Materials

"A lavish marionette puppet, two metres tall and made entirely out of Mage's steel, stood in the corner. And it gave Caroline an idea."

This page lists certain materials that are important to the world of Age of Turmoil

Gold
Known throughout history as a precious metal, gold serves a very different purpose in modern-day mage combat. It is by far the most difficult metal to manipulate with magic: while not strictly impossible, it has been described as "handling a wet soap with wet hands". This "slippery" property of gold seems to be because of its composition; it is assumed that its pure nature as a noble metal renders the surface unsuitable for magic energies to attach to.

With its unique properties, it should come as little surprise that gold has been used as a weapon against mages, both by other mages and normal people. Arrowheads coated with thin layers of gold have been found in graves that are at least 4,000 years old. Similarily, bullets in the modern age are sometimes covered with gold to make it difficult for a mage to protect themselves from it.

Due to its expensive nature, such "golden bullets" are not given out to everyone. Mages who bear firearms are almost always given a set of them, and in Druthenia, certain soldiers who have shown to be reliable and skillfull can be given a handful of them, in the case that they might encounter a mage.

Arcano Steel
Arcano Steel, also known as Mage's steel, is a special form of steel created by Magesmiths. Through a special technique, already-made high grade steel is heated in a forge and formed by the magesmith into the desired shape (usually a bolt or a sword), while manipulating the molecular structure of the material at the same time. The end result is a dark and less reflective, but much stronger and durable metal than what it once was. It is also susceptible to use with magic, making it a potent material to make throwing bolts out of.

Mage's steel is most commonly used for weaponry, mostly for mages themselves. While the process of creating Mage's steel is rather simple for a mage, a lack of Magesmiths and the time necessary to create a weapon out of the metal makes it rather expensive and valuable. Thus, a popular gift amongst the rich were mundane items made out of the material: since most Mage's steel is used in warfare, making anything else out of it significes wealth. And example of a lavish gift was a two metre tall marionette puppet, designed to be manipulated by mages, gifted to a king of Druthenia in the early 19th century. While too heavy to be of practical use in performances, the steels' propensity for use with magic made it a perfect vessel for the soul of Svein, who had been traumatically killed. While under siege in a royal palace, Caroline was able to seal Svein's soul inside the puppet, effectively giving him a new body, and returning him to his senses.