Star-steel weapons
Star-steel blades are the closest thing to the perfect weapon that any warrior or smith is ever likely to see, although most will never see one in their lifetime. Glittering a coldly perfect white-silver, a star-steel wrought weapon is never marred by rust, filth slides off its mirror-like surface, its edge is almost impossible to dull, and it is the perfect blend of rigidity and flexibility that every master swordsman seeks. A star-steel blade striking a normal blade at the right angle will simply shear through it, and a star-steel blade will never shatter and cannot be made hot enough to melt. Owning a star-steel weapon is a mark of the world's greatest, and wealthiest, warriors.
Unless the secret to their creation is rediscovered, a new star-steel weapon will never be wrought again.
Prospectors exploring a distant region, a little over four hundred years ago, discovered a site where an enormous stone had fallen from the heavens eons ago. Only faint traces remained of the devastation which must have struck the world at the time. Veins of an unusual crumbly metal laced the rock, and the metal was initially dismissed due to its friability.
A smith experimenting on the ore discovered that alloying it with iron in small amounts produced a remarkably high-grade steel. Further experiments over the following decade developed a method which involved magic-infused tools in the creation of the alloy, particular rituals, and secret ways of forging the alloy ingots to create the metal which would become known as star-steel. Additional master smiths and their apprentices joined mage-smith Halloran at the site of the mine, and miners soon began to follow the veins deep into the earth. The first star-steel weapons were produced, rapidly gaining a legendary reputation. Only a few were produced each year in the first years of operation as the methods were refined.
Halloran originally named the steel 'celestial steel', in a link to its heavenly appearance and the fact that it was incorruptible and unbreakable. The name 'star-steel' was a nickname which rapidly caught on with those who heard it, and few even recognised the name celestial steel, much to Halloran's dismay.
Then, only a few years after successful production began, disaster struck. Miners deep beneath the earth encountered a pocket of firedamp gas within the mine. The resulting explosion shook the ground, but it was the after-effect which was deadly. The blast changed and pressurised an unusual - but formerly harmless - vapour which was present within the mine, turning it into a deadly miasma and blowing it throughout the bowl-shaped depression containing the mineworks and smelter. Within moments, all present were dead. Every miner who knew the method of extracting the metal ore in a worthwhile form, every smelter who could turn the ore into usable metal, every smith who knew the secrets of the process of alloying and forging the metal into star-steel, and every apprentice who may have been able to reconstruct the methods, all perished.
Attempts to reconstruct the secrets using the tools which were not irreparably damaged have all failed in the intervening centuries, and many star-steel weapons have passed into legend as they were lost or hidden. Only a bare handful remain, and the great warriors who wield them are considered to be unstoppable.
Unless the secret to their creation is rediscovered, a new star-steel weapon will never be wrought again.
Prospectors exploring a distant region, a little over four hundred years ago, discovered a site where an enormous stone had fallen from the heavens eons ago. Only faint traces remained of the devastation which must have struck the world at the time. Veins of an unusual crumbly metal laced the rock, and the metal was initially dismissed due to its friability.
A smith experimenting on the ore discovered that alloying it with iron in small amounts produced a remarkably high-grade steel. Further experiments over the following decade developed a method which involved magic-infused tools in the creation of the alloy, particular rituals, and secret ways of forging the alloy ingots to create the metal which would become known as star-steel. Additional master smiths and their apprentices joined mage-smith Halloran at the site of the mine, and miners soon began to follow the veins deep into the earth. The first star-steel weapons were produced, rapidly gaining a legendary reputation. Only a few were produced each year in the first years of operation as the methods were refined.
Halloran originally named the steel 'celestial steel', in a link to its heavenly appearance and the fact that it was incorruptible and unbreakable. The name 'star-steel' was a nickname which rapidly caught on with those who heard it, and few even recognised the name celestial steel, much to Halloran's dismay.
Then, only a few years after successful production began, disaster struck. Miners deep beneath the earth encountered a pocket of firedamp gas within the mine. The resulting explosion shook the ground, but it was the after-effect which was deadly. The blast changed and pressurised an unusual - but formerly harmless - vapour which was present within the mine, turning it into a deadly miasma and blowing it throughout the bowl-shaped depression containing the mineworks and smelter. Within moments, all present were dead. Every miner who knew the method of extracting the metal ore in a worthwhile form, every smelter who could turn the ore into usable metal, every smith who knew the secrets of the process of alloying and forging the metal into star-steel, and every apprentice who may have been able to reconstruct the methods, all perished.
Attempts to reconstruct the secrets using the tools which were not irreparably damaged have all failed in the intervening centuries, and many star-steel weapons have passed into legend as they were lost or hidden. Only a bare handful remain, and the great warriors who wield them are considered to be unstoppable.
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