Saurium
A mysterious, powerful magic metal used by the subterranean naga in their greatest weapons and armour. Famous for being invulnerable to melting by heat, and being extremely tough.
Properties
Material Characteristics
Saurium appears as a shiny orange metal. The surface of the metal is rough and porous until it's been refined into ingots or a final form.
Physical & Chemical Properties
Saurium is unique in that it's as tough and flexible as fire iron, but exposure to acids make it extremely malleable. Even low-acidity substances like certain citrus fruits' juices can make saurium bendable and soft like cold butter. When exposed to highly acidic mixtures, saurium can become as soft as soaked paper.
Saurium is capable of poisoning carnites and other denizens born of the festerplains, to some extent.
Geology & Geography
This orange metal is found underground but relatively near the surface of Legere's crust. It's more commonly found underneath oceans. Saurium veins are usually circular, with several medium-sized nuggets making up a ring-like pattern.
Life & Expiration
Saurium corrodes easily, but that's mainly from exposure to water that's been slightly acidified. Saurium is usually coated in a thin layer of wax to help protect the metal from taking damage.
Weapons are often stored in chests filled with oil while armour is painted with wax to protect them from acids while in transport.
History & Usage
History
The naga have raised acid cows for years and years in their underground havens. The acid from these animals have been employed extensively in their few skirmishes with the surface world, as naga quickly learned that duns and humans lack the resistance to acid that they enjoyed. One day, a Hisgession naga farmer noticed that a lump of saurium had been unearthed by his livestock as they licked their acidic emesis off of the cavern wall. To his surprise, the metal had become soft and was being manipulated by the creature's tongue like it was a stretchy taffy.Saurium had been discovered several times by the naga, who easily recognized the metal's hardness, but no forge of theirs could produce a heat powerful enough to melt it. Some naga believed the metal to be fire iron, but that was quickly dismissed due to the orange colour that made the metal stand out greatly. Saurium was widely regarded as a useless metal, since even the few surface dwelling metalsmiths the naga dared to commune with failed to shape the metal. It wasn't until that one farmer, unnamed to this day, discovered the metal's weakness to acid. Only the Hisgession Kingdom knew about this discovery to begin with, and comically they decided to wage war with all nearby naga kingdoms to try and plunder their saurium for their own use. This was incredibly silly as until this point, all other naga kingdoms would have still regarded saurium as a useless material, and the Hisgessions could have used deception to convince the others to give them what was widely considered garbage. This would lead to the 5 year His'hilsh War, where the Hisgession Kingdom would fail to steal any of the others' saurium and only succeed to spreading the word about its usefulness. Naga aren't known for their wisdom.
Discovery
Saurium was apparently discovered about 280 years before the Demon Wars. It was mined out of the earth by both humans and naga alike, but it wasn't until about 250 PBD when the usefulness and secret to forging useful implements with it was discovered by an unknown Hisgession naga acid cow farmer.
Everyday use
Saurium is used by the naga only in weaponry and armour, and for royalty it is used in jewellery. It's too rare to warrant usage in mundane implements. Often time, high-ranking naga generals or elite naga warriors are seen wearing this distinct orange armour.
The prevalence of acid on the battlefield also sets saurium back in terms of usefulness, which is why it's often used among certain individuals rather than whole armies.
Cultural Significance and Usage
Saurium is the naga equivalent of gold, being worth an exceptional amount. It is considered to be the ultimate material a naga can use in their craftsmanship- naga weaponsmiths and armoursmiths can literally spill blood just for the chance to make something from it.
The exact process of forging saurium equipment is a time-honored tradition by the naga, and a closely-kept secret from the surface world and its inhabitants.
Naga royalty will wear crowns and necklaces of saurium, with the fiery orange metal ensuring they stand out in a room of lesser naga nobles.
Refinement
Refinement of raw saurium is quite easy at the surface level. First, as much non-saurium material must be chipped off of the lump. The ore must then be submerged in a container of potent acid, which will eat away at the remaining unwanted stone along the saurium's surface. A constant stirring must be applied after a few minutes, which will ensure that the interior of the ore is also exposed to the acid, helping to free any embedded debris.
The softened metal is then removed from the first container (which now contains the waste stone slag) and placed into a new vessel with fresh acid. The metal is softened up again before being removed from the acid and shaped into its final form. After being removed from the acidic environment, the metal begins to rapidly harden- naga metalsmiths must work quickly to achieve the desired shape of the equipment before it solidifies for good. Otherwise, if the metal hardens too soon, the metal must be submerged in the acid and reshaped. In a sense, forging saurium is almost like pottery.
Instead of directly being turned into arms/armour, saurium may be moulded into rectangular ingots for storage and usage at a later date.
There are a few integral techniques within these steps that are critical for successful saurium forging, but these are closely guarded secrets of the naga.Manufacturing & Products
The most well-known uses for saurium is in weaponry and armour. While fanciful crowns, bracelets and rings may be enjoyed by naga kings and queens, the use of saurium in tools of war is considered to be far more important. The naga are a race of aggression, propped up on a bloody history of excessive violence and war- whatever they can use to get an advantage over their foes is great.
The prevalence of acid on the battlefield also sets saurium back in terms of usefulness, which is why it's often used among certain individuals rather than whole armies.
Distribution
Trade & Market
Saurium ore is really only found in underground markets, although some surface dwelling people have figured that mining the metal for themselves is a good way to trade for Chimera from naga.
Storage
Saurium in its ore form or ingot form are not subjected to any special storage methods. However, finished pieces like armour and weaponry or in rare cases, jewellery are protected either by coating them in clear wax or submerging in oil.
Law & Regulation
While it's considered to be useful for weaponry, saurium is not strictly regulated for exclusive military use.
The prevalence of acid on the battlefield also sets saurium back in terms of usefulness, which is why it's often used among certain individuals rather than whole armies.Saurium's weakness to the ever-present threat of acid means that naga armies are unlikely to rely that heavily on it, and as such personal possessions of saurium are legal. Naturally, naga are prone to get into altercations and may steal saurium from each other in order to sell it or turn it into an actual weapon.
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