Eatheryl

Description
Eatheryl, short for ethereal steel, is easily recognizable by the swirling patterns in the metal and the flat dark grey color of the material. It gets its name from the translucent sheen it takes on when smelted. Technically, eatheryl is the name of the ore but it is synonymously used to talk about the alloy made with it. When smelted in its pure form it is a semi-precious metal that makes interesting jewelry and ornaments that are as strong as conventional steel. However, it's true value lies in its usage for weapons and armor. When smelted and mixed with carbon it becomes incredibly hard and is extremely light and stronger than any other known metal. It is also corrosion resistant and never tarnishes. As an alloy, once cooled, it can only be melted again by magical means. Thus eatheryl weapons and armor can potentially last forever.

All Etrian Knight's runeblades are made from eatheryl and some high-ranking Knights have eatheryl chain armor. Due to their light weight eatheryl armor is also highly prized and thin eatheryl mail shirts provide incredible protection underneath normal leather clothing while adding very little weight. Therefore eatheryl weapons and armor are sought after and rare. Although limited deposits can be found almost anywhere, the largest known deposits of eatheryl lie in the Moonstone Mountain range. As such, the kingdom of Ristor also has access to eatheryl ore but lacks the industry to take full advantage of it. Their weapons made of the material tend to be of lesser quality in most instances. This supply of eatheryl has been a large contributor to the Etrian economy. Eatheryl is sometimes called Etrian steel in order to state that the item is made in Etria and, therefore of higher craftsmanship. Etrian steel weapons are considered to be highly valuable and only made by master weaponsmiths due to the difficulty of working with the ore. They are often the finest examples of weapons in the world. Some craftsmen add other metals and color the items into different swirling patterns but there is a debate as to whether or not that weakens the metal and is usually only done with jewelry. Some scholars have speculated that perhaps a single or several large rocks from the skies smashed into Astar and not only created the Inner Sea but also scattered eatheryl ore throughout the lands.