ultrachrome

First campaign mention: Shards of Honor 30.0 "Thief of Dreams"

VNY's notes:

Hey look, it's Unobtanium all over again!

Okay, not really. I am being snarky because I am in the middle of a course on All These Molecular Structures Cause Problems as part of my monk order education.

Let's see if I can boil down the things a hypothetical future investigator might need to know quickly:

1. If it's silver in color,
2. free of rust and fungus growths,
3. definitely not new - we're looking at around four thousand standard years ago -- and
4. shaped like a shield or formed as the armor of a starship, but not something that would have directly touched a wearer such as gauntlets or weapon hilts

put a temperature sensor on one end of it (or something disposable but not especially easy to ignite, like the foam insulator from an old K-Rat). On the other end, apply a plasma torch set to medium-high. If your far end indicator acts like half the strength of the plasma torch was applied directly to it, you likely have ultrachrome.

Congratulations! You can make some creds.

But not at a university or library. You will get mugged by the History and/or Archaeology department for having destroyed a Learning Opportunity by removing the artifact from its context. It's too late to prevent that, you already uncovered it enough to make that test.

And it's possibly dangerous to take it to a government, because they are going to want to know where you got it and they are not going to take "I exercise my right to not incriminate myself and also my right to make a cred" as a response.

Try a makers' collective, or go someplace rural and barter your raw material for some of their finished products which you can then sell elsewhere. Or go to major astronomy/cosmology/astrocartography research groups and see what you can work out with them.

Ultrachrome is a superconductor for most forms of energy, including heat, electricity, blaster bolts, kinetic impact, and sonic waves. This means that, if subjected to high concentrations of any energy form over a continuous period of time, the entire object melts.

At which point, the alloy separates into its components, so don't do that if you plan on recycling the ultrachrome.

- database entry updated Katunda
2 Elona
12726

Properties

Material Characteristics

• bright silvery metal (hence the colloquial name "ultrachrome") often layered onto thicker bases of other materials

Physical & Chemical Properties

• usually feels cool/cold to the touch when not impacted by concentrated heat sources

Type

Metal

Rarity

rare

Taste

please do not lick the metal

Color

silver

Common State

solid

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BenKenobi at oldfolkshome.allandor.gov:

Vanya. Did you just reduce several hours of scholarly effort by several learned Jedi Masters to "test the junk, sell the junk, profit"?

- 5 Elona 12726

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vy_pi at oldfolkshome.allandor.gov:

Yes, Boss!

- 5 Elona 12726

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Skyguy at oldfolkshome.allandor.gov:

That's my girl!

- 15 Nelona 12726

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BenKenobi at oldfolkshome.allandor.gov:

You are both terrible.

- 15 Nelona 12726