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====== Special Metals ======
==== Ebonite ====

The stellar neighborhood surrounding Gaeleth and its parent star, Ekiras, is full of a dark metal known as ebonite. In its natural state, mixed with nickel and iron, ebonite takes on a dark, lustrous shine, especially after falling through the atmosphere to land on Gaeleth's surface. Ebonite is fairly recognizable, though rare enough on the surface of Gaeleth. Small deposits exist in ancient impact craters, as remnants from the original meteors.

Refined ebonite is a rich black so deep that it reflects no light (hence the name). Refinement is a long and arduous process that requires intensive heat, careful attention, split-second adjustments, and considerable alchemical skills. Once purified, the ebonite metal can be worked like conventional metals, though its hardness and durability often wear out lesser metal lathes and files. This means that it can be drawn and filigreed, as well, to create intricate designs or creations.

Absorbing visible light, and reradiating it as near-ultra-violet energy, ebonite remains a deep, dark black even in the brightest sunlight. It has a negative index-of-refraction, and is a favored metal of those who prefer to remain in the shadows. Ebonite has gone into weapons, armor, jewelry, and more. Flecks of ebonite that result from working larger pieces can sometimes adorn jewelry, fetching a high price. Overall, the metal is fairly rare, and thus very expensive.

Ebonite is most-often worked into weapons, though the razor-sharp edges tend to glow dimly of red light.  Watered ebonite-steel weapons are reportedly self-sharpening, while still retaining much of the light-absorbing properties of ebonite.

==== Tanisen ====

Ebonite can be reworked and reforged, so that it recrystalizes into a single, ultra-hard, unshatterable crystal of translucent blue. The temperatures required for reforging ebonite exceed that of atmospheric reentry -- temperatures that make the heart of a volcano appear cool, and the breath of a mature red dragon barely warm. Tanisen requires magical temperatures to forge, and even one flaw in the ebonite metal can cause the resulting crystal to shatter explosively. Despite the costs and the risks involved, archmages crave tanisen crystals because they can be used to channel arcane energies into more potent forms.

Arcane spells could be cast into and stored in Tanisen.   Gems set within rings or amulets were a favorite of the archmages during the Storm Wars, though only one gem of tanisen was used at a time, per spell.

The amount of energy required to create tanisen is staggering, and only one suit of tanisen armor has ever been known to exist -- made by the ArchMage of the Karatikan Alliance during the Storm Wars. The scale-mail armor was made of many crystals of tanisen arrayed in overlapping scales, on an ebonite-drawn mesh-fiber backing. The actual results are unknown, for the armor was destroyed by Giran Howel, the Godslayer sword, when the ArchMage was slain. Scales of the armor are rumored to exist in various forms, but the Inquisition has probably hidden and lost most of them.

==== Pritanium ====

Hell-forged in one of the deepest pits of the Abyss, pritanium is a metal alien to Gaeleth -- but because of the Shaping Wars, and circumstances surrounding Shadareth, it does exist in some small quantities. Pritanium is a metal with a marbled green-in-green appearance that is three-dimensional -- that is, it shifts with movement when turned at varying angles to any light source. Ultra-hard, fairly dense, and with a tensile-strength rivaling adamantine, pritanium is a highly sought-after metal by professional smiths and armorers. Unfortunately, because it is hell-forged, it has certain draw-backs and limitations.

Pritanium can be lethal to mortals unless properly treated, but once treated with the appropriate magics, makes excellent armor whether additional magics are added to the metal or not.  Pritanium holds spell enchantments quite well.
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