Wootz Steel

Wootz Steel is one of the most sought after forms of steel in the known world. It is sometimes called Seric Steel. Sought after by many empires to produce weapons and metal armour on a large scale to gain an advantage over all others, there is a trade for Wootz Steel up and down the Silk Road.

Utility

When produced, the Wootz Steel is used primarily in arms & armour manufacture. A few specific metal objects such as plates, silverware and suchlike are produced too. The former leads to exceptional strength and sharpness, holding an edge better than most weapons excluding adamantine & mithril. The armour is exceptionally durable and hardwearing compared to standard steel.

Manufacturing

Usually made using a sealed clay crucible, this creates an even heat over the magnetite iron helping to separate the slag from the iron. It also allows for the carbon in the iron to turn into carbides & turn them into cvarbon nontubules, and the various trace elements are turned into cementitenanowires adding to strength & toughness. These are further purified, 'straightened' & evenly spread throughout by regular heating & hammered into the shape wanted by the manufacturer. In a few cases, the use of heating & hammering is used instead of the crucible heating as the latter process is only known in a few regions.

Social Impact

Known throughout a number of regions, it is well sought after for the superiority in strength, toughness & cutting / piercing to other forms of steel. Many empires value it for the production in arms & armours, Wootz Steel also sought for one other reason. The chemical nature of it produces wave, ladder & rose patterns in the steel itself, and visible on the surface. Since these are produced from a single steel source instead of two or more combinations or other blacksmith tricks, it pcan be worked further. Polishing of the patterns can easily lightened or darkened further for effect, or hammering, dyeing and etching can produce unique patterns for the metal worker and the client.

Inventor(s)

No-one knows who first created Wootz Steel. What is known, is that the regions of the southern Indian subcontinent (especially in the Tamil regions) & the island of Sri Lankra is the first to discover the iron ore used. They have hundreds of years of experience stretching back into the early of the 1st Millennium BC.

Access & Availability

In and around the Indian subcontinent Wootz Steel is uncommon but regularly appears in trade. Outside of this region it rarely appears, though a few bars appears every foe months to years in trade. China, Italy, the Abyysd Caliphate, and the old Greek states are known to get a few bars every once in a while though none seems to sell it on to other empires.

Complexity

Specific magnetite iron deposits in the southern Indian subcontinent & northern region of the Indian Ocean is used due to the carbon content. It contains cementite as well. This is regularly placed in a sealed clay crucible to remove all slag, and in a few cases using heat & hammering to remove this.

Discovery

Initially discovered by the Tamil & Sri Lankan peoples in the southern regions of the Indian subcontinant.