[Ironworks] Preparations for craft

[Eanos]

Fall 17, 510 AV The Ironworks was possibly the last place in all of Syrilas where anyone would consider looking for peace and quiet and yet it was the only place in the citadel which the Pitreus could call home. Of course it was something of a simplification to assume that the forges were all there were to the great Ironworks for there were all sorts of stores areas, offices and the like; all the minutia of a large and successful business. Some of those rooms were designed for the storage and workings of precious metals and given that his employer knew of his heritage for all that his fellow employees assumed that he was just a smith, it wasn’t hard to get hold of such a room when he wanted it. It did however contain no precious metals for the owner was also aware of the less salubrious reputation of the Pitreus clan. Eanos however was never one to make the obvious theft. If he was going to take that step in this city it would be one where no one would be able to prove a track back to him, so he kept his sometimes light fingers to himself, for now at least. What he had not yet done since he’d been in the city was to start once more with his magecraft. It had been something which he’d had some training back at home but not enough to move him out of the novice category. More than that, he’d left all of his tools behind and while he could easily enough borrow the paraphernalia of a smith, there were perhaps only a few who had the tools of magecrafter and of those he doubted that he’d be able to borrow them easily even if he wanted to. For these tools he did not need the tools of the forge for he was not pushing hot metal around; forcing it into new forms by dint of brute force. Now he needed tools which were representative only, for the work was done by his mind more than by his mind. In form they would be the same as the tools with which he worked every day, but they would appear the tools of a child. His teachers had tools of exotic materials, but he wasn’t aware that such was necessary and so while it might add to the pleasure of the mage to have tools which would delight, he would at least for now make do with lesser metals. He’d given the matter some thought before he started because there was a question of what tools to make, but he’d come to the conclusion that the best solution was in familiarity. It also made his choices considerably easier for these were things that any blacksmith learned to do very early on. No smith could rely upon another smith making a tool to repair one which broke; he needed to be able to make it for himself. The same rang true because sometimes there was a need to make tools for special jobs where a standard tool might not be suitable. There was a difference of course between a good tool and a poor one, but in the end form and function were less important than the hands which wielded the tool.

[Eanos]

Now he had to cast his mind back to his studies in the Silver Tower in Sultros. There it had been so easy and he hadn’t quite anticipated the challenges which now presented themselves here so far away from anyone he could discuss things with, ask advice from or just borrow from, either in time, tools or places. The starting point for the work he had decided would be a hammer, but not just any hammer for in fact this one would lack any form of handle. It had been a difficult choice but since he’d not been able to find a way of insulating the djed what he wanted was the ability to focus the djed in the head of the hammer. His experiments with the auras of the pieces that he had made indicated that aura was a somewhat fickle thing and that it flowed inside the items. The more well shaped it was, the better the djed flowed inside it. He knew already that this was an area for considerable experimentation in the future and indeed it even now gave him pause for thought and stop. Perhaps his shaftless hammer wasn’t the best choice. His brows furrowed in thought and he drew up a freshly scraped sheet of parchment and sketched upon it with his stick of charcoal. The point of the tool was to reshape the djed in the working piece and that was done by striking it with the tool which had been specially charged. Depending on the desired effect and the nature of the working piece, it might take more than one strike of the tool or even more than one tool. His fingers paused as that thought worked its way through to the end. The parchment now showed the hammer head that he’d had in mind before, but now he considered it with fresh eyes and pursed lips. Striking the working piece involved an interchange of energy between working piece and tool with of course the tool providing the main part of the exchange. How though to regulate that exchange? His design as it stood would surely have a larger impact the first time because the whole force of the fully charged hammer would impact. The second blow would be with a partly depleted hammer which would of course have a smaller effect. He tapped the charcoal against the parchment as he considered the idea, leaving a series of black dots which then smudged as he rested the heel of his hand against them. As with working metal, different techniques would produce different results. Sometimes it might be ideal to have a heavy blow to move the metal and then follow through with lighter blows to finalise the shape. Sometimes though, where the metal needed to be reshaped more drastically then a series of blows of similar force were required. He could see the pattern developing now because the first was a brute force effect, the second more subtle, and if he followed the pattern then using more than one tool would produce an even more directed effect in the same way that he might use more than one tool to shape a particular piece.

[Eanos]

His thoughts ran circular now back to what he planned. It had seemed a simple brute force thing to add speed to the dagger blade, but once the tool was charged how much control would he have over the process? What if the effect was too great? It would be much the same as if he hit a piece fresh from the forge too hard and caused it to fracture into uselessness. Better to be subtle and to hit lighter than the optimal blow and then to repeat it. It was not efficient in the longer run, but then with experience he would learn to judge his blows with the tools he would soon have and that would soon compensate. His fingers grew busy and fresh arcs of charcoal etched their way across the page as he played with ideas. The traditional hammer suddenly seemed appealing and with a degree of wry irony he realised that he had simply reinvented something that had long been known. That knowledge did not disturb him though because the reasoning had never been clear to him before where now it was. His final design was something of an oddity as hammers went for it was unbalanced with most of the weight behind the shaft. He reasoned that the striking head would carry a charge large enough to produce an effect, but the hole in the steel for the handle would provide a buffer which would prevent the whole charge from releasing on the first hit. Then in the moments after that strike when the hammer was lifted away again, the charged aura would normalise across the whole head, recharging the striking face. It left the question of how large the hammer was going to be and this posed its own challenge for the amount of change would depend on a number of factors, not the least of which was the size of the working piece. It had been considerably easier when he was being taught this for there his teachers were on hand with the right tools. Here he was overstepping his training in some ways which was why he had been forced to think through what he’d been taught in order to understand why some of the things worked in the way that he’d been taught that they did. Perhaps it was natural he mused, a part of the training process to be forced to think your way through these things and to make mistakes. It was certainly how he’d been taught the metal work. Basic principles had been shown but then he’d only been corrected after things had started to go awry. When he was making mistakes it meant that he was pushing against the limits of his knowledge or skill and that meant that he was learning and taking steps which would result in improvements. Still it would be easier with someone to stand over him, but easy was not the lot of an Isur!

[Eanos]

Deciding on a hammer head which would fit easily in the palm of his hand he selected a blank piece of steel stock and concentrated for a moment to bring his awareness of aura into play. The bar had been forged as he’d hoped as one piece but at one end the aura was muddied and looking closer he could see that the bar had been joined to extend it. It gave him more ideas about being able to control the aura inside the metal by folding the steel and building in different types of steel. He wondered just how that would change the way that the aura flowed and indeed how it would affect the process of charging it ready for magecraft. His musings were once again distracting him from doing anything so he turned the bar around so that he was working on the cleaner end and thrust it into the flame of the forge. As he pumped the bellows he considered alternatives. Different metals would hold charges in different ways it seemed likely as their auras were different and indeed different materials. It gave another reason than mere vanity why his Masters had such a selection of tools. It consolidated in his mind his intention for the next test. If this one worked as he expected or hoped that it would then he would adapt the technique for welding on a high carbon edge onto a low carbon steel or even wrought iron. That might in itself provide a sink for the charging which would exaggerate the effect of what he had planned for this piece. The working of the steel was simple enough to do without distracting him too much from using his hammer blows to direct the aura within the steel. When the steel was hot as it was now the aura was brightened making it very easy now that he was watching for it to see how his work altered the way that it flowed. He hammered carefully, using both his eyes and his auristic vision to manipulate the shape so that it flowed, not just in the surface decoration but inside, in the very grain of the aura. The original bar had a flow along its length and he wanted to retain that so that the charge would flow evenly from one end to the other with only the hole for the shaft acting as choke point. Sweat dripped unnoticed from his brow as he quickly finalised the rough shape, then it was a simple matter of striking through with the hot chisel over the hardy hole and then drifting it out to size. A few strokes later and it was cut off from the stock and ready to begin the process of final rough shaping on the workbench then hardening back up to temper for a hammer. He’d taken his time with the final shaping and polishing of the hammer head for it was important that its aura was properly set and in the best shape that he could create for its use to impart a charge onto a magecrafted piece. He was conscious once more that it was merely the first step in a longer journey, a journey that he was hard pushed not to try running along. He had however the distinct impression that any attempt to do so would result either in him tripping and falling flat or he’d end up running around in circles and getting nowhere. One step, one carefully considered step at a time seemed to be the way forward for now.

[Eanos]

With regret then he cast aside, at least for now ideas about exotically shaped hammers or tongs which might hold one charge in opposition to the charge of the hammer which then struck, or chisels which might add a very carefully calculated charge into one small place and concentrated on the task in hand. Now that he had a hammer, of sorts, though he still needed to handle it, there remained the question of charging. This for him was the core part of the magecrafting. It was true that there were formalities and stabilisation and such, but without the charge there could be no change. It was the charge which initiated the change; the rest was there to guide the change. It was key therefore to ensure that there was a suitable charge in the item. He knew both instinctively and from training that the charge itself would have many subtle impacts upon the working piece. It was a circus act in many ways where an expert magecrafter would be able to both juggle plates while keeping others spinning and know exactly what the state of every plate was and how it interacted with every other plate. He didn’t have that luxury and for him it was simply a case of throwing a plate up in the air while hoping to be able to catch it again before it shivered into pieces on the stone paving under his feet. There were several ways in which a charge could be induced, some charges being temporary and others permanent. He tapped his fingers on the hammer head and considered it. The glyphs would guide the energy as it flowed into the working piece and created new pathways along which the djed would flow, a flow which was reflected in the aura of that piece. It could be done with lodestones especially if it were a metal which was affected by such things. He knew there were crystals which would have the same effect and these things could be enhanced by glyphing, but these were things whose effect was variable over time and lodestone charging could be damaged by impact which was something to be careful about in how it was applied to the working piece. But there was an alternative, one which was available to the entire chosen race and but few others. Before he’d simply been given the tools which his teachers had charged, so he knew it could be done. Could he do it? Now would be the test. His meditations on the subject gave him cause to think that he could. His gnosis mark gave him the ability to alter the physical properties of an item which he crafted. Most of that was done in the process of the crafting and he’d been careful with his work using the aura as a guide. Normally though the process would enhance the durability of the piece and that wasn’t what he wanted. What he wanted was to create a charge in the hammer, he couldn’t have explained what that charge was; it was a feeling in his skin, a memory in his mind from the training that he had been given.

[Eanos]

The process was familiar enough, though this was something new for him to attempt, and with a prayer to Izurdin he settled himself down on his bed so that he could shut out all external noise and discomforts. It did occur to him as he prepared to wonder why he went to such trouble when there were alternate ways of achieving the same, but he rejected those courses, at least until he knew one way or another whether it was possible for him to do it the way he considered the best. With experience he would be willing to use alternate methods to see what difference they might make, but not this time. He knew already that using his auristic senses placed a strain in addition to the stress of using the gnosis mark. He knew that the price was not going to be a pleasant one and he considered stopping, but his mind was made up and even as it did so his mind started to see the aura of the hammer head and to concentrate on its flow. The aura was not just sensed with his eyes but also through his skin and it had more than just colour, it had texture and it had a harmony in his ears. When he’d worked this before with other pieces he’d attempted to change the flow of the aura, reinforcing it and manipulating it to the ends he desired. This time though the change would be more subtle for what he aimed for was to change the song which it whispered in his ears. Slowly he had to convince it to speak in a different tone and it was very much a question of trial and error as he focussed in on the aura and applied the god given gift to change its nature. As the very nature of the metal shifted ever so slightly, so the song of the aura changed, ever so slightly and it was a guide as to whether the change was in the right direction or not. Distraction plagued him as he became tired, but the song was fascinating to hear and it gave him a point of focus. His concentration was such that it was hard to know if he was achieving what he intended, hard to be sure how much was in his mind and how much was in the hammers metal. There was no choice but to persevere even when the headache came, as it always did and the auristic vision became harder to focus upon. This time though he had no respite for without the auristics he could not hear the song. The time came, and all to soon for the liking of one part of his mind, but far from soon enough for the part which rebelled against the pain and the tedium, the part which cajoled him and told him that it was enough, that it was enough and it was as much as he could do. He shut away his knowledge of the aura, laid the hammer down on the floor and lay back in bed carefully for the headache throbbed now and movement made it worse. Morning perhaps would tell if he had succeeded or not, for now he was past caring.

[Eanos]

It was a couple of days before he could bring himself to the level of concentration need to continue with the preparation work. The hammer head was carefully wrapped and laid aside without any further consideration for how the process had worked out. There had been a good deal to reflect back upon afterwards and lessons to be learned from the things which had worked and those which could have been done better. For now though he needed to consider anew how the djed of the working piece could be manipulated. He now had a clear idea of how to apply the charged tool to the piece to create the situation where change was possible. He viewed it in simple metal working terms though now he thought in terms of aura. Just as he’d attempted to change the aura of the hammer head by using the power of the gnosis, so now he sought to change the aura of the working piece. Of course he knew that it was really the djed that was being worked upon not the aura, but the aura reflected the djed. It was the same as when he worked steel in the forge, the colours of the steel as it heated and cooled told him what was happening to the metal in terms of softness for working and of what was happening to the metal structure within. The colour was not the process which made those changes happen; but a smith worked to manipulate the colours and so the steel was manipulated. For this purpose the charged tool was the forge, the thing which caused change, but he would guide the change with glyphs in the same way that he would change the heat of the steel by using the bellows and the placement of the steel within the coals. His hammer rang softly on the anvil as he worked, his mind absorbed by the planning, but there was no reason why he could not continue with simple workings of steel at the forge and much of the work was in those everyday items that everyone needed. Nails and hinges, brackets and tools, the very existence of the Citadel relied upon simple metal working. He had no laboratory here, no place warded by mages, instead he had a storeroom, but it mattered not for he wasn’t making the sword of kings, a thing to be squabbled over for generations. He did need it to be calm though and so the room itself would become a glyph. The work would be mounted within the focus of the great glyph and the boundary would keep what should be in, in and what should not be, out, at least in terms of djed. It would be possible to create physical barriers but there was no need of such and it would just make it inconvenient for him to move in and out of the circle of the great glyph in order to work on the piece. The focus would be a place of neutrality and within it would be the working glyphs, the ones which would act as guides for the altered djed of the work. Mostly everything was ready now in the storeroom, it needed only for the various pieces to be pulled together and for him to actually create the blade on which he was to test himself.

[Dusk]

XP Award! Eanos XP Award: Drawing: 2 XP, Auristics: 1 XP, Blacksmithing: 1 XP, Magecrafting: 1 XP Lore Award: The Whispers of Overgiving, The Sweet Call of Magic, Using Izentor, Preparing for Magecrafting Ledger: None