Steel

An alloy of iron hardened with carbon and sometimes other trace inclusions.

In the Archaic Period, metal weapons are of case-hardened strip-welded iron. This method of manufacture produces prettily-patterned blades with the hardness of steel and the toughness of unalloyed iron.

In the Classical Period, cheap weapons are made of case-hardened wrought iron, some having patterns produced by painting with clay on the blades before case-hardening. Better weapons are made by welding hard steel edges to tough iron blades, and the best out of forged mild cast iron, known as bulat. This material is made, and items fabricated out of it, by secret processes.

In the Decadent Period, the secret of bulat is widely known throughout Gehennum, a process for producing pretty patterns in bulat blades has been developed, and bulat is a lucrative export.

See armour and weapons.


Copyright © 1991 by Brett Evill. All rights reserved.