Materials and Metallurgy of The Constant

[The Starver]

It has come to my attention that nobody seems to be going into detail about the materials found in The Constant, specifically those that seem odd.

Time to fix that, people!

1. Gold:

Obviously. So, what seems apparent to me is that Gold in The Constant is not the same as gold (#79 Au) on earth. In fact, I think it may be an entirely different material. It seems to hold an edge as well as flint, as well as—somehow—being four times more durable. I believe it may be such a similar compound to our gold, however, that even Wagstaff can’t tell the difference. A trained metallurgist, however...

2. Thulecite:

Ah, Thulecite. Such an exceptional material. I could probably write an entire essay on it. But for the purposes of this, I’ll keep it simple. In composition it appears to be a golden or yellowish metal that, while bright, doesn’t shine exactly like gold. It seems to be much more durable than anything now found or made in the Constant (with the possible exception of iron). It’s not too odd of a metal, though, since it is likely composed of naturally occurring materials in the Constant.

3. Moon Shards:

These are small shards of glass infused with lunar essences. They tend to be quite sharp, but more brittle than flint. This makes sense, because they’re glass. Their only oddity seems to be that they can contain lunar energies for a period of time, similar to gemstones on Roshar in the Stormlight Archive book series.

4. Dreadstone:

This is obviously an otherworldly material. Its very presence is enough to affect the psyche of anyone who attempts to work with it. It also repairs itself, possibly at the expense of nearby people’s sanity. It should only be worked with under extreme caution.

5. Obsidian:

This rock is, while somewhat similar to the igneous rock on earth, decidedly more magical. One theory as to why is that the influence of The Shadows and Alter causes the heat of the lava to stay, latent, within the resultant obsidian. In practice, this manifests as an increasing amount of heat being released by the obsidian as it is used, in a tool or weapon, until the amount of heat produced is enough to immediately ignite whatever the tool or weapon is being used on, sometimes quite explosively!

6. Iron:

This is likely either very similar to—or even the same as—our own, familiar iron. While its alloy, simply called “Alloy,” is rather similar to titanium—if a bit less durable, the base compound itself is likely the same as what appears on Earth. It is, however, much rarer, appearing naturally only in one localized region. It can also be magically empowered, but the method for this is not known.

That’s it! Thanks for reading, and as always, point out what you thought was inaccurate or missing!