Astral Silver

by the Temples of Naos

## Origins

Whilst the origins of this particular metal are still unknown, there are speculations that Astral Silver has simply come from other realms and has been brought back millennia ago by wandering Astral Elves. Religious texts, however, seldom also speak of a blessing of the Astral Dragon, who has bestowed the first Elves with a gift to protect them from hostile magic.

## Properties and Uses

Uses of Astral Silver could be plentiful if it wasn’t for its rarity. These days, only the richest people and gifted lucky souls come into the possession of Astral Silver in the form of jewelry, or for a few platings for objects of magical enchantment. Astral Silver is sturdier than common silver, but yet, under enough heat, easy to reshape, hence why it can be used sparingly for finer details and thin plating. Due to its composition, it can almost be called a flexible metal that doesn’t crack easily under pressure or shockwaves. If it wasn’t so rare, it would be favored by artificers and their construction, particularly for joints.

The most notable trait of Astral Silver is its magic reflective property. Instead of absorbing or ignoring magic altogether, it reflects magic like a perfect mirror. Therefore it works excellently as a casing around magical constructs or conduits, keeping the magic inside intact without causing it to be fluctuant. Complex smaller constructs have been developed by Light Elves, who have perfected observations and usage of reflections of optical and magical kind. Light Elves use Astral Silver in order to create enchanted cubes that reflect magic stored inside and break it apart, much like a prism would break a ray of light into its different spectrums. With these cubes, magic can be broken down into its aspects, reshaped, repurposed, reconstructed, or even reversed.

Astral Silver ore is mostly found in the northern mountains of the Night Elven community, where it is carefully mined and processed. Night Elven jewelers create the finest of works, of which up to 80 percent is bought by neighboring Snow Elves. Still, unprocessed Astral Silver ore is often sold to Light Elves, who work with it for enhanced magical studies.

## Green Hue Astral Silver

Rare ancient artifacts of unknown origin made out of Astral Silver are scattered all across the lands. These artifacts, of a unique green hue, are sometimes damaged beyond repair and then smelted down in order to be put to new use. The spreading rumors of green hue Astral Silver ore have not been confirmed as of yet.

## Astral Obsidian

By accident, at the beginning of the last millennium, Draconic Elves who had been tasked to grind down an Astral Silver statue with obsidian tools, have found that, under too much heat at a volcanic forge, re-melting obsidian and Astral Silver creates a new alloy that is since then called Astral Obsidian, containing 88 percent obsidian and 12 percent Astral Silver. Studies show that this particular alloy has immense potential for enchanted weapons and tools, so long as the original enchantment uses runes, sigils, or letters inscribed on the object of focus, effectively trapping the used magic within the writing, said to be everlasting.