Iron
Source: Adapted and expanded from Graceful Wicked Masques: the Fair Folk pp.149
Iron is known as the Metal of Stability, the Anchor of Creation, the Oreheart of Pasiap. It is found across Creation in small quantities, deposits increasing ever larger until they at last reach the slopes of the Imperial Mountain . Some savants say that the core of Mount Meru is a huge spike of iron inwhite jade intertwined, and this is the base around which the rest of Creation orbits, a pocket of stability against the chaos of the Wyld.
Iron ore is valued highly across Creation. Many cultures, particularly on the outer edges of the world, make use of bone, stone, and bronze tools in quantity, but amongst even these shamans know the value of an iron blade… iron is harder and holds its edge firmer than do other common materials for weaponry, but the true value of the ore is in its mystical properties: iron is the true bane of the Fair Folk. A weapon of pure iron that strikes a Fae cuts through its natural (even Charm-bolstered) resistance and inflicts Aggravated wounds. To the Fae, even those of chill temperament, iron feels painfully cold to the touch, and death at the hands of an iron weapon brings with it absolute and undeniable certainty that the Raksha will be no more. The touch of iron also dispels glamours, though only upon individuals, and not some effects of assumption and mutation (see Source for specific effects and restrictions).
The Guild makes use of iron in its dealings around Creation’s edges, both to defend its agents when they meet with the Raksha and as a trade good to exchange for rare flora and Wyld-spawned treasures in its dealings with barbarians around the edges of Creation.
Metal of Stability it might be, but iron is far from eternal… over time, it suffers corrosion, tarnishing, the red wound of rust. There are many theories on the cause of rust, as many as on the nature of iron itself... some say it is a flaw amongst one of the Shinma, others that Creation's nature is mix of stasis and chaos and the unpredictability eats away at the iron. Regardless of cause the reality is that iron implements must be carefully seasoned, cleaned, and cared for if they are to remain useful and unrusted, though there are two means to surpass this flaw in the metal: steel and Malfean Iron.
Iron is difficult to work without supporting infrastructure both for smelting and for mining, as iron is typically found underground. This makes the metal’s use more prevalent as civilizations grow richer and more advanced in towards the Inner Sea and Imperial Mountain , but even here iron weapons are not the majority… here, the danger of the Fair Folk is lessened, and iron ore has a more appealing use, as the base metal for production of steel.
Steel is an alloy of iron with various other substances, to produce a metal that can hold sharper edges, is more durable, and does not rust. The creation of steel from iron is a simple alchemical process, known to smiths across the Blessed Isle and inner Threshold… more advanced methods dating from the First Age and Shogunate periods produce variants of extreme hardness, flexibility, even those which remain clean and untarnished no matter what trials they suffer through. Steel armour, steel weapons, steel nails and hooks and implements, are vastly superior to their iron counterparts, and thus iron ore is dedicated to this superior purpose rather than kept pure wherever possible… however, there is a price paid for such gains: steel is transformed from iron into something else, and has no special power at all against the Fair Folk.
Some few Yozi cultists speak of Malfean Iron that is the perfected form of Creation’s debased iron ore, uplifted by the green light of Ligier so that it never rusts… they are perhaps not incorrect. In the most ancient records of the Primordial Era, etched by Dragon Kings on tablets of organic crystal, there is talk of iron but never mention of rust. Malfean Iron is found only in the Yozi Realms, and somewhat more difficult to work than Creation’s ore, most often requiring softening by Vitriol. Malfean Iron gives away its nature not just by a lack of rusting, but when it is held up to reflect the light of the Unconquered Sun: on Malfean Iron, Sol’s light always reflects green. Malfean Iron retains all the special properties of regular iron when it comes to interaction with the Fair Folk.
Much as iron ore can become steel, Malfean Iron can be forged into a substance known as Black Iron by alloying it with brass and demonic ichors in a forge whose green flame was lit with a spark from the Green Sun. It is in all ways like steel, save for its colour, a deep black, and its resistance to polishing.
In addition to Malfean Iron from the Yozi Realms, a variation of iron found on the edges of Creation is known as Goblin Iron, produced when iron ore is inundated by energies of the Wyld intense enough to overcome its innate resistance.
