BrilliantRain/RefiningMagicalMaterials

I was thinking recently about how the Bo3C explains how to refine Orichalcum from gold. This started me wondering if you could refine the other MMs from semi-common materials. The following is what I came up with.

(Warning: Using these refining techniques in your game will give your players (and everyone else) easyer access to the 5MMs and will likly make artifacts much more common. It is also worth noting that the Jade refining process should produce very small quantities of Jade. Otherwise, mining Jade wouldn't be economically viable and the Realm's Jade based economy would crash due to a large Jade surplus.)

Orichalcum

Refined From: Gold

Process Used: heating by Sun and Lava

The process of refining Orichalcum from gold is extensively explained in the Bo3C and possibly in S&S.

Moonsilver

Refined From: Silver

Process Used: magical ritual involving Moonlight and Wyld energies.

The Bo3C also notes that all silver is innately Moonsilver, but that unless it is properly handled after being mined, it turns into a mundane metal. I postulate the potential existance of a Thaumatergic Ritual/Lunar Charm/Spell that would allow the user to convert silver into Unstable Moonsilver in conjunction with the energy of the Wyld (to charge the metal back to it's previous state) and the light of the Moon (to focus and normalise the essence a bit). However, since the process creates Unstable Moonsilver, it is fairly useless to anyone who doesn't know the Lunar charms for stabilizing it into Forged Moonsilver.

Starmetal

Refined From: Steel (possibly)

Process Used: Unknown

I'm not totally sure about this one, although I could be sold on the idea that the Five Maidens give their subordinates a fair amount of their Ambrosia to convert to Starmetal. Especially if said subordinate has been using his special prayers to send them Ambrosia.

Jade

Refined From: Elemental Matter

Process Used: use of elemental essence to induce compression and reduction

Jade is produced by taking elemental matter of the proper type (a log for Green Jade, a rock for White Jade, etc.) to an elemental manse of the proper type that has been rebuilt to focus essence into the refining system instead of a hearthstone. Once there, the elemental matter is placed into the refining system at the convergence point. The refining system compresses the elemental matter while energizing it with essence to destroy all of the impurities and reveal the miniscule amounts of Jade that are present in all elemental matter. (Elemental Matter is only .01% to .1% Jade by weight).

Soulsteel

Refined From: Iron (possibly)

Process Used: none known

It has been hypothosized that iron ore mined from a shadowland might possess minute traces of naturally occurring Soulsteel. However, the Deathlords are quite happy with their current methods of producing this material and see no reason to continue experimentation, although the refining process would likly look similar to that of Orichalcum.

Comment

Savant and Sorcerer explains goes into how all of the Materials are made. Starmetal, for example, is made from gods sentenced to death whose essence is shaped into a solid mass which Sidereals further process. Soulsteel's physical component is a metal mined within the Labyrinth. It seems silly to suggest that Soulsteel would ever occur naturally, and it really undermines just what a monstrosity anything made out of Soulsteel is. Refining Jade is retardedly easy (you put a rock in an Earth aspected manse . . . the Blessed Isle has both in plenty) compared to what is require for Moonsilver, and Orichalcum through canonical methods of refinement. ~ Andrew02

Perhaps comething 'easier' might be possible for Jade Refinement. Nonmagical jade such as those known to us on Earth also exists in the Exalted Creation and doing an appropiate elemental process results in magical jade, say the equivilant of resource 3-4 amount of material to create enough jade for an artifact of level 1. It wouldn't hurt jade mining, but would be a nice supplement.

As for Starmetal... one has to consider that -DEMONS- would count as a valid source-material for forging into starmetal.
~Haku

Huh, I thought that all jade was magical. Well that makes it quite easy. Thanks Haku. I'm going to give it a try at fixing my idea first, though. --BrilliantRain

Maybe a byproduct, then, of that sort of soul-refining would be the distilling of Vitriol out of the demon, rendering the process less than optimal, from a Sidereal viewpoint. One other thought: would that Vitriol be visible to Fate? If not, that would make that process even LESS appealing to Sidereals... -Suzume

That's just it... demons are at their core spiritual beings (just like the gods that get smelted), which means that soul-forging works just as well on them. So, you can get demons being summoned or -dragged- out of hell or captured in creation and than given the starmetal treatment, the amount wouldn't be more than what you'd get out of the gods... but it would be enough to supplement the sidereal artifact needs. Of course, you also have to go with the fact that before the primordial war, there HAD to have been some loyalist gods who sided with the primordials... and got forged into starmetal in the past. ~ Haku

Uh. Dude, I'm not arguing for or against the idea, just that a BYPRODUCT might be Vitriol. 'Kay? Kind of like the slag you get when refining, say, iron or copper or the like. -Suzume

That'll teach me to read things properly... ^_^; ~ Haku

I don't know, I've got to say the idea of turning Demons into Starmetal appeals to me. Seems appropriately arrogant on the part of the Siddies ("We're the best, we won, you lose, so now we kill you and turn your corpse into a hairpiece!"), and it might work well for a lot of the anti-fate effects that Starmetal armor is known for. Plus, it takes some of the horror away from Starmetal, which I don't think needs to be that horrific. The real issue is one of how much Starmetal you get per demon. I mean, in theory, you could have to kill either a really big one, or a whole /lot/ of small ones to get enough metal to do anything, keeping Starmetal rare as well... - GregLink

I know... it's not that horrific, but it -fits- the sidereal style. And it IS horrific in a manner... treating the losers in a conflict thus.

Another possibility is that starmetal can be forged out of godblooded souls at a steeper cost than gods... ~ Haku

Andrew02, I'm familiar with the information in S&S, and yeah, that was kinda the reason I was having trouble figuring a good refining method for Starmetal and Soulsteel. I really couldn't figure out a good substitute for boiling gods into Starmetal and Soulsteel is already manufactured through an industrial process so it probably technically doesn't need another one. Although, I think that throwing in some essencebabble about small bits of ghosts getting attached to their favorite weapons or getting stuck in the ground where their bodies were buried could work for the Soulsteel. As far as it goes about this making Soulsteel less horrific, I agree with you. On the other hand, I think that it makes the Deathlords more horrible as they don't really care that there could be a way to produce soulsteel that doesn't require destroying people. I rewrote the Jade thing and tried to say what I meant a bit more explicitly. Take a look at it now. --BrilliantRain

After the second crappy-ass "Secret Origin of xxxx !!!!" printed by WW, I developed origins for both Moonsilver and Orichalcum that I'd be happy to share. The Moonsilver origin is pretty tame, but my Secret Origin of Orichalcum got deleted off RPGnet for being too risque. Despite having oodles and oodles of mythological precedent! Bummer. Anyway. - Telgar

Hmmm? What's your version? I would be interested in seeing... ~ Haku

What, praytell, was the first Secret Origin? -- OhJames

First came "Starmetal is made of GODS!!!!!", then came "Soulsteel is made of ALIENS!!!!"

They'd be here: Telgar/SecretOrigins. Enjoy...or something.