Electrum

Electrum is a metal that became extremely valuable due to the way in which it interacts with Aer. It is a naturally occuring alloy of silver and gold, with traces of various other metals.

Properties

Physical & Chemical Properties

For some still unclear reasons, Aer tends to cling more to Electrum than to any other metal.

Geology & Geography

Electrum could be found relatively easily beneath the ground of Nimbaar. Since the arrival of The Mist, though, it has become harder to obtain and few Electrum mines exists in the Floating Cities. Most of its production il centered in the Kingdom of Gaosha.

History & Usage

History

Electrum used to be utilizied mostly for minting coins that were worth around half of a gold coin in most places of Nimbaar. When the use of Aer became widespread, the need for Electrum grew, and most countries stopped using it for moneys and started hoarding it to create the engines that sustain the Floating Cities.
Nowadays the only country that mints Electrum coins is the Kingdom of Gaosha, which does so to show off their wealth.

Everyday use

Electrum is used in almost every object that requires Aer to work.

Refinement

Electrum can be used the way it is found in nature, it just needs to be smelted and shaped into the required form. Attempt to artificially create electrum, by smelting together silver and gold have failed: the resulting metal does not attract Aer as well as the naturally occuring one, nor it does it particularly better than the two original metals. Sages still have not found an explaination to this phenomenon.
Electrum can form alloys with other metal, and this property is used to create objects that have progressively purer electrum inside them, which can be used to transfer Aer from one point to another, as the gas naturally moves toward the portion with the highest concentration of Electrum.

Distribution

Trade & Market

Most countries that still have access to Electrum mines don't sell it, and it is exceptionally rare for a country to allow private citizens to own such mines. The only exception is the Kingdom of Gaosha, who owns most of the easily reachable Electrum mines and allows others to exctract the metal in exchange for and efty fee.

Type

Metal

Color

From greenish silver to pale gold, depending on purity

Common State

Solid

Related Locations