Spectrite

Rubble rolled down his shoulders as he barreled down the narrow alley. Shouted voices and the clanging of swords drawn from scabbards echoed after him. He was running hard but he didn't need to catch his breath. He wasn't breathing.
More brick shattered as he dodged to the right and caught his hand on an edge. He looked at his shoulder still covered in rust colored dust. His hand was coated in the same way. Or at least what was his hand. What used to be his shoulder. A steel claw, glowing with a faint, unearthly green, now opened and closed as he flexed his hand. He couldn't feel his hand as he brushed the rubble off his shoulder. He ran faster, more terrified than ever.
The alleyway suddenly opened into a large street. People were walking up and down the cobbled walkways, fish mongers hawked their smelly wares, fancy women twirled their parasols. A pair of guards lazily chatted while they leaned against the wall of a small jeweler's shoppe. Everyone stopped when they saw him. The sudden silence was pierced by the scream of one of the parasols.
The guards drew their swords and ran at him. The first guard raised his sword and the sun flashed against the blade as it arced towards his chest. He brought his arms up to block the blow but the blade passed through him as if through a thick fog. He stared at the sword. The guard stared at the sword. Parasol whispered, "What the hell..."
The second guard lunged and slashed, meeting only air with his edge. "Please stop!" the metal giant pleaded. His hands were in front of his face blocking blows that never landed. The two guards were screaming, slashing over and over again. "I don't know what's happening!" More slashing, faster and faster. "STOP!"
He lashed out with his arm. A sick thunk sounded out as his forearm met one of the guards skulls. The guard crumpled to the ground and more screams rang out as people fled.
"YOU MONSTER!" the other guard screamed. He kept slashing, missing every time. The behemoth stared at the lifeless form on the ground, ignoring the blows passing through him. Shouts and clangs rang out from behind him as his pursuers finally caught up. He tore bolted down the street, not stopping for the steel gate that blocked the entrance to the city and passing right through.

Properties

Material Characteristics

Dark gray with a slight greenish tinge. Faint green glow.

History & Usage

Everyday use

Spectrite allows non-magical metals to pass through it as if the spectrite were made of a thick fog. Gnomes saw immediately what was not obvious to less ingenuous races; spectrite bolts and arrows would pass through non-magical armor. Once the arrowhead met the flesh of the wearer, it would become metal again causing the desired damage. Most armor in the world were now obsolete.
The engines of war that dwarves favored, covered in thick plates of iron, were dispatched by a single spectrite ballista bolt. Gnomish crossbowman would take minutes to lay waste to the humans' neatly formed shield wall. But the ingenuity didn't stop there. Gnomish assassins were given long stilettos to pass through their victims thick armor. Fighters were given short swords, one edge of spectrite, the other steel. These swords were sword breakers, short swords made to capture enemies blades and snap them with the flick of a wrist. The half of the blade that captured the enemies blade was filled with spectrite to form a standard looking short sword. When met with a steel sword the blade would act as a swordbreaker as the enemy's sword passed through the spectrite, but the steel edge would still let the fighter block blows.
Rarely, spectrite is powdered in such a way that when put into a grenade, it can coat an enemies armor and make the armor fall off the opponent. These techniques have been forgotten and attempts to remake these grenades have ended in disaster.

Cultural Significance and Usage

Spectrite is commonly thought to be haunted metal. As such, most commoner's equate anyone with spectrite weapons as necromancers or assassins, given it's deadly advantage in combat. These views are augmented by rumors of necromancers attempting to create spectrite themselves. These rumors spread the tale of humanoid sacrifices made and the souls attached to ore. Less known to commoners is the proclivity for spectrite weapons to be sentient, to a degree. Since the soul is used to haunt an undetermined amount of ore, only a part of a humanoids soul is used in a blade. A blade made of spectrite can be expected to contain a soul's rage, its love, its insight; rarely enough to make the blade truly sentient but some foul manifestation of life. It is unsure if the soul can ever be laid to rest once it has been split in this way.
Spectrite has been used in tattoo inks but to questionable effect. Most of the time the ink does nothing for the user. Sometimes the limb will spontaneously rot. Occasionally the person will gain some use of the fraction of the soul kept in the ink, giving them confused insights or momentary bouts of sadness or lust. The people most familiar with the use of spectrite to enhance humanoids are the duegar.
These dwarves, master smiths and miners as most dwarves are, have experimented with this cursed stone in a way that benefits the user. Most commonly it used by blood mages for a quick means to their needed reagent. Large spectrite nails will be hammered into the bodies of duegar blood mages. In combat, the mages will pass a gauntleted hand over the nails, causing them to become ephemeral and allowing blood to pour easily. Once the gauntlet is removed, the nail reappears and there is no true wound that needs to heal. These dwarves have also mastered the process of creating a Steel Demon, the foul amalgamation of dwarf and ore. Although they are short lived these creatures are devastating making them the bogeymen of a military commander's nightmares.
Their dwarven greed unsatisfied still, they experimented with the spectrite nails left after a Steel Demon dies. These nails now contain an extra soul after all. If they're placed into another dwarf, another soul can be added still. This "reforging" of spectrite was only pursued once; not out of respect for life and a being's soul but because the metal becomes dangerous. Only one weapon was ever crafted using spectrite that had been reforged in this way. Dalothumir has been lost. Most believe it was taken to the Abyss by the pit fiend that was captured to forge it but when unexplained massacres reach the ears of tavern keepers, most quietly wonder if hell forged dagger has reappeared.

Refinement

No refining is needed beyond the usual smelting and forging that normal steel would require.

Manufacturing & Products

Arrowheads. Swords and swordbreakers as well but mostly projectiles that are used to pierce non-magical armor and plating.

Type

Ore/Mineral