blog History for Fantasy Writers: Miners

Nice post. There's some lovely ideas in there. I can just imagine a human entering a dwarf mine only to learn that it's actually more of an animal form where the dwarfs are breading all maner of animals who produce these metals. Now that would be a sight to behold.

Of course, I'm blaming phlogiston for all that metal nonsense...

 

Perhaps I lean toward the literal and the science-based, but my inclination is to not invent new explanations for where gold comes from. Magical methods of mining, sure, go for it, but there is no need to claim that veins of gold are the roots of the World Tree or similar. And no, gold flakes you obtain by panning for gold in a stream are not more pure than gold you find in a vein, necessarily. What is "noble" about gold is that it is soft, malleable, pretty, shiny, easy to mix with other metals, not prone to rust or tarnish, that sort of thing. It was very useful for making pretty things and making things pretty. It is not a special magical quality. Copper is not a noble metal. Although it is fairly soft and easy to work with and makes pretty things, it very quickly oxidizes into crumbly green. In alloys, it is stronger and more resilient, but still has a tendency to tarnish over time. Silver is strongly prone to tarnishing through oxidization. Yes, electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of silver and gold, but it is not the only form one finds gold in nature.

 

This depends on the definition of Noble Metal. In physics, it’s gold, silver, and copper (filled electron D bands). Most primitive societies would know very little of the expanded noble metals such as rhodium, palladium, ruthenium, osmium, and iridium. And heck, most societies based on medieval times wouldn’t know about most of those, as 1803 is a key date there, with platinum being the earliest if I recall correctly. Not that an advanced smelting culture like dwarves couldn’t learn these things.

When it comes to fantasy, I like the extra creative kick when authors give offbeat explanations for materials and events, it’s much like creation myths in religion, giving the world a unique flavor.