Copper

Pladeholder Dwof by Katy Smith

In its raw form, copper has a beautiful turquoise green hue and is very visible. When put through the forges and purified, it comes out as a vibrant orange. Not long ago, this material was seen to have no purpose other than decoration. Plates, bowls, cups and cutlery frequently cycle in and out of fashion. It’s always been used for hair pins, jewellery and fastenings. It’s a very versatile material and incredibly resistant to rusting. It's always been a cheap alternative to silver, gold, platinum or mithril. So cheap in fact that its value has dipped below that of a miners standard wage and as such its availability has ebbed and flowed around the price point. It only truly gets mined if it’s blocking the path to other more valuable deposits.

In modern times it’s taken on a much more vital role. With the discovery of liquid flame, it has been essential to the running of cities. Liquid flame is an astonishing discovery where the mixing of two liquid chemicals results in a flame that burns hot and bright but without smoke! Long gone are the days of being required to light oil lamps for visibility.

The copper is used to create pipes which carry the liquids from the production plants located near the summit of settlements and cities. Mainly using gravity, the pipework carries the liquid down throughout the buildings and homes of the residents to provide lighting. With the use of a shutoff valve, multiple lights can be extinguished in one motion.

All of this innovation was made possible by the cheap and readily available metal that was sitting right under our noses (Literally for those with well decorated and maintained ‘staches).

Being able to dispose of the need for smoke billowing torches has done wonders for our living spaces. With the ventilation systems no longer required for the dispersal of smoke, they’ve been able to be repurposed into a small scale cargo network. Never has it been so easy to transport goods.

All thanks to copper. Good old cheap and cheerful copper.