User:Average/Alchemy
Alchemy, a powerful subject wherein lies knowledge that most have abandoned. I am here to help you revive this art and science.
The primary elements of alchemy are fire, water, air, and matter. With these alone, you can create a living universe. These go way back to ancient and what are, to most, forgotten realms, but to us, they are unforgotten. Wood of course has it's own beauty and intrigue, but let us talk about the most practical of elements: metal.
What is to explain the origin of metals? Did they get fashioned from the trees? Laid by an ostrich? Washed out of a river? Well, of course, after the realms long forgot, man took to his mind to strip elemental metals from rock and ore. Yet, the mages know this is not the original source of that element.
The first metal came from the detritus of ancient battles before the creation of Middle Earth. Wrought iron appeared, a heavy metal, good for pots and pans and swords. Another metal was discovered by wizards. It was dull but dense, gray but malleable -- two imminently useful properties not found anywhere else. You would call it pewter or tin. You can use it to make containers or wands, but not too much else, as it has not much strength, and that is what they did, for they would lose their fingers trying to zap their opponents.
After the gods gained more power over the elements, copper, steel, and lead came about. Pyrite was a product sulfer and tin. Copper was a product of sulfur and pewter. You now gain ease of ionic conductance (useful for lightning bolts). Steel and lead are uniquely tied to the realm after the sun was created by the gods and are sourced by different treatments of the Earth element. The former goes towards higher nobility, gaining strength. In fact, you should consider steel an enchanted from of iron, granted by some (as yet) unknown gods or perhaps a white dragon. The latter moves away from nobility, getting denser, associated with the red dragon. Pewter is in-between these two.
Copper plus iron plus pewter created gold. The additional power and order of science created platinum. The source of these powers is held by a mage high in the towers of Neverwinter. Gold plus science, plus the light of higher logic created electrum, the source of mithril. But hold on, we're getting way ahead of ourselves. The gods are throttling me for talking over much about it. There are, shall we say, other complications. But you don't get electrum until your world has completed a journey of knowledge or the Wizards of the Coast have contacted the author, and you shouldn't even think about mithril for a good long while, warrior.
In any case, there you have the provenance and etiology (the journey) of the metals. From the history of petty conflicts, to the accumulation of power, the sacrifice of the human heart, and development and order of science and logic, to.... What else? What lies beyond these, dear reader? What could create the next noble metal, that of electrum?
For that, you'll have to find Merlin the Mage who knows these things. I am merely Cedric the Bard, here to deliver this message to you.
Each metal is affiliated with one of the four primary elements of alchemy and each of these elements has a metal expressing it`s basest/noblest form:
- fire: copper/electrum; connected to sulfur and the conduction of electricity,
- matter: lead/gold
- air: pewter/platinum
- water: mercury/silver
