Hey guys, I need a quick check on the price of Ori. I need 2 kilos (don't ask), and can't make the stuff, nor is there a mage who can. How hard and how much would getting 2 kilos cost?

2 kilos: 17,600,000

I think at that point, the availability is whatever the GM wants it to be.

Well now, that depends on if you want natural or synthetic orichalcum.

Was that in one of the newer books, or did I skip something in MitS/YotC?

Year of the Comet. Basically you can get some that costs less but is only about half effective. Why do you need 2 kilos anywho? Making a "Turn Spirit To Guacomole" focus?

Whoa...that's...expensive

What's the difference between natural and synthetic, though?

You can mine natural, for one thing

You have to put natural orichalcum through a cycle (like making a radical) to purify it enough for use. The end result (radical orichalcum) is about half as effective as regular orichalcum (2 units needed to match 1 synthetic), but there are literally dozens of metric tons of the stuff.

Price comparison:
1 unit natural orichalcum: 25,000
1 unit radical orichalcum: 50,000
1 unit synthetic orichalcum: 88,000

You actually get a better deal buying synthetic, but nothin' beats finding a nugget.

How do you find natural orichalcum? A talismongering test? What's the TN?

Corporations go to war to find and control natural orichalcum. If any gm lets a simple roll determine if you find some they should have their head examined. And it depends on when you're game is going. After Haley's Comet passes, all the natural orichalcum left in the ground dries up. But getting ahold of natural orichalcum in the ground should involve a run (and no corp likes a claim jumper unless its them).

You can also buy it from the Snowdonians, but their's appears to be a bit different.

There is a small run idea listed on the SR website which would allow runners a chance at a small vein.

(PA: Ash to price check four.)
(Ash: Umm, hardware isle 12. Shop Smart. Shop S-Mart.)

Yeah. Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up. See this?
This is my boomstick! It's a twelve gauge double barreled Remington, S-Mart's top-of-the-line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop Smart. Shop S-mart. Ya got that?! Now I swear, the next one of you primates, even touches me... Ya! (BOOM) (BOOM)


Sorry.. couldn't resist.

Natural orichalcum is handled horribly. It effectively costs more than synthetic orichalcum. The only benefit it provides is that of a time saver, and the amount of time saved is only marginally worth the difference in cost... especially when you consider how much synthetic orichalcum a good enchanter can create at one time.

One raw unit each of copper, silver, gold, and mercury (an 11,000 nuyen investment, or with components individually easier to find than orichalcum) can produce up to 36 units of synthetic orichalcum (3,168,000 nuyen worth) in about two-and-a-half to three months by someone with Talismongering and Enchanting, though the actual amount will only be about half to a quarter that on average.

But sure, if a lump of natural orichalcum lands in your lap, you might as well enjoy it. It's a waste of resources to buy or refine it, though, especially since the corporations all but have a stranglehold on what little of it was found.

All that aside, the concept of it is atrocious considering the principles of magic in the Sixth World. Magic is supposed to have a hard-on for natural, virgin materials... yet the single most magical of all materials used in enchanting is actually worsened when you use the natural variety even after magical processing. Go figure.

Once on a run to find a vein, the real trick is to have a contact who has the spell Detect(Orichalicum). Couple that with a spirit of the mounains or an earth elemental, and you've got yourself some grade-A ghost rock.... I mean, um, orichalicum.

(The spell is also useful for locating small, or otherwise obstructed foci in a small room/tall grass/anywhere else your bastard GM tells you you accidently dropped your new toy)

A CLockwork Lime: You're the latest incarnation of Doc Funk, aren't you?

Yep.

~J

It would seem that it's a crapload cheaper just to create your own orichalcum. Turn raw mercury, gold, silver, and copper into radicals, then turn those radicals into orichalcum.

Well, here's the thing: it's a great deal if you find any quantity of natural orichalcum. If you find a quarter-kilo nugget, then you can get in 28 days for no cost what would take someone with a good enchanting skill 28 days and whatever it costs for the radicals.

Now, buying natural orichalcum commerically is pretty bad. Your standard radicals for synthetic orichalcum run 44,000:nuyen:. Generally speaking, if you get two or more successes on the enchanting test, synthetic orichalcum is a better deal.

Anywho, one of the big deals with natural orichalcum is that it was first passed off as synthetic orichalcum. It takes a Parageology(6) test to tell the two apart.

You cannot process a quarter kilo block of raw orichalcum in 28 days. Unless you either have some phenomenal dice rolls or something. Each unit of raw materials you process at one time increases the target number by 1, and a quarter kilot is a *lot* of units... especially since a unit of orichalcum is only 10 grams (though I dunno if it's the same for raw orichalcum).

A quarter-kilo is 250 grams, which is 12.5 units of raw natural orichalcum. Okay, so unless you're really, really good at Enchanting you can't process a quarter-kilo in 28 days.

Uhm, no.

Both natural and synthetic orichalcum require alchemical processing to be transformed into a useful product; natural orichalcum just requires less time, but the end product is only half as effective. Using processed natural orichalcum requires two units in order to get a -2 bonus (One Material Used and one effective unit of orichalcum), whereas two units of synthetic orichalcum will give a -3 bonus. (One Material and two units of orichalcum). From there on, the divergence increases dramatically with each additional unit used; 5 units of natural vs. 5 units of synthetic produce a -3 bonus vs. a -6 bonus, for instance.

Natural orichalcum will only be usable as virgin telesma if you harvested and processed it yourself, just like everything else when it comes to virgin telesma; if you purchase/acquire a single portion of it from a third party, it no longer counts. Again, the only difference is a savings in time. 'Course since natural orichalcum is all but owned by the megacorporations, your chances of even acquiring a single unit of it on your own are next to nil or at least far less likely than harvesting a unit of mercury, copper, silver, and gold (all of which can be found rather conventinely in a place like Hell's Kitchen).

About the only real use for the stuff is a single unit's worth when creating a non-virgin telesma, and only because it'll give you an additional bonus for Materials Used. 'Course since it costs more than just about any other radical in the game beyond synthetic orichalcum, even that's a waste of money unless it just falls in your lap. Even then you'd be better off selling it and just scoring two units of, I dunno, lead and tin radicals. At least that way you'd get something useful out of it; a bigger bonus and a bunch of cash.