White Gold

Metal of Holy Purposes

Specific amounts of gold, silver, and other metals are placed in a crucible, each weighed so that that specific mixture will create something useful. Once weighed and readied in the vessel, the well-worn crucible is placed into the forge, slowly melting the metals inside, letting them mix and meld, becoming a new alloy that will be much different than the pieces that make it. A talented Dwarf watches the forge, noting the temperature and how long the mixture has melted before slowly removing the crucible from the fire with a pair of tongs and pouring the molten metal into a mold.
After hours of cooling, an intricately designed bar is removed from the mold, a single ingot of a new metal that is not native to the land. These raw ingots will be sold in markets and sent across the land to be used by others, while a handful will remain in the forges of the Dwarves to be turned into more useful items. These items will then be distributed to Paladins and Clerics for use in their arsenal against those creatures that should not exist in the world.
White Gold is an alloy created by the Dwarves unexpectedly, but the properties and color of the metal proved extremely useful as decoration and against certain creatures. This metal is commonly produced in the forges of Dwarves, but the excessive heat of these forges that are often used for specialty metals and Adamantite is not necessary to create white gold.

Properties

Physical & Chemical Properties

White gold is an alloy of gold, silver, and other trace metals that receives its color due to the mixture of silver and other metals. This alloy is very malleable and can be formed into a variety of objects after being created. Other characteristics of the metal such as hardness can be increased by changing the formation of the alloy and adding other metals including silver, copper, and platinum.
Once forged into weapons or other items, white gold has the magical property of being able to harm Demons and Greater Undead due to the mixture of silver and gold. While silver has similar magical properties, making an alloy seems to heighten said properties and change them slightly.

Quick Facts

Formation

Gold

90%

Silver

10%

Other

Trace

Purity

Any white gold made with the above formation is considered to be higher than 18 karat in purity due to the amount of true gold in the mixture.

History & Usage

Everyday use

The most common use of white gold is as a decorative material. Due to the soft nature of the metal in a raw state, it is easily able to be molded and changed into a variety of shapes that can be used to adorn buildings, ceremonial weaponry, and even jewelry. The Dwarves have developed a simple additional firing process at a low temperature that allows the metal to harden slightly after working so that it can be used in everyday objects without bending or breaking. Small amounts of white gold, such as in jewelry, usually have the perfect hardness due to their small size, but building adornments are often large and thin, leaving a chance for breakage or corrosion.

Cultural Significance and Usage

Weapon of White Gold

Weapon of White Gold by Image via Midjourney, created by Riverfang

Weapons made from white gold are often utilized by Paladins, Clerics, and Acolytes as these weapons have certain properties that allow them to be advantageous against Demons and Greater Undead.

While less common than adornments, the more important usage of white gold is in the creation of holy weapons and implements that can dispatch the likes of Demons and Greater Undead. There are only two known ways of effectively killing these creatures, excessive force and heavy damage caused by a weapon or item made from white gold. As the excessive force necessary to maim, seriously injure, or even kill one of these creatures is far beyond what most mortals can do, most choose to utilize white gold weapons.
For Paladins, Clerics, Acolytes, and other holy folk, a weapon made from white gold can be seen as an equalizer against most Demons and Undead. While this metal has some ability to injure Lesser Undead due to being an alloy containing silver, white gold is more useful against stronger creatures and tends to give weaker wielders some peace of mind and the thought that they still retain some power in what could be an otherwise hopeless situation. Most Demons and Greater Undead will have to sustain multiple injuries to succumb to a white gold weapon, but these weapons allow for a chance of escape.
Weapons made from white gold are made by weapon smiths throughout the world as this material is fairly simple to work with. The Dwarves were the first to develop the alloy and create weapons for their Paladins and Clerics, but soon realized the true nature of the material and began sharing their processes with others. The creation of these weapons has now become a common practice for most smiths that create specialized weapons.

White Gold

White Gold by Image via Midjourney, created by Riverfang

Type

Metal

Value

Ranges in price due to the composition of the alloy

Rarity

Common

Color

White or somewhat silverish in color. In some cases, white gold can be easily mistaken for nickel or silver.

Common State

Upon creation, white gold is formed into bars with intricate designs inlaid into the top of the ingot.

Related Locations

• Great Furnaces
• Káto

Related Species

• Dwarves

Related Technologies

• Metallurgy

Related Professions

• Paladins
• Metallurgists
• Clerics
• Acolytes
• Blacksmiths

Cursebreaker

A lesser-known use of white gold is in various rituals related to the breaking of curses. It is said that if one were to make a deal with a Demon or be cursed by some other magical creature, a specified amount of white gold would be necessary for the ritual due to the same properties that make the metal useful as a weapon. Smiths are rarely part of this process outside of creating the intricately decorated ingots that come from their molds.
Those that are heavily specialized in Purple Magic and have the blessing of their select deity have the ability to perform such rituals. Because of the small number of capable people and the believed difficulty of performing such rituals, curse breaking is very uncommon and comes with a heavy cost, in materials and the time necessary to perform the ritual. The true nature of these rituals is not common knowledge and those who have the knowledge tend to be hushed when speaking of it.