Mithis Metals Table¶
Rules system: 2014-archive homebrew numbers (D&D-style difficulty checks; S418 of 2016, S453 of 2015, with the Mithis article revised in 2025 and 2026). Legacy design material, not canon for play.1
Lore page: Mithis Metals and Gemstones.
Contested
The metal names and Mithis ratings of the 2016 table and the 2026 article differ; see the open question Witchcraft's place; Mithis metals.
The numbers behind the archive's Mithis metals: saturation ratings, a forge-temperature table, the seven-day difficulty-checked smelting of Aurumite with its explosion damage, alloy and forging figures, the 2016 comparison table with coin-weight standards, and one session's smelting arithmetic. What the metals are, where they come from and what they look like is on the lore pages for Mithis, Adamantium, Argentium, Aurumite and the other metals.
Saturation¶
A Mithis element is one to which Mithis particles have bonded; the Mithis Saturation is "the maximum number of particles that can bond to a single element". The newest ratings (S419):
| Metal | Also called | Base element | Mithis Saturation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adamantium | Titansteel, Norsil | titanium | 8 |
| Argentium | Truesilver, Mithril | silver | 5 |
| Aurumite | Blood Gold, Malderil | gold | 7 |
| Cuprium | Flaming Copper, Airacil | copper | 2 |
| Kalamite | Dragonsilver, Ilumril | platinum | 12 |
| Eruminum | Mithweave, Liaunil | aluminum | 4 |
| Ferrosite | Black Iron, Moril | iron | 3 |
| Zucarium | Nightmetal, Morkaril | zinc | 5 |
| Koboltar | Kobold's Blood, Agaruksh | cobalt | Anti-Mithis 4 |
| Nicktaranite | Night's Touch, Domeksh | nickel | Anti-Mithis 6 |
Mithis gemstones in the same article carry far higher saturations:
| Gemstone | Also called | Mithis Saturation |
|---|---|---|
| Astral Diamond | Sunstones, Sulmaril | 10,000 |
| Dragon Ruby/Sapphire | Moonstones, Lumaril | 2,000 |
| Fiery Emerald/Aquamarine | Elfstones, Lothmaril | 500 |
| Star Topaz | Lightstones, Dawnstones, Telmaril | 120 |
Forging temperatures¶
"Most Mithis Ores and Alloy require extreme temperatures, some of which are not attainable with typical fuels and fires."
| Fuel | Fuel temp | Forge | Average | Best | Epic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood Fire | 500-1,250 C | Primitive Forge | 900 C | 1,100 C | 1,200 C |
| Wizard's Fire | 700-1,500 C | Wizard's Forge | 1,000 C | 1,300 C | 1,500 C |
| Magma | 900-1,500 C | Magma Forge | 1,200 C | 1,400 C | 1,500 C |
| Coke, Charcoal, Coal | 900-2,200 C | Forge | 1,200 C | 1,500 C | 2,000 C |
| Abyssal Fire | 2,000-3,000 C | Abyssal Forge | 2,200 C | 2,700 C | 3,000 C |
| Magnesium | 3,000-4,500 C | Light Forge | 3,000 C | 3,500 C | 4,000 C |
| Pure Elemental Fire | 3,000-5,000 C | Elemental Forge | - | 4,000 C | 5,000 C |
| Dragon Oil | 5,000-10,000 C | Dragon Forge | - | - | 10,000 C |
| Dragon's Fire | 5,000-20,000 C | - | - | - | - |
As Mithis metals are heated they release stored energy (Conduction, at the Conductive Point), which must be channeled away or "a Mithis explosion could result in the destruction of the forge and anyone nearby". Forging needs a Bleeding phase near melting that siphons the energy off; a drained piece can be worked for about 30 minutes before it returns to Bleeding, which can take an hour for an already heated object.
Smelting Aurumite¶
Difficulty Check 18, made every 24 hours; a failure means something different at each step (S419, matching S417).
Materials: Aurumite ore; a silicon carbide or graphite smelting container; fluorspar (flux); purified alloy metals; Conductive Clay (silicon carbide sand, from moissanite or made from clay and carbon powder with heat, or another temperature-resistant clay, with a Mithis conducting agent, "usually caster blood"); and a forge and fuel able to reach 2,000 C.
| Day | Step | On a failed check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grinding and Roasting: Diaurumite Sulphide is ground to fine gravel and roasted in a high-oxygen environment at 500 C to produce Diaurumite Trioxide. Trioxide ore starts at day 2. | Recovered by spending an additional day. A critical failure has no meaning. |
| 2-6 | Reduction and Bleeding: ore and flux are sealed in the container, coated with Conductive Clay and heated; the ores melt at about 2,000 C. From 1,200 C, and every 50 C after, the clay is stripped and replaced to bleed the Mithis energy, then the container is reheated and raised another 50 C. About 120 straight hours; any pause requires a restart "(or may lead to disaster)", and uneven heating can cause an explosion. A legendary coal-fired forge adds +4 to the difficulty. | Make a second check. If it succeeds, a day is lost; if it fails, make a third. If the third succeeds, a full restart; if it fails, an explosion of 10d6 + 1d6 per ounce of ore in a 20 ft radius. A critical failure on the first check counts as the first and second failing, and the third is made at once. |
| 7 | Alloy Formation: purified additives go in after an hour at 2,000 C, then 12 hours at that steady temperature. No bleeding is needed at a steady temperature, though many smelters coat the container anyway. | Restart this step and check again. If that fails, the alloy metals are lost and smelting restarts at day 2; check again, and if that fails, an explosion as above. |
The discarded clay is kept apart so the Mithis energy it absorbed "can slowly dissipate safely".
Alloys and forging¶
| Alloy | Composition | Forging |
|---|---|---|
| Argentium Steel / Mithril Steel | 76% iron, 21% argentium, 2% chromium, 1% carbon (<2% impurities) | 1,350 C. Ruins a steel anvil with repeated forging; an Argentium-coated anvil is recommended. Excess energy is trapped in an Argentium Oxide coating shed with an acid bath, which also quenches; bleeding doubles forging time. |
| Argentium Silver / Truesilver | silver, argentium and other precious metals; 25%+ argentium to be identifiable | about 1,400 C at 75% purity, 1,200 C at 50%, 1,000 C at 25% |
| Aurumitic Steel / Aquitanian Steel | 81% iron, 18% aurumite, 1% carbon (<2% impurities, often Mg from a Light Forge) | 1,520 C. Ruins a steel anvil; continual bleeding. Blood-quenching is preferred, and Conductive Blood must be the quenching agent "to avoid a Mithis explosion at this final step". |
| Aurumite Gold / Blood Gold | gold, aurumite and other precious metals; 25%+ aurumite to be identifiable | about 1,800 C at 75% purity, 1,500 C at 50%, 1,200 C at 25% |
Argentium is "one of the easiest Mithis Ores to obtain": Argentium Chloride ground to powder reduces to pure argentium with heat and light at 300 C, and melts into ingots at 1,500 C.
Smelting at the Isles of Sorrow¶
Session arithmetic from a 2015 campaign note set in the Isles of Sorrow, given without explanation:
| Line | Note |
|---|---|
| 1:42 | Iron / Ferracite |
| 1:3.5 | Iron / Slag |
| 6,000 | Slag → 40 lbs Ferracite |
| 1,600 C | 3,000 |
| 3,000 lbs | Slag → Volcano (Magma Forge) |
| 1,000 | Slag → 500 Slag → Magma Forge → 7 lbs of Ferracite |
Earlier accounts¶
The 2016 comparison table¶
S418 compares eleven metals with four ordinary ones for reference. Its names and Mithis ratings differ from S419's: Eruminium for Eruminum, Ferracite for Ferrosite, Stannite (absent from S419), and Mithis values that are not S419's saturations (Adamantium 9 against 8, Argentium 6 against 5, Aurumite 8 against 7, Kalamite 15 against 12, Eruminium 5 against 4, Ferracite 4 against 3, Zucarium 7 against 5, Koboltar −4 and Nicktaranite −8 against Anti-Mithis 4 and 6).
| Metal | Mithis | Melting pt | Occur (log) | Attune | Str | Hard | Coh | Flex | Var | Mkt val (oz) | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adamantium | 9 | 3500 | 3 | Earth | 10 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3920* | 0.28 |
| Argentium | 6 | 1500 | 8 | Arcane | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 620 | 0.24 |
| Aurumite | 8 | 2000 | 2 | Fire | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1780* | 0.86 |
| Cuprium | 2 | 1600 | 5 | Fire | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 420* | 0.68 |
| Eruminium | 5 | 1200 | 4 | Ethereal | 6 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 1720* | 0.32 |
| Ferracite | 4 | 1800 | 10 | Material | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 960 | 0.91 |
| Kalamite | 15 | 9000 | 1 | Planar | 9 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 9720* | 0.62 |
| Koboltar | −4 | 2100 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1152* | 0.58 | |
| Nicktaranite | −8 | 4200 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3584* | 1.10 | |
| Stannite | 2 | 1100 | 2 | ||||||||
| Zucarium | 7 | 1800 | 3 | Abyssal | 8 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1662* | 0.86 |
| Iron | - | 1200 | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0.72 | |
| Steel | - | 1350 | - | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0.78 | |
| Carbon Steel | - | 1500 | - | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2.5 | 0.76 | |
| Titanium | - | 1600 | - | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 80 | 0.44 |
* "The rarity of these metals often vastly inflates demand and prices."
- Str (Strength): the energy or force required to puncture or break the metal.
- Hard (Hardness): the force required to deform it, closely related to how well it "holds an edge"; harder materials cut less hard ones.
- Coh (Cohesion): the ability to work the metal into complex shapes while retaining strength.
- Flex (Flexibility): the ability to deform and recover its shape.
- Var (Variance): the ability to alter or trade off these characteristics by tempering, annealing or quenching.
Coin and ingot standards:
| Standard | Weight | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum coin (p) | 3.2 oz, 1/5 lb | heavier metals, "so as to not leave the coins too small or too impure" |
| Gold coin (g, gpw) | 1.6 oz, 1/10 lb | most metals |
| Silver coin (s, spw) | 0.8 oz, 1/20 lb | some light metals |
| Typical sword | 2.5 lb, 40 oz | |
| Ingots | 20 oz (1.25 lb), 80 oz (5 lb), 320 oz (20 lb) | common denominations |
The appended older draft¶
S419 ends with an older list giving Mithis as a percentage concentration rather than a saturation: Ferrium (Mithus, White Iron) 0.0001%, "very difficult and dangerous to smelt"; Aurumite (Blood of Kalar) 0.001%; Argentium 0.002-0.03%, the "Easiest Mithis-infused metal to smelt"; Adamantium 0.02-0.08%, gold with a greenish tint; Kalmite (Dragonsteel) 0.05-0.1%; and gemstones from Maban (0.001-5%) to Maril (50-100%). Every metal but Argentium needs "magical fire or volcanic forges" to smelt.