Shadowglass

Shadowglass is a rare metal compound found deep underground. It is shiny and black, ranging from completely opaque when cool to almost entirely transparent when heated to its freezing point.

While most metals melt when heated, shadowglass exhibits the opposite effect - heat makes it harder. As a result, it is often found encasing veins of lava.

Contents

1. Physical Properties
2. Mining
3. Lava Veins
4. Shadowcloth
5. Author's Note

Physical Properties

At room temperature, shadowglass is shiny and black. It is as soft as pure gold.

When heated above 900° F, shadowglass gets extremely hard - harder than even diamonds - and turns transparent. It can also hold an edge almost perfectly at such high temperatures.

Mining

Shadowglass ore is often bluish black in appearance. It is found in abundance in Inferia, but common smelting practices cannot be used to yield pure shadowglass.

The Chalkians used a secret process of cooling to refine and shape shadowglass, but that technique has been lost to history.

Lava Veins

The lava veins that gave light to the lost cites of Inferia were encased in shadowglass.

It was also used in the construction of the giant hourglasses that stood in the center of every Chalkian city. The exact process that the Chalkians used to cool shadowglass enough to make it malleable is unknown.

Shadowcloth

When spun with silk, shadowglass creates shadowcloth. It appears as a crucial item in many myths, such as the boots that allowed Galeos to walk through fire, King Agekonon’s cloak that absorbed 1000 flaming arrows, and General Pyrotus flaming axe.

Some have speculated that Magnus Frostborn’s cloak is made of shadowcloth after he was said to have absorbed 1000 flaming arrows during the siege of Icehaven, but he denies such assertions and says instead that his cloak is the very cloak that Throg used to tame the great wooly dragon as recounted in Throgtome.

Author's Note

Molecules and their bonds are unknown even to the greatest minds of Techence, but if they did understand them, they would find that shadowglass gets harder when it heats up due to its molecular structure being very similar to velcro. When the molocules get hot, they move around more, thus causing the velcro structures to rub against each other and get stuck in place.

Shadowglass

Shadowglass ore at room temperature

Type

Metal

Rarity

Abundant in Infernia

Color

Transparent

Melting / Freezing Point

-80° F

Common State

Solid