Hi All,
I'm curious, obviously Orichalcum is the mainstay magical metal in SR and there are Metal Radicals, however has anyone come up with any other Alchmetic or Artificing Metals.

The one that crossed mind was Mithril, properties of being incredibly durable or virtually indestructable according to Tolkien.

What do people think?

Max

I heard once that mithril is basically aluminum. I liked that.

In SR, there are other magical substances, such as the True Elements, but I really know little about them... perhaps AH can tell you more about that.

In the end, though, there isnt really a need for other magical metals, because the nature of the metal used during enchantment does not, by canon, in any way affect the functionality of the final product.

Orichalcum isn't a magical metal. It's a metal alloy created through magic and, as such, is easier to enchant. But it isn't magical in and of itself. Same goes for all the other radicals, too.

It's also not necessarily a metal either.

It's it magical by the fact that it's held together by magic and is the foundation for many magical items?

Besides orichalcum, there are five other much rarer distinct magical minerals, disregarding radicals, even natural alchemical radicals. I refer you to Year of the Comet, will give a page reference later.

Aside from /that/, there are stone toad stones.

Oy.

If it were, anyone could make a weapon out of orichalcum or other radicals and strike spirits and other creatures with Immunity to Normal Weapons without having to deal with it. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Only weapon foci and other magical or elemental attacks will get around it. Radicals are neither magical nor elemental -- they simply require magic to create. Whether that magic is SURGE or the Enchanting skill is a moot point.

Radicals don't have auras. They aren't bothered by wards. They can't be bound to a magician. They don't get around Immunity to Normal Weapons. There's nothing magical about them at all.

The same is true of most other permanent magical effects such as Heal or Treat spells, Fashion spells, and Create Food spells. Once the period of time required for their creation comes to an end, they become mundane, ordinary items/effects that can't be dispelled and retain no aura whatsoever.

A point: orichalcum is magical. Radicals are magical. Because they need magic to exist. However, it takes an enchanted, or elemental weapon to beat "Immunity to Normal Weapons."

[/edit] The confusion stems from the fact that orichalcum and radicals do not have an active presence in astral space. A paracritter has certain definate magical abilities, but it may well have no access to astral space. Said critter, because it's abilities are magical, is still said to be magical.

There is nothing in Shadowrun that states that orichalcum can't exist without magic that I'm aware of. If you have a page reference for that, please cite it. If it did, entering a mana warp would cause them to spontaneously explode into their base elements.

According to your logic, elves, dwarves, and trolls are all magical creatures simply because magic was needed to spark their creation. Radicals are exactly the same.

Right! (Actually, a mana warp does not denote a lack of mana, just a severe distortion of the local astral space).

You can't have orks or elves with magic. But a standard ork or elf isn't astrally active. A troll can't pick up a dwarf and use him to hurt something with Immunity to Normal Weapons (except spirits, but that's different).

Proof that orichalcum cannot exist without magic? The best I can point to is that it didn't show up until magic reached a sufficient level where it could exist. I don't mean to imply that an artifact made of orichalcum will just melt into the component metals during the downcycle, but there's no proof it could exist outside of an environment with a sufficient mana level either. The Year of the Comet might be the best example tae give ye.

I houseruled a few magical metals:

Mythril, composed of silver, aluminum, and lithium, is is extremely malleable and tensile, and also dilutes the strength of magical effects.

Adamant, composed of iron, titanium, carbon, and a small amount of uranium, is ridiculously hard and very heavy.

I've only used them for custom cyberware. For example, I have a "Mythril Threading" cyberware that inserts thin threads of mythril into a user's skin and reduces the power of spells and powers that directly affect the user by one per level. Then there's Adamant Bone Lacing, which is just a few steps up the natural progression from Titanium Bone Lacing in terms of armor and body bonuses, but with knockback test bonuses, penalties to stealth, and a chance of getting cancer (it may be a small amount of urainium, but when it's coating your bones...)

I also have Orichalcum Bone Lacing, but that was just for fun...

The reference to other magical metals in YotC pp.84, in shadowtalk. Nothing specific, just a claim that pargeologists have identified at least 5 other magical minerals. Sadly, no info on their nature is provided.

And even there they don't call them magical, they use terms like (including quotation marks denoting them as colloquialisms instead of accurate terms) "Awakened Alloys" and "magical gold."

Without magic, the alloy can't be created. But once created it's a stable, mundane substance that is not magical in any way whatsoever. It won't melt away into its constintuent parts as soon as it leaves a manasphere anymore than a troll will revert to being a human in the same circumstances. And just like the spontaneous burst of goblinization caused by Halley's comet, orichalcum spontaneously "goblinized" in certain parts of the world. Upon Halley's departure, those goblinized metahumans remained just like natural orichalcum remained... the only change was no new goblinizations were occuring (at least none that weren't occuring before Halley's arrival) and no new natural orichalum was being found.

If it were magical, it would have to have magical properties of its own. It doesn't. It's just easier to enchant than other substances in much the same way a tree is easier to enchant than a computer is. That doesn't make a tree magical, either.

the effects of munchkinite and twinkonium could be considered magical

I might be wrong about this, but I believe all scientific studies on orichalcum have resulted in the destruction of the alloy.

Just thought I'd throw that out, as if nature or natural as opposed to technoligical makes a difference for these things

if you think that sucks, imagine all the gangsta rappers with the orichalcum teeth, with the word "TARGET" written on them in diamonds