Arborsteel

Properties

Material Characteristics

Freshly-cut arborsteel bears a surface-level resemblence to freshly-cut birch wood, with a creamy white woodgrain. The difference is in the bark, which is a metallic gray complete with a slightly reflective glint.

Physical & Chemical Properties

Arborsteel is, as one might imagine, as strong as high-quality steel, and can be worked like steel. Cutting through arborsteel trees is incredibly difficult, requiring highly tempered axe heads or axe heads made of reinforced arborsteel - and frequently, it will take multiple axe heads to cut down one arborsteel tree due to how frequently arborsteel trees causes axe heads to chip down to being worthless.
Arborsteel's main advantage over regular steel is that it's incredibly light despite how strong it is. A full suit of armor made from arborsteel weighs a fraction of what the same suit of armor would be if it were made from regular steel. However, there is one flaw to using arborsteel for weapons and armor: arborsteel, like all wood, absorbs water and if exposed to excessive moisture will begin to rot. Rotting arborsteel is drastically weaker than healthy arborsteel. There are multiple accounts of soldiers in arborsteel neglecting their equipment having their armor and weapons shatter in the midst of combat. This also makes arborsteel completely worthless for building ships- a fact that was discovered during an overambitious attempt by the Empire of Bralthe to supercede Telesmata as the strongest naval power on Pelera.

Geology & Geography

Arborsteel is found in only one place: the treacherous jungle of Tchar. Were it not for the growing shortage of ores within the Empire of Bralthe, the Empire would not even bother trying to harvest arborsteel

"Why in The Hells did we name it 'arbor-steel'? It should be steel-arbor! You got the damn words backward!"

A drunken logger overheard in a Torwell tavern

Type

Wood