Darksteel

Darksteel was a very hard alloy of star metal created by the dwarves of Clan Ironstar that could be used to forge weapons and armor of special properties and powers. It was also known as dunchalcor, dark steel and ironstar steel.

Description
Darksteel had a silvery hue when it was cut or polished, while its exposed surfaces bore a deep purple gleaming luster. Almost as hard as adamantine and nigh-unbreakable, original darksteel was more durable and lighter than steel, yet behaved similarly, but darksteel forged circa 1372 DR had the same weight and durability as steel.

Powers
It had the unique power to absorb all magical and mundane electrical energy, including lightning, without transferring a charge or effect to its bearer, without even needing to be in contact with the energy. This did not extent to heat, magic missiles, or forms of pure energy.

Darksteel items were resistant to damage of all kinds, being unaffected by dropping and by natural flames, cold, or electricity; resistant to acid, magical fire, crushing, and even disintegration; and highly resistance to lightning.

A weapon forged from darksteel struck with a slight electric shock. Armor fashioned from darksteel, meanwhile, conferred a slight resistance to acid to the wearer. However, such armors and weapons needed to be formed almost wholly of darksteel for this to be effective; a suit of studded leather with darksteel studs or a spear with a darksteel tip would receive negligible benefit.

Moreover, a darksteel item took on new magical enchantments with relative ease, no matter how many enchantments it already carried. Most notably, melting it did not ruin, and only rarely altered, any enchantments already on the metal.

Creation
It was formed from star metal, that is, meteoric iron that was coated in specific oils prior to melting, which could be done in even a small forge. Once in its molten form, darksteel was quite easy to work with. It could be easily poured into molds, including basic sand molds, for casting. Finally, to alter its hardness, it was tempered by treating it with multiple special oils.

Usage
The dwarven forces of Iltkazar used darksteel arms and armor, among their mithral and hizagkuur.

Value
For its special properties, a mass of darksteel was worth about 10–12 times the same mass of gold. A weapon forged from darksteel cost an extra 1,500 gp, while a suit of metal armor cost an additional 2,000 gp.

History
The exact composition of the alloy was once a closely guarded secret of the dwarven Clan Ironstar, dating back to the 3 century DR, and they were thought to have gone extinct in the following centuries.

Due to the secrecy surrounding the techniques of its creation, the process of making darksteel was thought to be have been lost by the 14 century DR and it was considered impossible to find any new-forged darksteel items. Adventurers and dwarves everywhere hunted for darksteel wherever they might find it. A handful of fortunate explorers into the deepest realms of the dwarves had retrieved ingots of the metal, each a square as wide as a human's shield. These ingots could fetch over 7,000 gp from certain smiths in the cities of Neverwinter and Waterdeep around 1369 DR, if someone but brought them one. In fact, ancient documents containing these formulae could be found within the libraries of Candlekeep and a select few others around the Sea of Fallen Stars, as confirmed by Elminster. However, they were very difficult to identify, let alone decipher.

In the, in the Underdark, the deep gnomes of Blingdenstone drove a caravan to Mithral Hall escorted by a large force of guards and no less than four senior burrow wardens. The caravan was assaulted by umber hulks, killing over two dozen svirfneblin and forcing the others to surrender the wagons and retreat. In the aftermath, rumors among the svirfneblin suggested the caravan was transporting darksteel armor, shields, and weapons to present to the Council of Twelve Peers in Silverymoon, but none could say where such a trove could've come from, or who launched the attack, but they feared a faction of isolationists among their own or else surfacers sabotaging their political union. King Schnicktick declined to comment.

Finally, revelatory dwarvish texts that described darksteel's formulation were uncovered by 1372 DR, leading to new darksteel items being forged.

Variants
The spell dark alloy transformed ordinary iron into a form of dark steel that was invisible in sunlight and glowed in darkness. This was used to make secret runes in dwarven shrines and filigrees in weapons that indicated the maker or wielder or the weapon's powers.

Notable Items

 * Ironstar maces, footman's maces forged entirely from darksteel and able to shatter armor in one blow.
 * Runehammers, enchanted darksteel warhammers bearing runes of power.
 * Olar (Magekiller), a short sword crafted by Clan Brightblade and wielded by Dorn the Grim in hopes of slaying the mage-lord Colderan Morn.
 * A miniature darksteel battleaxe was one part of the Tripartite Key in the Halls of the Sleeping Legion.

The blue dragon Olothontor, the Minstrel Wyrm, had in his hoard a number of masterwork darksteel weapons, among those of other rare metals.

Meanwhile, the black dragon Ebondeath possessed a darksteel runestone inscribed on one side with the sign of Clan Ironstar and on the other with an account of the death of King Daurvos Frostbeard at the Stone Bridge, written in Dwarvish with Dethek runes.