Dwarven Steel

Dwarven steel is not just steel that has been metal forged by the dwarven, but steel forged using a technique that none others have been able to duplicate in hundreds of years since the dwarves first brought it to the surface. Although adapted to life in the dark confines of the earth, most dwarves live like the other races on the surface under the sun. It is their history and their mostly closely guarded secrets that lay miles below the surface. Even with the proper equipment so few races can survive that deep that the secret of the steel shall remain forever hidden.

There are several different types of steel produced by the dwarven furnaces: Blade Steel, Plate Steel, White Steel, and Blue Steel. In 200 AH the dwarves of Stoneheart Hold introduced a new steel. Called Living Steel this material appears partially liquid, but is hard to the touch.

Superior corrosion and wear resistance, blade steel is the least expensive option. It offers excellent edge retention, but it also makes the steel incredibility difficult to sharpen. Due to the difficulty the dwarves usually sell this steel only as edged blanks for all sizes of swords and knives.

There is a variant blade steel the dwarves only manufacture for custom work. Offering increased flexibility with only a small reduction in wear resistance its cost is nearly ten times (5x) that of traditional blade steel.

The most common dwarven steel sold in the world. Better corrosion resistance than any type of steel made elsewhere; nevertheless it can be bent and work for most jobs. Unlike blade steel, plate steel is far harder and tougher making it ideal for construction and armors. It is far too expensive to be used for banding, nails, or other common tasks; but a wealthy merchant may purchase a strongbox fashioned from dwarven plate steel.

This steel can be purchased as ingots for melting and casting, but the dwarves caution against that as the material can be difficult to work with properly. If not worked correctly the metal will become brittle and susceptible to temperature shifts. When stressed in this manner, the metal can shatter or crack.

Named for its silvery-white appearance, white steel is the lightest steel produced in the world. Incredibly difficult, but not impossible to work, master smiths have been able to bend and shape white steel to their needs. This is not the work of a journeyman as white steel's cost is nearly fifteen (15x) higher than common steel; also if the steel is continuously heated and worked it can become brittle.

The rarest steel produced by the dwarves. It is rumored that the white hot metal is cooled in the blood of dozens of dwarves, for the metal seems to become a living extension of the dwarves. All steels, being comprised of iron and other base metals, is disruptive to magic, but blue steel is destructive to magic near it. Magic bound with a physical constraint might only be diminished, but any spell plucked out of the ether is doomed to unravel.

Impossible for anyone except the dwarves to forge and shape it. People who have come into contact with the metal explain that it feels slippery in their hand and looks as if it was twisting in its owners hand. Quite simply this is the finest steel to come from the dwarven forges. Corrosion resistance, flexibility, weight, and wear resistance; all outside any other steel in the world.

The secret of dwarven steel is held by three clans: the Firefist Clan, the Deephammer Clan, and the Ironblood Clan. None of the clans know all of the secrets, each only knows their part in the creation. They guard these secrets jealously from all others, including their own kin. The clans work in secret from each other.

Once a piece passes final inspection it is auctioned to one of the dwarven merchant clans, the coin from the auction is divided equally among the secret holder clans. These clans work continuously not just manufacturing dwarven steel, but in guarding its secrets and researching new materials and techniques.

The Firefist Clan holds the secret of the forging. Only select forge masters of the clan know the secrets of the fuel and forge used to craft dwarven steel. The dwarves guard each forge with a score or more veteran warriors when banked. The forges are never allowed to go cold; otherwise the clan destroys them and rebuilds another. It believed by outsiders than once built and heated up it changes. The clan is constantly bringing woods from the surface into their storage rooms along with coal and other materials from deep within their mines. It is known only to the clans what is subterfuge and what is really important to the forge or what else is added while the fire is building.

When the Firefist clan destroys or builds a new forge no other dwarf is allowed in the chamber. Several families within the clan digs out the necessary space, then other families construct the forge. These extended families are the only ones within the clan and known and can build the forges. Once constructed only a few members will return to see that the forges are still intact and that no part has been removed. Every shovel, bellows, and stoker must be accounted for during each inspection.

The Ironblood Clan is the only clan that knows the materials that go into the metal to be forged. Their families of chemists and metallurgists accept only the most skilled dwarves of their clan into their ranks. These are not families by immediate blood, but instead families of skill and sacred rites. Each family guards its sacred compositions even from other families within the clan. Complex tomes encoded in ciphers, oral traditions, and hidden flaws and double-meanings serve to keep the exact blend a secret.

The Deephammer clan holds the secrets of folding, beating, and quenching the molten metal. Their craftsmen are only allowed into the chamber once the metal is ready to be worked. Unlike the other clans, the number of dwarves who know the secrets of the forging is spread more widely among the families. Instead, it is the manufacture of the tools, molds, and quenching chemicals that remain the secret of the family elders. No normal mold can contain the molten metal that is poured from the crucibles, no grindstone can put an edge on a forged blade, no masterwork hammer can survive the beating required to shape the metal. Even the slightest difference in the dozens of quenching buckets, some used only once, could fracture the metal.