Research on Affect Umbral Weapons

Unknown, Armourers Guild

(Research on Affect Elemental Weapons is below.)

 

Confident in your knowledge of how to make weapons that affect some races you set aside some time from your busy guild & factional duties to research to affect umbral creatures. You already theorise that putting the weapon through both air and earth quenching would create such a weapon. However knowing the processes is only half the knowledge.

What metal should you use to make the weapon?

 

Visiting the new armourers guild facilities in the Great Library you look into the restricted section for weaponsmiths. You already know that the metals gold, iron, mercury & silver are used to make weapons that affect dwarves, fae, elves & ologs - all the elder races. But what would affect Planar creatures?

 

Looking up information on planar creatures you find that gold is used to forge demon hurting weaponry. Ancestral creatures? Well the only instance of such a weapon was the moonsilver used for the weapon to kill Vulcan. You look up moonsilver in the guild library and are surprised to discover that this is just a name and it in fact is not silver. Rather it is iron that has been earth quenched & cold forged. Thinking about this a little more, earth quenching would make sense as the iron would have been heated as it fell from the Sky then quenched in the mountain it plunged into. So presuming the same four metals are used as elder races, that leaves either silver or mercury as the metal for umbral & elemental creatures. At this point you decide to check the processes you have theorised. Both your references on demon and ancestral affecting weapons name earth and air quenching being the correct processes so your theory is correct for the planar races. You also notice that weapons to affect humans go through the exact same processes (however using forged emerald) so it is safe to theorise that weapons affecting existential creatures must be earth and air quenched.

 

One day when you come to the armourer’s library to find Zeker there looking into elemental affecting weapons. Since this directly affects your own research you show him your findings and how you have narrowed it down to just silver or mercury for umbral and elemental affecting weapons. Together you look for anything that could indicate which to choose. Finally you strike it lucky. There is a pile of loose papers on the end of a bookshelf obviously placed together by the librarians who have no knowledge of smithing, just wanting to tidy. Sorting through them you find a few pages written by some erstwhile scholar making notes for a larger piece work. His subject is 'The link between certain races and the elements of each cadre post-cataclysm'. He had copied from other work that Dwarves and Uruks were linked to Peace, Fae & Wee folk were with Feast, Elves and Dark Elves were the races of Famine and finally Ologs & Beastkin were akin to War. However where do all the planar and existential creatures come in?

 

First remember what elements made up the cadres.

Peace – Knowledge, Reality, Law, Earth
Feast - Spirit Fortune, Good, Water
Famine - Time, Fate, Evil, Fire
War - Magic, Illusion, Chaos, Air

 

If we look at the planar creatures, Ancestral creatures would obviously be associated with the power of spirit. The elder race associated with Fae is Iron, and we know ancestral racial metal is also iron, so the signs are good for this theory. Umbrals as a completely new race could be associated with anything at all, but what about elementals? They surely are linked to magic, thus the war cadre and Ologs and the metal silver which is used for olog weapons.

Whilst this theory is promising it is not yet proof. You begin looking for more information on any link between silver and elementals. A report from a small blacksmith answers for you. This blacksmith who was known for making his exceptional silver weapons, was attacked by elementals from a nearby ritual circle. He gave one of his finest swords to a local champion to fight and save the village. First he fought a fire elemental and [as] it was defeated the blade was searing hot. Next he fought an earth elemental plunging the weapon deep into the creatures rocky surface. Next he fought an air elemental which further cooled the silver blade. By now the champion was at deaths door. He collapsed as the final water elemental came in to attack. So the heroic smith, thinking of his family, picked up the sword and attacked the elemental. Whilst not as good a fighter as the champion the weapon seemed to hurt the elemental more than the champions blow had.

Finally you think you have it. Silver is used against elementals and hence mercury must be used for weapons against umbrals. However the proof is in the pudding, or so the alchemists say, and unfortunately the proper guild facilities for making, weapons is restricted until the four large multi-faction gatherings of the Heartlands but you feel certain you'd be able to make such a weapon. To safe guard your discovery you make copies of the research and send it to all the guild libraries so that anyone with the right skills & facilities will be able to make an umbral or elemental affecting weapon.

 

 

Research on Affect Elemental Weapons

Unknown, Armourers Guild

Please note the below is a near-perfect repeat of what was said above, focusing on Elemental affecting weapons instead of Umbral, and therefore has not been cross referenced - 'Number One'

 

Finding some spare time to do research into new weapons you go to the armourers guild library at the Great Library. After an unfruitful morning of reading books both new & old you look up to see Thomas come into the room. You exchange pleasantries and explain you are looking into elemental affecting weapons. He says he has already done a lot of research into umbral affecting weapons. Since the research overlaps a great deal you decide to work together.

Thomas explains how he has worked out that it will either be silver or mercury which has been earth & air quenched that creates umbral and elemental affecting weapons. Here’s what Thomas has found:

Looking up information on planar creatures you find that gold is used to forge demons hurting weaponry. Ancestral creatures? Well the only instance of such a weapon was the moonsilver used for the weapon to kill Vulcan. You look up moonsilver in the guild library and are surprised to discover that this is just a name and it in fact is not silver. Rather it is iron that has been earth quenched & cold forged. Thinking about this a little more, earth quenching would make sense as the iron would have been heated as it fell from the Sky then quenched in the mountain it plunged into. So presuming the same four metals are used as elder races, that leaves either silver or mercury as the metal for umbral & elemental creatures. At this point you decide to check the processes you have theorised. Both your references on demon and ancestral affecting weapons name earth and air quenching being the correct processes so your theory is correct for the planar races. You also notice that weapons to affect humans go through the exact same processes (however using forged emerald) so it is safe to theorise that weapons affecting existential creatures must be earth and air quenched.

One day when you come to the armourer’s library to find Zeker there looking into elemental affecting weapons. Since this directly affects your own research you show him your findings and how you have narrowed it down to just silver or mercury for umbral and elemental affecting weapons. Together you look for anything that could indicate which to choose. Finally you strike it lucky. There is a pile of loose papers on the end of a bookshelf obviously placed together by the librarians who have no knowledge of smithing, just wanting to tidy. Sorting through them you find a few pages written by some erstwhile scholar making notes for a larger piece work. His subject is ‘The link between certain races and the elements of each cadre post-cataclysm. He had copied from other work that Dwarves and Uluks were linked to Peace, Fae & Wee folk were with Feast, Elves and Darek Elves were the races of Famine and finally Ologs & Beastkin were akin to War. However where do all the planar and existential creatures come in?

First remember what elements made up the cadres.

Peace – Knowledge, Reality, Law, Earth
Feast - Spirit Fortune, Good, Water
Famine - Time, Fate, Evil, Fire
War - Magic, Illusion, Chaos, Air

If we look at the planar creatures, ancestral creatures would obviously be associated with the power of spirit. The elder race associated with Fae is Iron, and we know ancestral racial metal is also lron, so the signs are good for this theory. Umbrals as a completely new race could be associated with anything at all, but what about elementals? They surely are linked to magic, thus the war cadre and clogs and the metal silver which is used for olog affecting weapons.

Whilst this theory is promising it is not yet proof. You begin looking for more information on any link between silver and elementals. A report from a small blacksmith answers for you. This blacksmith who was known for making his exceptional silver weapons, was attacked by elementals from a nearby ritual circle. He gave one of his finest swords to a local champion to fight and save the village. First he fought a fire elemental and [as] it was defeated the blade was searing hot. Next he fought an earth elemental plunging the weapon deep into the creatures rocky surface. Next he fought an air elemental which further cooled the silver blade. By now the champion was at deaths door. He collapsed as the final water elemental came in to attack. So the heroic smith, thinking of his family, picked up the sword and attacked the elemental. Whilst not as good a fighter as the champion the weapon seemed to hurt the elemental more than the champions blow had.

Finally you think you have it. Silver is used against elementals and hence mercury must be used for weapons against umbrals. However the proof is in the pudding, or so the alchemists say, and unfortunately the proper guild facilities for making, weapons is restricted until the four large multi-faction gatherings of the Heartlands but you feel certain you'd be able to make such a weapon. To safe guard your discovery you make copies of the research and send it to all the guild libraries so that anyone with the right skills & facilities will be able to make an umbral or elemental affecting weapon.