Aurite

Aurite ore, also known as Aurium or White Aurium, is the most valuable metal on the continent, believed by most cultures to be the steel of gods, brought to the mortal world by some benevolent deity or a fortunate accident, depending on the culture.
Aurite is mined from most mountain chains in the continent, however, its is most abundant in the Tiplands, along with Vanite and a number of other exotic materials. Mining in this region, however, remains impossible for the time being due to the extreme conditions, otherworldly wildlife and magical instability of the region, making the limited deposits of Aurite on the settled parts of the continent the only available source of the metal.
Aurite ore is striking even in its natural form - any other minerals that mix with aurite seem to eventually be absorbed or dissipated by the metal, keeping it always pure and unnaturally shiny, as if it was already forged and polished. Aurite can be extracted and manipulated only with special tools made of enchanted metal, created specifically for this purpose. Its color is white with a distinct golden shine and seems to be impossible to colorize by adding other compounds or even painting over it - the metal reacts to the coating and dissolves it over time.
Aurite can only be made into a compound with other elements by forging it with the correct techniques, and even then a smith needs to pay attention to the composition of the alloy - there should be a very small amount of aurite, with most of its magical channels actually reserved by enchantments to prevent the aurite from dissolving the other components. To this end, making aurite alloys is ineffective and rarely done. Aurite is thus mostly used pure, especially for making religious artifacts or jewelry to denote the bearer's extraordinary wealth and power. These artifacts and jewelry are always handled very carefully, since longer exposure to the material can make it damage whomever is using the item.
The only exception to this are the Sarnians, who use aurite for making weapons that are unmatched on the battlefield and completely safe to handle. This is only possible due to their mastery of an ancient smithing technique called stormforging, named after the Stormforge, a legendary smithing site in the Hallador Peaks where the technique was supposedly taught to the Sarnians by the last dwarwen smith. Stormforging is the only method that can produce stable alloys with a majority of aurite.
The most important of these alloys is auric steel. While its exact technique and composition is a closely guarded secret that only s chosen few are privy to, it is widely known that the process of stormforging opens up an amazing amount of magical channels in the aurite, allowing it to be enchanted by much more powerful enchantments than any other material known to man. Sarnian stormsmiths tried to use stormforging on other materials in the past, but never managed to make it as effective as with auric steel, practically establishing the belief that aurite is the most magically conductive material in the world and the metal of the gods.
Apart from its magical abilities, auric steel is has excellent physical properties as well, being as flexible as high quality carbon steel and even less prone to breaking. Its only downside opposed to steel is its inferior ability to hold an edge, however, merely a single enchantment from the numerous magical channels within the metal is enough to make the blade more resistant.

Type

Metal