Lepethite

Properties

Material Characteristics

When refined, lepethite is a smooth, light blue material with a weight of 200 pounds per cubic foot. It can theoretically be smelted into all shapes, but often times, without an intended shape, it looks like a thin puddle.

Physical & Chemical Properties

It is the most hard material on the island, with a rating just over 13 mohs. It reacts explosively with water, but does not lose any mass in doing so, as the water is that which is exploding. It has no other reactive properties.

Geology & Geography

It can be found exclusively in the Senpei Desert in bits the size of sand. It is only able to form because the sense desert recieves no rain, and thus it will not react with water unless unnatural factors present themselves.

History & Usage

History

Since it's proper discovery in the Age of Prosperity, lepethite has been a sign of extreme wealth, as anyone who has it must have enough money to afford it. It's actual usage, aside from it's beauty, has been mostly focused on the fact that it is near indestructible, and thin lepethite sheets have been used for shields to majorly reinforce them. A little over 1000 years ago, a dwarfish city spent half of it's money on enough lepethite to make a full set of plate armour, which they did, and the armour still exists today, though the wearer died in a rainstorm. It goes for about 300,000,000 sen for every 6 pond chunk, produced once every 4 days.

Discovery

The first mention of the existence of what we now know to be lepethite can be found in an Age of Legends account to a journey through the Senpei Desert wherein the traveller dropped a small portion of water on the ground and was met with a small explosion, which permanently injured him. It was only later discovered that the cause of this was Lepethite, somewhere during the late Age of Prosperity, at which point further experimentation was done.

Refinement

In order to be refined into pure lepethite many steps need to be taken, as unrefined lepethite is found naturally as small specs nearly identical to sand. First, large amounts of sand are collected and over a two or three day period gathered up in a large storage facility. Then, after the facility is full enough, the sand is shovelled into a filtration system designed only to let the heaviest through, elimination about 97% of the sand and leaving the remaining 3% with the lepethite. Next, 0.5 ml of water at a time is poured into the mixture, causing the lepethite to react explosively and destroy some of the sand around it. At this point the lepethite can be much more easily told apart from the sand, and for about 5 hours workers meticulously sort through, gathering up all the lepethite and casting aside the sand. Then, the about 7lbs of lepethite remaining is put into a magically powered blast furnace and exposed to extreme temperatures, alongside water in order to make it react, further increasing the temperature. It comes out as a hard substance of about 6 pounds known as pure lepethite.

Type

Metal

Boiling / Condensation Point

????

Melting / Freezing Point

~4000 C