Of Artificery

[Regalus]

Artificiery is the art of crafting items that hold magical properties. It is set apart from Blacksmithery, it's predecessor, due to its use of magic in both the creation and result. At its most shallow understanding, it is an art to create magical implements such as armor, weapons, and tools.

At its highest peak, it is the very art that forged the very world and continues on today.

"Feel the hammering of the waves, chiseling shores and cliffs.
Hear the quenching breeze, carving rivers and mountaintops.
See the bellowing volcanoes, the death of old and the creation of new.
Steady yourself amidst cracking earth, shaping all.
The world is fire, anvil, hammer, and creation all at once.
To survive is to be forged by the world;
But to forge the world is to live." - Regalus


[An IC book in the works and to be displayed within Nightview Library. It is written in an IC point of view, so will be bound to IC misunderstandings if present. If you wish to correct or to add in, visit me ICly in Nightview Library!]

[Regalus]

The beginning steps of Artificery lies in the art of Blacksmithing, of which is divided into three main parts: Smelting, Quenching, and Shaping.
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Smelting
Raw ore must be smelt before use in projects. It is done through extreme heat and is considered the most dangerous process of smithery. By melting raw ore to the melting point of the desired metal. Metals often take on a red hue, before eventually becoming a glowing red liquid as impurities are burned and rises above, forming black slag - to be removed.

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Copper, Iron, Adamantite, Blue Mercury and Mythril are commonly smelt through traditional means. A heated furnace fueled by coal or charcoal are often more than enough and are used as the core material for many creations.
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Arcanium, Viridium, Eternite, Nyeshk, Austereia, and Prismithium are special metals that cannot be smelt through non-magical means. A mage specializing in Artificery will be required to preside over the matter as magic are required on top of high-tier skills. For this, a blast furnace that utilizes fire crystals are commonplace.

Fire crystals are gathered in a small chamber housing the materials. It's potential excited by a mage through a magical trigger causing explosions within a shielded chamber. The quantity, duration, and manner of doing so differs from metal to metal, artificer to artificer, and with the varying equipment and quality of crystals.

However, this is the easiest way to do it and a skilled enough smith may do so without the aid of a mage. Nonetheless, to even attempt to forge the simplest ingot of ores of this level, one must be approaching the highest tier of smithery and a simple introduction such as this be of negligible use.
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Three remain: Tyrium, Blue Mercury, and Orichalcum.

Tyrium is a special case as magical fires such as those created through fire crystals or magical fire summoned by mages would instead be snuffed out. Its energy quickly siphoned dead by the Tyrium or at best effectively nulled. Likewise, coal cannot induce sufficient heat unless one is willing to pay an exorbitant and unecessary amount of it used. Rather, briarwood is the correct choice on this matter, whose very fire inherits its alchemical anti-magic property and goes hand in hand with Tyrium's own. A charcoal from this wood or mixed in with fire crystals or summoned fire will do well in smelting Tyrium.

Blue Mercury and Orichalcum too is a special case. Mortals may smelt it easily enough but what separates it from the first section is it's use by mages. By merely running mana through the metals with the intent and one may liquefy it for use in most projects. Due to its exceptional mana-conducive properties, one can handily purify it by liquifying it through a sieve into a ingot mold and carry it whenever. Though easy enough to be controlled by non-metal magi, one still needs sufficient artificing skill to control these mana conducive metals. It is due to this property that this metal is ill-suited to be the base material for a construction and is relegated to support it instead, through runes and glyphs.

[Regalus]

Quenching
Quenching is the cooling of a metal, often done quickly under water. After purification through smelting, the next step is to cool down the metal into a storable or usable state.

It is simple enough to do, though care must be taken when handling the hot materials. The common way follows as such: The material must be cooled naturally to a solid state, never quenching liquified metals. Using any heat resistant technique or tool, commonly tongs, immediately dunk in the quenching material. This often takes form of a liquid, often water or oil but will differ depending on the material and technique. However, for constructs made out of common Copper, Iron, or Adamantite, it is more than enough.

Magically, water mages are of most use in this regard.

Through quenching, the metal is hardened throughout the material and its form is permanently solidified. Bending it from this point on would cause internal damage and stress and must be resmelted to reshape it.

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Viridium, Austereia, Prismithium

There are some materials that are best not quenched through the common ways, however. Viridium, Austereia, and Prismithium must not be quenched normaly, as it will dissipate its magical properties. The same goes with orichalcum, blue mercury, or any material that have been imbued with specific magical properties to be inherited by the construct.

Heat must be disperesed but it's magicality must be supressed so it will remain within the constructed form. A mage must take great care and supervise this portion carefully, and with great effort at that. Further special care taken when handing Viridium and Austereia as their inherent magic are particularly volatile, especially at higher amounts.

A way to mitigate this is through the use of Tyrium within the construct, it's property of magical absorption carefully utilized to contain inherent magic within various metals. Naturally, a great deal of skill must be used to prevent Tyrium from monopolizing such energies.

[Regalus]

Shaping
The most recognizable part of the smithery and also where much of it evolves into Artificery. It is where ores transcend to be beyond its nature-given form, becoming simple things such as swords to all the way to complicated magi-tech. It is simple yet complicated as there is quite no technique necessary in its basest form, yet possibly consists of the most varied techniques within the three steps.

As such, one can only say that it is up to the smith how to go about it. All I may provide are the tools and options to go about it.

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Shaping is done when the material is still red hot, but no longer liquid. Just few degrees below the material's melting point. Often, this step takes place between quenching and smelting, but the reason it is put last will be explained later on.

Great care must be taken when using multiple different kinds of materials, taking into account their various properties. However, when you are at the skill level of doing so, you won't need this instruction and it is best to experiment yourself. Nonetheless, the two most common tools and their use will be explained, the root with which all things extend from.

The anvil is a special existence, even more so for Artificing. The magicality of it to be explained later, this will focus on its physical properties instead. No matter what, it is the very foundation within which one does their work and the platform in which most artificer's creation is made.

The hammer is the second. With enough skill, all things can indeed be made from but an anvil and a hammer. Soft and hefty blows alike should be used appropriately. Always take care to first check the temperature of a material before hammering, ensuring it its hot enough to mold the material rather than damaging it. Soft and accurate hits ensure a blade edge while powerful blows harden the blade's spine. A constant and rolling hits will ensure a perfect edge, while each heavy hit needs to be felt and mused on. The very act of forging is a percussive excersice anyone attuned to sound will realize.

Various other tools and equipment too maybe needed:

Tongs to hold heated materials.
Chisel to bevel and carve, useful for magical implements.
Vices and levers to hold in place.
Shaping tools for the formation of barels and circular appendages.
Needles and threads for leatherwork.
Saws for woodworking.

[Regalus]

Techniques:

Tempering
Tempering is the act of repeatedly smelting, hammering, and quenching a material. This is a basic technique used to not only purify a material but to harden it throughout its depth. Often, this cycle is done up to the artificer's satisfaction, ranging from tens to thousands of rounds of Tempering, hammering out impurities. Only once a metal is of sufficent purity should the step move on to shaping. Even then, a shaped material may undergo another round of tempering.

Folding
A technique hailing from the lands of Sheng, popularized along with the method for the creation Katanas throughout Eternia. It is an advanced form of tempering meant specifically for the creation of a long and sharp blade easily recognizable by a unique, wavy discoloration along its blade edge. With a flat blade material, each round of tempering ends by folding material in half and once more tempering the material. The result is a sharper and harder blade, a result of more surface area that had been burned and purified through the smelting process.

Effective Armor
An advanced technique that takes advantage of sloped armor. By taking into account likely areas of strikes and the manner in which they arrive, angled and curved armor may be used to increase it's protection. For example, beveled chest areas or flared wristguards. The former increases thickness of armor without increasing material costs or weight. The later is able to deflect blows and projectiles using curvature.