Material
There are many materials that are unique to Hökaland. Some are minerals, which either has physical differences or magical differences to Earth minerals and others are organic, coming from flora or fauna.
Minerals
Black Iron
Black iron is a ferrous alloy fused with unknown material that creates a potent magical effect. These were primarily used before the great wars and most of the secrets on how to use the material is lost even to the elves. It has been known to be used in artefacts to channel, enhance or control other magical components.
Physically, black iron has the same weight and density as normal iron but has a higher melting point and a noticeably higher hardness but a little bit more brittle.
Facts:
- Mohs scale: 6
- Melting point: 1741 °C
Dragon Silver
Dragon silver is famously used to kill dragons. It acts both as an allergen as well as a poison to dragons exposed to the substance. Dragon silver is a magical alloy of silver that does not exist naturally in the world but is created through a fairly simple process if infused silver is mined from a ley line or magical node. The infusion can also be done artificially, but is a very longwinded process. Appearance-wise, there are no obvious differences between regular silver and dragon silver. Some people claim the reflective light from dragon silver has a reddish hue but others say this is rubbish.
Pitch Quartz
Pitch quartz is a oddly occuring mineral similar to quarts affected by carbon atoms and the magical lattice. The mineral got its name from its "pitch black" colour (though it is somewhat opaque from 5-10% of angles) and likeness to quartz. It crystalises very similarly to quartz and becomes shiny if polished, however the colour is solid black somewhat reflective surface with no opacity even at a millimetre. An unusual pleochroismic effect makes one side of the mineral to have partial opacity but diminished at lower or higher angles from 90 degrees, down to >135 / <45 degrees where opacity is zero and looks like the other side.
Pitch quartz is a rarely occuring mineral on the planet, but are found in large quantities where it is found. Its hardness and brittle structure makes it very hard to work with, and its pleochroism is unclear to figure out in a useful manner. The material is also often confused with obsidian, because of its colour and fracture. It is nevertheless a most prized find if found and used for coloured glasses and sculptures. A piece of art made with pitch quartz is valued higher if its pleochroism and/or impurities are used in a clever manner. Because of how the material fractures, tools are usually very fine for minor adjustments or very large and rough to make blocks out of a lode.
Very rare and expensive items made with pitch quartz include windows and weapons. Pure pitch quartz also conduct magic well and both responds well to it as well as affects it reliably. Magic can also be used to modify the pleochroism of the material in different ways.
An existing piece of pitch quartz crystals can be synthetically grown in extremely high temperatures (above 1500 °C) in the presence of ground down quartz and a very small amount of graphite. However, this creates such a random pattern of the pleochroism that the grown material is simply black.
Facts:
- Fracture: Conchoidal
- Tenacity: Brittle
- Mohs scale: 8 - Lower in impure varieties
- Lustre: Vitreous
- Diaphaneity: Near nil
- Specific gravity: 1.80 (+/- 0.01 to 0.08 in impure varieties)
- Pleochroism: One-sided has partial opacity (varies with angle)
- Melting point: 1853 °C