foothurium
[ begin interview log: subject: David of the Foothurium forges] D: Foothurium whats not to love? a shiny brass colored metal that defies gravity and is lighter than air! you need something moved across the surface your going to a footherium craft to float it over the vast frontiers and wildernesses, and thats where I come in. I am one of the many forgeworkers here. The great footherium forges of Icarus! A true sight to behold for anyone new, or old to the city! positioned near the bow of the city, its forge doors open to the sky outside, designed to scoop up suitable Brass Clouds for recycling. Sure footherium ore still exists in the ground but its difficult to smelt and harder to purify.
In its natural state foothurium is a dull brown ore usually found as veins in dense rocks heavy and secure enough to hold it down. Near as any of the forgemasters can reckon footherium was created during the Hemorrhage when reality fell apart, not everything came back together again quite right. Footherium is one of those little "accidents". when refined and pure footherium is lighter than air behaving like a hot air in a baloon. It's uses are many but to actually control anything made of the stuff youll either need to add weight to the craft to balance everything out and float closer to the ground, or install an engine that charges the hull via bluut to get it to lower.
Footherium is used in two incredibly important technologies. the flying vessels known as Zephyrs and Icarus itself which is built on an enormous and ancient Brass Clouds
Properties
Material Characteristics
Both as ore and when smelted Footherium has a brass color and smooth texture.
Physical & Chemical Properties
naturally lighter than air my severalfold It can become heavier than air again if exposed to bluut
Compounds
Footherium is sometimes mixed with aluminum or titanium for extra strength at the cost of being able to carry less
Geology & Geography
foothurium is often found in canyons or ravines. its bronzish glint can usually be caught when Sol is directly overhead. They are typically found in formations that are smooth and curvy like that of a meteorite. Though footherium unrefined is speckled with green and black spots of impurities.
Origin & Source
Most likely created by the unatural forces of the hemorrhage peranently altering its physcial properties
Life & Expiration
Footheriums greatest stre gth could also be a future weakness. Foothurium never actually loses its density, meaning that once it is refined and released into the atmosphere the ingot, craft, or general wasted material will float in the upper troposphere forever. This has actually given way to multiple ecosystems at that altitude.
History & Usage
History
At first footherium was used just for weather and survelleiance balloons but soon airships and advanced machines called for it in their construction.
Discovery
for generations Topsiders had seen solid clouds of metal floating through the sky it was only when some unamed explorer scaled one f yarths taller peaks and found wreckage of old machines and vessels that had beached themselves upon the mountainside.
Everyday use
Airships which most high end Reclaimers own are constructed entirely out of footherium allowing them to sail through the sky.
Industrial Use
After refinement the metal becomes lighter than air yet still solid enough to class as an armor, at this stage its pressed into armor plates for machines or sheet metal to create airships.
Refinement
Smelting something that begins to float in the middle of the process can be tricky, but through the use of sealed smelters we can keep the footherium contained. Its something to see too, the refinement process looks like a giant lavalamp as huge globs of molten metal float to the top of the smelter. when the molten metal has come to the correct consistency it will float to the top of the crucible where it exists via a tube to move on to be forged into shape and cooled. Due to this self filtering Footherium furnaces can be continually operated with more ore placed at the bottom constantly.
Manufacturing & Products
Belts of Footherium can make miles long walks alot easier by reducing the wearers weight. But the most common use is to construct floating vehicles that sail across denser air like a ship on water. or in the case of Icarus keeping an entire settlement afloat.
Environmental Impact
Brass Clouds would be more of a concern if they did not present good cover from Venari during a nightfall. while they may technically be polluting the sky none can dout their brass glin in the sol light is beautiful, and many a topsider has made it to safety under their shadow.
Reusability & Recycling
There is an entire subclass of Reclaimers who use their airships to gather loose footherium that is freefloating in the upper atmosphere.
Distribution
Trade & Market
Icarus is of course the largest buyer of Footherium on Yarth in fact settlements that have been built over Footherium deposits can wholly be sustained by trading the refined metal for anything they could want.
Foo
Type
Metal
Rarity
common though the refining process is too complex and difficult for most settlements that have not scavenged more advanced technologies from ruins.
Odor
footherium smells a tad like copper
Taste
footherium has a kind of sterile taste more akin to a smooth stone
Color
bronze
Common State
Solid
Related Locations
Related Species
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