Praetorian Snow Iron

Many stories of the Praetorians refer to weapons and armaments of great reknown.Some of these have been hidden by time, but several surviving examples have been verified. These artefacts are made of Praetorian Snow Iron.

Appearance

The metal takes its name for the transient silvery-white marks that streak across its surface, resembling falling snow. While the aesthetic nature is of great appeal to troubadours and poets, this in turn is of great detriment to scholars seeking information from descriptions. Suggestions worthy of consideration include: echoes of clashes with previous blades; an interaction with the Arcaniferous Æther; and the visual manifestation of the material's self-cleansing properties. The most famous suggestion is attributed to Lar Henrik, who wrote in their epic balla The Downfall of Great Praetoria that the blades of the old city weep of its destruction - but there is no evidence to support this fancy.

Physical Properties

Of far greater interest to researchers and metallurgists are the material's physical properties. While this is another subject tainted by the whimsical fascinations of storytellers, Snow Iron does have several remarkable properties that have been proven.

Material Memory

As mentioned already, artefacts made with Snow Iron have been shown to self-maintain, retaining a keen edge or restoring deformations of up to a handspan across. The full extent of this capability is not well documented, in great part due to the protective nature of those who posess such rare artefacts and the necessarily destructive nature of such tests, but there are limitations - a Snow Iron shortsword was unintentionally broken into separate pieces during one experiment, and after almost forty years the fragments have not recombined. Nonetheless, the property is positeted to be a "material memory" imbued into the material during creation.

Thermal Properties

Despite the name, Snow Iron has little in common with mundane iron, and it is widely agreed to be a different substance altogether. Fragments of documents suggest a Praetorian name - Pyrrin - unrelated to iron - Sider - which further suggest the modern moniker is yet another fabrication. Snow Iron is incredibly resilient to heat, but when extreme cold appears to suspend its Material Memory property. This has led to speculation that Snow Iron is forged at low temperatures.

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