry. It's an imprecise subject.

Kuma Kode's list, for example, is one I'm familiar with. A similar list for historical materials would be useful.

Sinfonian
2011-07-11, 11:22 AM
The only one I can think off the top of my head is Damascus steel. Though real, it was "legendary" in how many regarded its properties (sharpness, strength). Perhaps that counts?

Edit: Though I suppose that if you count that then you need to include the meme-worthy Japanese folded steel. [Insert "Katanas are underpowered in d20" here]

TheThan
2011-07-11, 12:56 PM
I think this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0134.html) is a good place to start your quest. (or side quest as it were).

Eldan
2011-07-12, 05:20 AM
Meteoric Iron, aka Thunderbolt Iron. It has all sorts of mystical properties all over the world.

See:
Thokcha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_iron), for an example. Interestingly, I can't find an article on ideas in other mythologies, but they are around, really.

Shadowknight12
2011-07-12, 05:59 AM
I'm a bit of a fan of silver and cold iron, myself, but I don't want to bore you with pages-long rants, so I'll make a repost of what I wrote in another thread.


Silver was believed to be a metal associated with good (or purity, my sources aren't very clear on this). The reason you cannot capture a vampire's figure on photographs is because the chemicals that were used on the films back in the day were silver compounds. Furthermore, mirrors used to be made of burnished silver, which also explains why witches and other evil creatures cast no reflection. The fact that there was a very strong association between mirror reflections and souls in the old days (coupled with the fact that witches, vampires and other evil creatures were said to have lost/traded their souls) contributed to this belief. This is probably the reason why a vampire's DR is bypassed with silver, just like a werewolf's. I would guess that this is also why the "expensive" version of the standard holy symbol is made of silver, because of this very same association.

and


Much like running water, iron was believed to be an antimagic material, that absorbed (or blocked, or redirected, or reflected) curses and spells, and that magical creatures (such as fey) were horribly damaged by iron weapons as a result. That's probably the reason we have DR/Cold Iron.

Hope that helps!

Ksheep
2011-07-12, 03:03 PM
Well, I was going to mention Damascus Steel, but that was already covered. Another one to look into is Wootz steel. Also, after looking around a bit, I found this article on Latvian metallurgical beliefs (http://www.kalve.cesis.lv/eng/article07.html), as shown in traditional Latvian songs.

Neon Knight
2011-07-12, 03:08 PM
Well, I was going to mention Damascus Steel, but that was already covered. Another one to look into is Wootz steel. Also, after looking around a bit, I found this article on Latvian metallurgical beliefs (http://www.kalve.cesis.lv/eng/article07.html), as shown in traditional Latvian songs.

That is quite interesting and excellent for my purposes. Thank you. If anyone knows of write-ups similar to this for other cultures, I'd be delighted to read them.

EDIT: Also, Shadowknight's write-up/reminder was also helpful. Thankful for your contribution. Also Eldan, but I actually knew about Meteoric Iron and Thokcha already.