05-26-2020, 11:13 AM | #21 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: cold iron
You kind of need a time limit on that, given that iron only forms in stars.
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05-26-2020, 11:25 AM | #22 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: cold iron
I don't think that applies. The stuff that forms in stars is atomic nuclei, initially bare nuclei and normally ionized even after that. If you were dealing with iron nuclei with a strong positive charge, you'd find it essentially impossible to get them to clump together in a mass of iron, given electrostatic repulsion, and if somehow you could, their properties would be very different from those of elemental iron with oxidation number 0.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
05-26-2020, 11:38 AM | #23 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: cold iron
Quote:
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05-26-2020, 01:24 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: cold iron
Yes, that's a fair point. I'm just distinguishing Fe (0) from ionized states of Fe; they're different chemical species.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
05-26-2020, 01:45 PM | #25 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: cold iron
If you are looking for a Rare vulnerability for certain supernatural entities, that's fine. Silver is an even worse material to make battlefield weapons from.
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05-26-2020, 03:54 PM | #26 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: near Houston
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Re: cold iron
However, silver is generally more limited in what supernatural creatures it is useful against.
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A generous and sadistic GM, Brandon Cope GURPS 3e stuff: http://copeab.tripod.com |
05-26-2020, 05:27 PM | #27 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Re: cold iron
Afaict the idea of silver melee weapons was also invented by D&D. Silver bullets are mentioned in a few cases prior to The Wolf Man, which really popularized the idea, but there doesn't appear to be any kind of folklore involving silver knives for such a purpose, let alone swords or the like. D&D, lacking widespread firearms but wanting to give werewolves a nonmagical vulnerability, put forward the idea of silver or silver-plated swords etc.
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05-26-2020, 07:36 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: cold iron
From Motif-index of Folk-literature, published 1955-1958:
D1252 Magic metals. D1252.1 Magic steel.(... but not "magic silver." Is it redundant?)D1252.1.1 Magic iron.D1252.2 Magic copper. D1385.4 Silver bullet protects against giants, ghosts, and witches. F384.2 Steel powerful against fairies. F384.3 Iron powerful against fairies. F830.1 Silver weapon. (This last is from an Icelandic source.) The index is an awesome source of inspiration for magic items, weird spells, and so on. Last edited by thrash; 05-26-2020 at 07:39 PM. |
05-26-2020, 09:23 PM | #29 |
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Re: cold iron
This appears to be the source reference:
https://books.google.com/books/about...d=Ow_aAAAAMAAJ I can't read it, though. |
05-26-2020, 11:08 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: cold iron
There's also an American folk ballad called "The Silver Dagger," which was published as early as 1849 and first recorded in 1926.
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