Adamantine

What more can be said of this dark green metal than stories portray? The metal once properly cast and set is unbreakable and a thousand years don't dull its luster.
This makes it a naturally high priced and highly coveted material. Thousands have died to gain a full suit. Assassinations and enormous sums of money spent to acquire whereabouts of mines and caches.

Properties

Material Characteristics

There is no harder and tougher metal than adamantine. It can withstand the pressure of an entire army without breaking. It has been called "immovable armor" in reference to immoveable rods.
The raw ore has ribbons of iridescent oil that help lubricate it when refining. If the oil is not there, the metal become brittle and doesn't set correctly. The ore itself is redolent of crystals with how it creates sharp angles in rectangular blocks planted in granite or stone.
The finished ingots are dense and heavy. They have a perfect slickness to them, not porous or scraped or dented.

Physical & Chemical Properties

The ore has a slickness due to the oil suffused therein. It also holds heat well, though once refined it loses this property.
The forged and set metal cannot be dented, bent, or dulled. Blades keep their edge even after thousands of years. It helps protect against elements except lightning, which it unnaturally attracts.

Geology & Geography

Found in remote caverns far and deep underground, usually halfway between the underdark and the overworld. It typically forms in granite though other igneous rock also harbor adamantine.

Origin & Source

It is said Moradin suffused the whole plane with adamantine as a secret to the dwarves and smiths of the world. He famously has an entire toolkit and armory of adamantine, including an adamantine hammer.

Life & Expiration

Cannot be destroyed or corrupted.

History & Usage

History

Since its discovery, adamantine has been sought after. No other material is so coveted and many monarchs, empires, and people have been destroyed for its power.
It is said the mark of an empire's true longevity is its acquirement of a suit of adamantine armor for its emperor.

Discovery

It was first discovered by dwarves on one of their long marches to fight duergar in the underdark. A cleric of Moradin channeled the deity who told them it was for them to fulfill its purpose. They took it back to their home and forged the first set of armor. Word spread of its wonderful properties and more expeditions mounted.
Whereas Mithril is the dwarves' most well protected metal, adamantine is the world's most protected metal.

Everyday use

Exclusively used in armor and weapons.
Some doors are known to be reinforced with adamantine, and one set of doors to a palace in Hezhish Councilnori have an adamantine core.

Cultural Significance and Usage

Dwarves hold adamantine almost as close as mithril, but its ubiquity among smiths in the lands makes wholesale claims improbably. Many cultures who have mines pride themselves in it, though the danger of having these mines from external and internal forces remains in everyone's consideration.

Refinement

The refinement process requires coals from beneath a volcano. Transporting such coals is nigh impossible without magic or volcanos.
After proper fuel is acquired, smiths then spend arduous hours keeping the furnaces hot enough to melt the stone and ore, dredging it, pouring it, casting it into ingots or rods for later use. Most of the time adamantine is used immediately.

Manufacturing & Products

Weapons and armor. Weapons are more common, though still rare. Adamantine parts of armor often pop up in large cities and metropolis smith shops set behind counters under strict lock and key. Full suits are legendary.

Distribution

Trade & Market

The market is extremely competitive and suppressive. No one wants anyone else to sell adamantine while wanting to monopolize it. This causes conflict though it stays subtle between rivals.

Law & Regulation

Guilds and kingdoms work together to form regulations. Some black markets do exist, but the quality is so subpar buyers lose interest.
Regulations include who can mine adamantine; how much can be mined daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly; who can refine the ore; how much can be refined daily, weekly, monthly, yearly; who can sell it; and how much can someone sell it daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.

Type

Metal

Rarity

Very rare

Color

A sickeningly venom color with iridescent sheen shines on the raw ore. Once refined, the iridescence fades, but the venom green remains.

Melting / Freezing Point

Unsurprising, this metal requires hot furnaces with primordial coals found deep under volcanoes.

Common State

Solid ore.