Adamantine
Raw adamantine! Praise the miners!
Properties
Material Characteristics
Adamantine is a glittering cyan metal that occurs as thin sheets and fine wire-like strands.
Physical & Chemical Properties
Adamantine seems almost unreal and unnatural. It has an extremely low density, the equivalent of cork, and has unmatched tensile, compression, and yield strengths. Edges made from adamantine can be honed to a nearly mono-atomic scale. In the event of a strand or sheet snapping, the fracture propagates through the material at hypersonic speeds and explodes like a frag grenade.
Adamantine has conductive properties similar to amorphous carbon, at 1.29*103 S m-1.
Compounds
Adamantine refuses to combine or alloy with any other substance. It exists only as a native metal.
Geology & Geography
Adamantine is found deep under the ground, close to the semi-molten rock of the mantle. It is found clumped into towering "spires" of interlocking boulders. Each boulder is a tangled mess of metallic strands.
Life & Expiration
Adamantine is perfectly stable. Only one isotope exists, no others can possibly be created artificially.
History & Usage
History
Despite the fact that adamantine is not native to Sodeldurad, the Dwarven homeworld, adamantine artifacts were known about many millennia before Dwarven space travel. Raw adamantine was first discovered in the early days of Dwarven space exploration by colonists delving deeply for useful minerals. It took over a decade for the Dwarves to discover how to extract the strands from the ore, and a further two years before it was first worked into useful forms. Adamantine is a scarce resource in the galaxy, and is constantly in high demand. Those worlds that possess adamantine deposits often prosper and eventually become Forgeworlds, however, many colonies that discover adamantine fall silent under mysterious circumstances...
Everyday use
Adamantine is primarily used by Dwarven militias for nigh indestructible weapons and armour. A ban exists in most places for more "trivial" uses, though raw adamantine strands sometimes get used for medical sutures due to bureaucratic mix-ups.
Cultural Significance and Usage
For most, adamantine is a substance of legend. Most people have never seen the stuff, and a great many legendary artifacts are made of adamantine, such as Urist's Adamantine Mug. It holds particular significance for the Dwarves, who are the ones who have the knowledge to delve for, refine, and forge it.
Refinement
Adamantine strands must be painstaking extracted one by one from its ore. An item made from adamantine must be woven into shape, strand by strand, then fired in a forge until it is a single piece of metal.
Reusability & Recycling
Adamantine is nearly impossible to recycle once fired.
Distribution
Storage
Raw adamantine strands are usually kept on small spools, in a similar manner to copper wiring or cotton thread.
Law & Regulation
Adamantine is the pride of Dwarven industry, and is usually the property of the local government. The majority of colonies and Forgeworlds impose a ban on the manufacture of "trivial" items out of the precious resource, and many also ban the sale of adamantine items to those of other races, or even non-residents.
Type
Metal
Value
Due to it's scarcity and utility, adamantine is prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthiest of individuals.
Rarity
Scarce.
Boiling / Condensation Point
50000 Urists
Melting / Freezing Point
25000 Urists
Density
200 kg m-3
Related Species
Related Items
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