Abyssium

As hard as adamant and as light as mithril, abyssium is a metallic substance harvested from the carapace of magma dwelling worms. While living, the elemental spirits of the worms provide their hides with immunity to extreme heat. After they are slain, there is a brief period of about 2 hours where the hides become pliable, as they lose their heat immunity, but are still superheated by the lingering heat of the creature's body. During this critical time, smiths can work fluxes into the hides to burn away most of the organic material while compacting the support network of feathery veins of abyssium. Once purified and compacted in the critical time, the abyssium can be heated in forges of similar heats to adamant and mithril to rework. A notable property of abyssium is that separate pieces can never be reforged into a single piece, making large worms particularly valuable as the only source of plates large enough for large pieces of armor, such as that required for the plate of forge giants.
Abyssium has been discovered and re-discovered by civilations built around volcanos many times, but it is generally accepted that the first true masters of the material were the forge giants. Abyssium proved to be such a superior material for weapons and armor that hunts for the great magma worms became central to forge giant life and culture, which was partially responsible for the great decline suffered by their people.
While the forge giants were the first masters of abyssium, the greatest masters were the Fish Lord dwarves. The discovery of magma worms, and thus abyssium, below the sea floor turned out to be a great boon to the sea dwarves in the days they still dwelt at the surface. The unique physical and magical properties of the metallic material made it incedibly valuable for the sea dwarves' arcanotech. Several prominent scholars have suggested that the immense importance of abyssium to their economy drove the Fish Lords into the sea in the first place, although such claims are refuted by Lyuben Honorheart. What is agreed on by all, however, is that the Fish Lord's discovery and subsequent mastery of abyssium gave them the confidence to defy Val Farum and break away from their Lords.

Type

Biomaterial

Color

Dark and semi-lustrous, variable based on production