Wylden Silver
Mechanics & Inner Workings
Wylden Silver is a little more than half again as dense as natural silver, making it a fairly heavy metal, but has a strength only slightly less than that of iron. It can be worked by any skilled smith into the same sort of items one might craft with natural silver, but only skilled Runesmiths can use it to inlay and enchant an item. Even so, the metal itself is impregnated with the raw energy of the gods of creation, and will never lose the ability to be Runesmithed into another item, even if it has been worked into something else prior.
Manufacturing process
History
Wylden Silver was discovered by the Wylden shortly after The Godswar, when they began to find bits of it in some of the rivers of Hrafnawyld. The Jörðtrúlen, or earth trolls, further expanded upon Wylden knowledge of the metal by showing them where to mine for it in the Black Mountains. Even so, it wasn't until the time of Sæga Hrafnárí, some 250 years or more later, that the Wylden learned to Runesmith with it, after the creation of the Wylden runescript, the Ænönað.
Significance
Wylden Silver is the only material in the world that can be used in the process of Runesmithing, giving it immense value to the Wylden in particular, as well as to anyone who might have access to a skilled Wylden Runesmith. Aside from this use, it is widely admired as a beautiful and somewhat rare precious metal in other countries.
Among Wylden currency, the coin with by far the greatest value is the Eagle, which is made of solid Wylden Silver.
It is only found naturally in Hrafnawyld, as a direct consequence of the proximity of the gods. It is mostly mined from deposits found in the Black Mountains, though small amounts and sometimes even small nuggets, can be found in some of the major rivers of the Silverlands.
Interesting variation on the density - makes me suspect it requires higher temperatures to work with it than mundane silver as well.