Metals of the Sha'tar

Minstrels would have you believe there are metals that can talk even before they are forged and places where metal grows as trees, gleaming in glorious plenty for anyone who finds the hidden groves, but I have yet to see such things with my own eyes and remain what some sages call “strongly unconvinced”. This section is not an exhaustive guide to the pure metals and alloys used in magic, but rather practical notes on the most commonly used metallic substances used in magic and the construction of magical items and the most common magical treatments for metals. A dwarf would chortle at the scanty magical lore gathered here and it will even look paltry to the eyes of most sorcerer-smiths, who know and use far more alloys and a surprisingly large number of additional rare metals than I describe here. Yet it provides an overview of the value of certain metals to magic, a subject rife with distortions and misunderstandings even among mages.
==Adamant (headcanon)==
This is the pure metal form of the hard, jet-black ferromagnetic ore known as adamantite, from which the famous alloy adamantine is made. Adamant is rarely found in nature but when it is, it is always be in large spherical pockets in hardened volcanic flows.
Adamant is one of the hardest substances known on Azeroth, but it is also brittle. A sword made of adamant could slice through most metals, but would snap off if struck by another blade or even a smartly wielded wooden cudgel. It sees use only in dwarven experimentation (dwarves always look for metals better than the famous adamantine) and in styluses used to etch metal with names, strike chased ornamentation, and imprint inscriptions. Such a stylus shatters if dropped to the floor, though the chips can be used to scratch things. Adamant styluses typically costs 35 to 50 gold pieces, if one can be found at all; Thorium Point of the dwarves is the best place to shop for one.
Adamant is a gleaming, glossy black. Any reflections seen in it acquire rainbow edges, this peculiar optical property is the sure-fire way to identify this heavy, valuable metal.Adamant is worth five times its weight in gold and takes enchantments readily. Some dwarves have worked together with wizards to make adamant plate armour bound about with enchantments so that when it shatters, the pieces hang together around the wearer, providing some – albeit flawed – protection. Adamant shields against all fire and heat, magical or non-magical, that it comes in contact with, so a wearer of adamant armour can stride through a small fire (one which still allows him the use of some air to breathe) unscathed and even emerge from a fireball blast suffering only damage to exposed areas.
==Adamantine (headcanon)==
This alloy, of five-eighths adamant to two-eighths silver and one-eighth electrum (itself an alloy of silver and gold) retains the hardness of adamant, but combines it with a rugged durability that makes adamantine so hard to shatter that it is the favoured substance for war hammer heads, the best non-mithril armour, and harbour chains. (By some miracle, adamantine can also be derived by combining steel and mithril, if one knows how. However, the process is almost as arcane as the one necessary for creating the philosopher's stone and requires a smith, a priest, a mage and an alchemist – at least – to complete.) Adamantine is black, but has a clear green sheen in candlelight – a sheen that sharpens to purple-white under the light given off by most magical radiances and by will-o-wisps.
Adamantine is tricky to make, and must be forged and worked at very high temperatures by smiths who know exactly what they are doing and who have access to special oils to slake and temper the hot metal in. Almost all such expert smiths are dwarves, as the Deep Folk guard the secrets of working adamant jealously, but a priest or wizard seeking to enchant items can make use of finished adamantine items and need not necessarily have to work with a smith to create an adamantine work anew. Adamantine readily accept enchantments, making it a prime candidate for magical armour.
==Elementium==
Another derivative of adamant, Elementium is not native to Azeroth, hailing from the Elemental Plane instead. Unlike Adamantine, it is not created through any mortal process; elemental creatures simply cast deposits of adamantite ore into vortexes and pools of raw elemental energy and leave them there for centuries until it is judged ready to use. Recently, many such deposits have been plane-shifted into Azeroth and pulled out from the ground raw, giving Twillight structures their odd, twisting shape. 
Elementium has properties very similar to adamantine: almost completely black, very hard and durable. Identification is made possible by comparing weight: elementium is even heavier than adamantine, so much that a warrior in full elementium plate wouldn’t be able to move at all. It is so heavy that most elementium weapons are made out of an alloy to make handling easier.
It also reacts differently to magical radiance, whereas adamantine displays a bright purple-white sheen, elementium's shine is dull and shifting. It readily accepts enchantments, but only of elemental nature.
==Copper (headcanon)==
This well-known pure metal, with its distinctive pinkish sheen, is the best widely available purifier and amalgamator among metals. It is soft and easily worked, widely known, and appears here because its role as a magical purifier and neutralizing agent cannot be overemphasized.
The caster seeking to work with a substance or item not suited to their purpose can make the offending item usable by adding at least half the item's weight of copper to the item. (For example, by sheathing it in copper or adding a longer handle plated in copper, or similar means.) Holy water and elixirs should not be stored for any length of time in copper vessels, because the metal will neutralize them in around three months, changing them to normal water.
==Dark Iron==
Found only in the deepest cores of the greatest mountains, dark iron is inherently volcanic in origin. It can be forged only in the hottest forges and only without any involvement of magic. The deep-dwelling dwarves of Blackrock Mountain employ a forge constructed directly above a river of molten lava, the only place they could find that could generate the required amount of consistent heat. There are also rumours that a similar forge exists in the heart of the Elemental Plane, where dark iron is much more common. A journey to this site would not be for the faint of heart.
Dark iron takes badly to enchantments, which can be added to items made of it only as the newly forged item cools to just the right temperature and consistency. If the enchanter is clumsy or a flawed procedure is used, the entire item fractures into useless powder. Once the item is complete, no further enhancements or enchantments can be added. Such attempts simply fail, wasting any ingredients used in the attempt.
Items made of dark iron are a dull black colour. They appear more like charcoal than metal, and if struck give a flat, dull tone instead of a metallic clang. Although they have a fragile appearance, dark iron items are exceptionally tough and resilient in battle.
==Darksteel (headcanon)==
The composition of this alloy is a secret of the Dark Iron dwarf clan and the only widely-known component is the eponymous dark iron. It is unheard-of to find a new item made of darksteel, though a rare and lucky few delvers into deep places have come upon ingots of darksteel.
Darksteel behaves like steel but is lighter, and when coated in certain oils whose formula is known to few and heated in even a small fire, it becomes molten, and can be poured into moulds. even simple sand moulds, to be cast into a new shape. Remarkably, this does not destroy or (usually) alter existing enchantments on the metal. Moreover, darksteel is durable and takes new enchantments readily, even if it is already dweomer-laden. All of this makes darksteel very valuable (about 10 to 12 times more than gold, by weight), and it is eagerly sought by dwarves and by adventurers of other races. Certain smiths in Orgrimmar and Ironforge have standing offers of 7,000 gold pieces or more for an intact darksteel ingot.
Darksteel is silvery in hue when polished or cut, but its exposed surfaces have a deep, gleaming purple lustre. It has the unique property of absorbing all natural and magical lightning or electrical energy (not heat, and not magic missiles or other pure energy pulses) into itself, without conducting any of it to a wearer or being in contact with it.
==Dragonhide==
Not a metal at all, but its use in armour- and shieldcrafting warrants its place here.
Dragonhide is exactly what one expects: the flayed hide and scales of a dragon. Obtaining it has always been a difficult task which recently became even harder thanks to the Flights talking a more active role in the affairs of Azeroth. The Aspects take a dim view of harvesting her fallen children and unless one demonstrates great powers of stealth, it takes a special dispensation from an elder dragon to acquire enough hide to make a suit.
Dragonhide is rarely pristine; scales go through a routine of wear and tear until they come loose and fall off, after which a new one grows in its place. Because of this, any given piece of dragonhide is a mishmash of scales in all life cycle stages. Despite this, it's fully usable once sewn and tailored into a suit. Heavier armour is more tricky: the crafter has to pick only the finest scales and sew or rivet them against a mail or leather undercushion. Heavier suits require a denser layer of better scales and, as a result, "cost" more dragons.
The tale of dragonhide armour giving its wearer resistance against a dragon's breath is actually a half-truth. On its own it has no special properties aside from strength and durability, but guarantees success if an attempt to enchant it with its native element is made. 
==Gold (headcanon)==
This well-known pure metal is the softest of workable metallic substances, and one of the best conductors among them. Despite its high value, it is relatively common and is favoured for use in ornamentation in the making of magical items, often being used to inlay graven runes or inscriptions, where meld magics can keep it from being damaged or falling out through rough handling.
Gold has the important ability to hold multiple enchantments (even conflicting ones) and keep them from affecting each other or the stability of the gold-adorned item. Gold is also supernaturally pure, attempts to corrupt enchanted items with a high ratio of gold (at least 50% weight) will meet exceptional resistance and may even cause backlash to the caster. It is very resistant to acid, only a few are potent enough to dissolve it.
This is where the practicality of gold ends: as a metal, it is soft and very heavy and requires extensive enchantment just to make it on par with common steel.
==Truegold==
This gold derivative of impressive beauty is known as "krovalian gold" among sages and savants. It rose to relative popularity only recently and most of its traits are not closely researched yet. Truegold is made by a difficult process which involves boiling gold in great temperatures (like over lava in the heart of a volcano) while using an extensive array of mirrors to shine blazing sunlight upon the crucible. This must last for 12 hours and even a momentary lapse in temperature or intensity of the light will ruin the procedure, forcing a restart.
Truegold retains the sheer weight of gold but is much harder, enabling its use in weapon- and armourcraft. It retains most arcane properties of normal gold, with one important exception: it is completely invulnerable to corruption or perversion and will retain this characteristic if there's at least 50% of it in weight in an alloy.
==Silver (headcanon)==
This relatively common valuable pure metal is known to the elves as “the sheath and shield of Art” because, of all metals, it is the most associated with and suitable for magic. Some Kaldorei believe silver is the hardened tears of the goddess Elune and in the eldest dwarven tongues, the names for silver meant “the blood of alloys,” referring to its versatility in making one metal combine with another. Many dwarves use silver in various alloy formulae of their own devising or that have been handed down through clans for generations. Most of the beauty of metalwork down through the ages has been associated with the gleam and hue of mirror-polished, untarnished silver and it has always been associated with the adornment of magical items.
Enchantments that involve moon-related magics, healing, lightning, cold and pure energy discharges (such as arcane missiles) will always succeed if silver is the item's dominant ingredient (60% or greater composition by mass). For all other types of magic and in lesser quantities, it will still happily gobble up most enchantments cast upon it. Elves make a metal of it that easily pierces the supernatural defences of demons and shapeshifters. Dwarves are known to be able to combine it with mithril to make a lightning-reflecting alloy – a warrior clad in full plate armour made of such an alloy can enter a circle of debating shamans, call them ingrates and fools and just chortle as their own lightning blasts fry them.
There are many more applications of silver. One of them is to leave a knife of powdered silver in a crystal vial full of spring water overnight for the moon to shine on it. When the sun's first ray illuminates the vial at dawn, the mixture will turn into a healing potion.
==Mithril (headcanon)==
Known as truemetal to the dwarves and true silver to the elves, this silvery-blue, shining metal is derived from soft, glittering, silvery-black ore found in rare veins and pockets all over Azeroth, from the depths of the Ragefire Chasm to surface rocks, particularly in northern Eastern Continent. Mithril can be combined with steel to derive adamantine if one has no access to adamantite ore, but this process is both difficult and known only to a very few dwarves, who do not perform it for nondwarves unless there is a very good reason. Mithril is the lightest and most supple of metals hard enough to be used in the making of armour; it is extremely valuable.
Mithril readily absorbs magic, allowing easy enchanting and sometimes randomly shielding the owner or wearer from harm.
==Moonsteel==
The final derivative of silver is an alloy with steel and moonstone powder and considered by the Kaldorei a sign of Elune's grace. It must be created by moonlight, heated by moonfire and cooled with water that has not seen the light of the sun for at least one lunar cycle. The result is a pearly white metal that glows with a pale radiance under moonlight or any magical equivalent.
Moonsteel has the same properties as steel, with one crucial difference: it pierces through the natural and supernatural defences of creatures of darkness. This property is carried to spells cast with a moonsteel implement (such as a staff) or a weapon made out of an alloy, if moonsteel composes at least 60% of the item in weight. Because of this, it is highly sought by paladins and anyone who faces down demons, undead, old gods or other dark forces which plague Azeroth.
==Lead (headcanon)==
Heavy, soft, and resistant to magic, lead is not used much except as a defence against scrying or teleportation. Occasionally an alchemist will commission a bottle or bowl from it, but not often. Despite endless tales to the contrary, few alchemists try to turn lead to gold. Under some conditions, lead can extend the duration of spells or shield them from anti-magical environments.
==Thorium==
Once the exclusive secret of dark iron dwarves, this metal has since become a favourite among orcs, who use its weight (same as natural lead) to increase the striking force of heavy weapons. Many orcish locks and hooks, as well as some fabled orcish axes have been forged of thorium, though new forgings, and folk who know how to work the ore, are rare today.
Thorium is a rare elementally-infused derivative of lead found in igneous rock, usually as streaks of blue-green ore amid vitreous glass. So that it does not become as brittle as the glass it is found in, it must be tempered with the blood of a red or blue dragon in its forging. Because of this, not only is working it not a task for the roadside village smith, it also caused the rapid decrease of its popularity as dragons became involved in mortal affairs. The finished forged metal is silver-blue with a green reflective shine.
Thorium bonds with other metals so well that melding spells are not necessary when enchanting an item made of it and other metals. It is famous for holding a sharp edge even when abused and was the favoured material of old for making swords of magical sharpness and vorpal weapons.
==Arcanite==
A much-beloved metal among elves once, it has fallen into obscurity nowadays. Arcanite is an alloy of refined thorium and liquefied, magic-infused rock crystals, heated, tempered and slaked in a secret process. The result is a silvery metal, lighter than steel and with the dull silvery sheen common pewter, holding a fine edge but unbelievably flexible. A longsword or rapier made of arcanite can be bent in half without snapping and arcanite chainmail can be worn under one's clothing. Arcanite armaments almost never need to be repaired, as they spring back to their original shape after deflecting a blow.
Arcanite is enchanted easily and takes on a beautiful white sheen when infused with magic.
==Saronite==
This common blue metal is named for its creator, the Old God Yogg-Saron and is found only in scattered, but very rich, deposits in Northrend as a soft, greenish-gray claylike ore or a flaky mud. In this native form, it is mixed with an extremely strong acid from the Old God's belly and its preparation involves boiling the ore until all acid evaporates. If even a small amount of acid remains, the saronite remains mud and is unworkable. What's more, its melting point increases and the ore might not be workable again.
If successfully transformed into a metal, saronite must be cast, worked, or forged into final form within a day and thereafter can never be worked again. If an item made of saronite is broken, only magical mendings accomplished by esoteric, reality-warping spells or turning back the hands of time can repair it. If saronite is left untouched for that 24 hours, it becomes inert and unworkable unless similar magic is cast and properly worded to allow a second chance at working it.
Saronite is unsuitable for use in the crafting of magical items or items that are to be worn because once it has cooled and hardened after being worked, it deflects and sometimes even reflects magic cast upon it. If somehow enchanted, it becomes electrically charged ans shocks any being that comes in contact with it. It sees most use as a sheathing for fortress gates, vault doors, seals on coffers or hatches of crucial importance.
==Starmetal==
Starmetal is another name for metallic meteorites. Bits of it are extremely rare and usually no larger than a human's thumb in size, though larger examples the size of an ogre's head or bigger have been found. Smiths have mastered the technique of forging starmetal by adding small amounts of it to more common metals to make weapons of great strength and durability, ideal for taking enchantments. Combined with metals such as steel or mithril, starmetal adds to the sharpness and flexible temper of bladed weapons and is reputed to heighten the strength and duration of all enchantments laid upon blades of which it is a part. Because of this, star metal ore is valued in the thousands of gold pieces when obtained in large enough chunks to be worked. Starmetal's is value lies primarily in its transformed state, after it is melted and forged into weapons or armour. In addition to being so transformed, tiny pieces of starmetal are sometimes sliced and polished for inlay work.
==The truesilver treatment==
This long, difficult, and exacting dwarven process is now known to smiths of other races, but it has defied all efforts to duplicate its end results with a spell. At least three mages of Dalaran and several paladins of the Argent Crusade have mounted long-running, continuing researches to this end with no success.
Applying a truesilver treatment involves a complicated regimen of heating, cooling, acid and reagent baths and the casting of complicated dweomers to a mithril item. In the last phases, the item is brought into a fiery forge and heated until it glows white after which its surface, thanks to the preparation, transmutes into a layer of truesilver.
Mithril given the treatment gains an enduring bright shine (like polished chromium) and becomes immune to tarnishing and other discolouration, acidic corrosion and rusting, even that caused by magic. Truesilver protection does not decay with time, it can be broken only if a protected item is shattered into many pieces or comes into direct contact with lava, dragonfire, magic fire, or the heat of a forge hotter than that used in the latter stages of its application.
Category:Magic item