(12) - Forging Truesilver Champions

Griffonclaw wiped the sweat from his brow before he resumed his hammering. He was taking a break from his latest project by doing a favor for Galvan, the strange Dwarven master-smith who practiced his trade from a self-imposed exile in the Stranglethorn Vale; Galvan needed some rather ornate mithril armor, and Griffonclaw had volunteered to seek out the rare mithril ore, smelt it, and hammer out the items that Galven needed. The labor was hard, but soothing and meditative, and while he did it he thought upon the sword he was currently making for his own use.

Crafting a sword was quite different than any other object, like armor or an axe blade. Swords are fighting tools, but they are not simply "giant knives" or huge razorblades; it is far, far more, with its own functional properties dependent upon its design. The sword was the premier personal weapon of the professional warrior, and unlike other weapons (such as bows, spears, axes, and daggers, which were also used in hunting and could be made by any craftsman), the crafting of a fine sword required the services of a skilled specialist. Through his talent and experience he worked by hand to carefully shape and then temper iron into finely crafted steel or mithril. He didn’t simply grind and polish a pre-made piece of cold metal with a few tools.

The goal was to produce a sturdy fighting blade hard enough to hold a fine edge or point, yet was also resilient to survive the extingencies of battle against not only fearsome creature, but against a like-armed and armored foeman. A swordsmith y had to know how to make steel or mithil, often by heading out into the wilderness to find outcroppings of the raw ore. The ore would be collected, then smelted, and iron combined with the carbon found in coal to make steel. The craft of smelting iron into steel was an exacting skill in itself, although steel could sometimes be obtained in pre-forged ingots produced by others specialized in the task, saving the bladesmith the trouble and leaving him free to concentrate on shaping and tempering.

The most important part was when it was time to work the raw metal into a blade. He had to shape and mix metals of different known qualities, some of them with mystical attributes, although those were easier to attune to mithril than steel. Some of the metal would have to be softer for the core or sides, some harder for the edge and point. This was done essentially by sandwiching harder metal around softer metal (such as steel around iron) so that the blade could flex under sudden impact but resist deformation. With the hammers and tongs, he would work the proto-blade, moving the block of glowing metal back and forth between an anvil and a hot coal furnace fueled by a bellows. He needed just the right “color” of heat to keep the metal at just the right pliability. He would shape his metal while red-hot by slowly and repeatedly hammering and re-heating until it was the length, width, and thickness he wanted. He had to work the sides, edges, and tang into shape, none of which was entirely identical in its characteristics to the others.

In order to be both strong and light for striking powerful cuts or thrusts against either hard or soft targets, different sword blades would require not just different lengths and widths but different cross-sections. A swordsmith had to skillfully create these shapes, perhaps in some small way improving his design each time by refining his techniques and incorporating new ideas. This was not a fast process, and often required the incorporation of powdered gemstones, arcane regeants, and holy blessings in the process.

When satisfied with the initial shape the swordsmith was far from finished. A finely-crafted sword had to have just the right mix of good steel or mithril as well as just the right temper. Heat treatment was the final crucial step that gave the blade its strength and toughness. Heat-treating is really the whole process of quenching (or hardening) and tempering (or slightly softening), and the process often had strange material requirements, depending on the enchantments desired on the final product. The higher the temperature or the longer a temperature is applied the more the metal’s structure is “relaxed,” thus making the blade tougher while somewhat softer.

Proper heat-treating was perhaps half the Art itself; the consistency and quality of source metals for swords were not standardized in any way, and often the path for the swordsmith was educated instinct. Many different means were developed to do this but all of them involved quenching it by soaking the heated blade in a liquid medium in order to lower the temperature. Quenching is really the fast cooling of the glowing hot blade in order to harden it. To ensure toughness and flexibility the blade would be quickly quenched in either oil, blood, or water. Quenching would come before any tempering. The combined shock of this followed by the slow re-heating to a low temperature essentially caused the metal’s attributes to change. But it is important to understand that the actual results of any heat-treatment would depend greatly upon the qualities of the different types of steel to which they were applied.

When the blade had cooled it was ready to be ground and sharpened, it's edge and point properly honed by hand to a desired degree for the type of fighting work it was expected to perform. By holding the cold blade against a series of large slowly turning stone grinding wheels of different grains, the blade’s final shape would be formed. It could then be given an edge with smaller stones or hard metal files. Some blades might also be inscribed or decorated, with mystical sigils etched within the naked blade. Final imbuing of any mystical properties would also take place here before the blade was "sealed", the enchantments or properties of the blade enabled.0

Once a blade was finished a suitable hilt would need to be attached; no matter how magnicient a well-crafted blade might be, it was only as usable as the quality of its hilt. The pommel, grip, and guard all had to fit firmly and be completely secure, usually being custom made for whatever blade it matched, usually to the hand of the person who commissioned the work. Complex hilts of various bars were usually shaped of single solid pieces that were often worked cold rather than hot, but would be reheated when permanently attached.

When it at last had its hilt only then could the completed sword finally be tested and approved. Lastly, the whole weapon would be polished smooth, perhaps to a bright shine, before being oiled.

And then, it would be put to its bloody use.

All the while forming the articulated sections for the ornate mithil vambraces he was making, Griffonclaw pondered how best to work the mithril supplies he had gathered. The blade itself would be hardened mithil wrapped around a truesilver core, the mithril imbued with crushed star rubies to harden the edge so that it could take and hold a rzaor edge. The truesilver would be imbued with Breath of Wind, to lighten the blade, and make it extremely responsive to the wielder's commands. At almost every step of the construction, spells to protect the user would be cast upon it by priests of the Light, so that when used that protection might be invoked by the user. Thick leather would wrap the long hilt; the blade would be of a length to be used two-handed, and the hilt would be fitted to Griffonclaw's own gauntleted grip.

A master Enchanter, Melwing by name, had already agreed to imbue it with an icy enchantment, which would steal the strength and vitality of anyone foolish enough to choose to oppose the user.

The ogres of Ferelas were in for a big surprise.