Targath
Targath is a soft, pale metal found along the northern coasts of Argonnessen, where the cliffs meet salt wind and ancient stone. In its raw form, targath has a dull, gray-white sheen, easily mistaken for weathered silver. When polished, it takes on a soft luster, never fully bright, as though the metal refuses to reflect light sharply. Targath is workable and easily shaped, but lacks the structural strength of steel; it has hardness 9 and 20 hit points per inch of thickness, making it durable enough for ornament and ritual tools, but suboptimal for martial use.
Properties
Material Characteristics
Targath is light, smooth, and faintly warm to the touch, soft enough to be shaped with careful hammering or even firm pressure when heated. Its surface resists tarnish, but it naturally dulls over years of handling, acquiring a matte, pearl-like finish rather than a polish. When cut or filed, targath produces fine, pale shavings that disperse easily on the air, giving rise to certain coastal superstitions among Argonnessen’s shoreline tribes.
Physical & Chemical Properties
Even in its raw, unenchanted state, targath carries protective resonance against illness. A creature wearing or carrying targath gains a +2 resistance bonus on Fortitude saves against disease. This effect is steady, passive, and does not require attunement, devotion, or conscious invocation. Because of this quality, targath is frequently crafted into periapts of health, protective amulets, and personal talismans.
Strikingly, targath is hostile to the deathless of Aerenal. Deathless shrink from its touch, as though its presence offends the animating force that sustains them. A weapon forged from targath can overcome the damage reduction possessed by the deathless. However, such weapons are inferior to steel, imposing a –1 penalty on attack and damage rolls, and are therefore rarely made except for targeted purpose.
Geology & Geography
Targath is mined from narrow coastal seams where stone meets mineral-rich sea spray. The deposits are limited, difficult to access, and often jealously guarded by dragons or their servants. The metal is exported only rarely, and usually through intermediaries, leaving many Khorvairian scholars to speculate on its true abundance.
History & Usage
History
The earliest known targath jewelry predates recorded calendar systems and appears in burial caches across northern Argonnessen. Khorvairian access to targath increased only in the last several centuries, often as a side effect of draconic or Inspired maneuverings, not trade in the conventional sense.
Its use as a defense against disease made targath especially valued among healers, traveling priests, and House Jorasco practitioners. Its interaction with the deathless drew theological debate: some claim targath is a metal of vital purity, while others insist it is a memory of something older than undeath or life both.
Cultural Significance and Usage
Among those who know its properties, targath is associated with continuity, endurance, and the quiet preservation of the living. Among the Undying Court, it is a material of polite avoidance—neither forbidden nor hated, but treated with the solemn respect one gives to a thing that remembers a wound that has not healed.
Manufacturing & Products
Targath is well-suited for:
- Amulets, rings, clasps, and chains
- Decorative inlays in prayer tools
- Medical insignia and warding charms
It is ill-suited for:
- Structural fittings
- Blades or armor intended for repeated combat use
Weapons of targath are made only when the wielder has a specific target in mind.
Distribution
Trade & Market
Targath is uncommon, expensive, and rarely circulated openly. Most pieces in Khorvaire are old heirlooms, religious gifts, or quiet acquisitions made through channels that do not publish their accounts.
Targath
Cost- Ammunition: +3 gp each
- Light Weapon: +30 gp
- One-handed Weapon (one end of a double-sided weapon): +100 gp
- Two-Handed Weapon (both ends of a double-sided weapon): +200 gp
Hardness 9
Hit Points 20/inch
Properties
- -1 to attack and damage
- Overcomes the damage reduction of the deathless
- Grants a +2 resistance bonus to saves vs. disease