CallMeCanon/NineMM

The Nine Magical Materials

by CallMeCal
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In the High First Age, smiths and savants catalogued the wonders of Five Magical Materials. These five and their traits are well known throughout Creation, and their properties are logged in Oadenal's Codex. However, in the time since the Usurpation, other Magical Materials have been discovered. How rare and how widely known they are varies by material and by Storyteller.

The Five

The Five Magical Materials known in the First Age are Orichalcum, Moonsilver, Starmetal, Jade, and Soulsteel. For more information on them, see the Exalted Core Book and Oadenal's Codex.

The Four

Here are the other four Magical Materials, their properties, their origin, and their respective rarities.

Adamant

Adamant is universally considered the Sixth Magical Material within Autochthonia. If the Seal of Eight Divinities has not been breached, Adamant is entirely unknown within Creation. How well known it is depends on how long the Seal has been open, how far the Locust Crusade has spread, how far their lines of trade may have spread, etc. Even if it is somehow universally known all over Creation, it may or may not be considered equal to the Five; most likely opinions among smiths and savants will vary as to whether the Five should become the Six, in mirror of Autochthonia, or if Adamant should be classified separately.

Gossamer

Most people who have had even peripheral contact with or study about the Fair Folk know of the existence of Gossamer. Very few, however, would count it among the Five, because it is nearly unusable for those within Creation itself. It is too supple, too chaotic, too Wyld for most mortals or even Dragon-Blooded smiths to reliably work with. As the Fair Folk push further into Creation, and particularly if Arcadian smiths or savants begin breaking ground in the forging of Gossamer Artifacts, or if the returned Solars look on Gossamer with less suspicion and prejudice and more inspiration and creativity, that state of affairs may begin to change.

Verdigris

Sometimes called Brimstone, this coarse, blue-green metal seems at first glance to be made of compressed copper oxide. When (nearly) any Magical Material is immersed in Vitriol, it corrodes and oxidizes, producing a thin outer layer of Verdigris. This Verdigrised metal can then be used as-is, or that layer of Verdigris can be scraped off and smelted into a metal of its own. Verdigris can be attuned to by any Hell-template Exalt, regardless of Type.
Verdigris is filled with the anger of the Yozis. If a Verdigris Armor's hardness reduces an attack to zero, or soak reduces it to Essence ping, Essence ping is also rolled against the attacker as the armor lashes out at them. If a Verdigris Weapon's attack rolls more Critical Successes than the target's Permanent Essence, and deals damage, one point of that damage become Aggravated.

Emerald

(See this page for details on the properties and origin of Emerald.)

Altered Materials

In official canon, vitriol can be used to "taint" any Magical Material so it can be used by an Infernal or Akuma who could attune to the original material (Manual of Exalted Power: The Infernals, p.173). In the CallMeCanon, there are three different processes based on that idea. (Verdigris, Gossamer, and Emerald cannot be successfully altered in these ways.)

Verdigrised

When (nearly) any Magical Material is immersed in Vitriol, it corrodes and oxidizes, producing a thin outer layer of Verdigris. A Verdigrised Magical Material has all the same properties of its pure form, but can be successfully attuned to by Hell-template Exalts with no penalty (her Exaltation must still be the appropriate Type for the original material; thus Verdigrised Soulsteel can only be attuned to by Scale Caste Machinicals). Verdigrised Magical Materials look like they have tarnished with rust and age, or rather how they would look if such things could tarnish a Magical Material; dull, coarse, with a subtle green tint and patches of verdigris patina spread randomly over its surface.