Real-Life Weirdness

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Is dragon blood iron-based? I mean, a lobster the size of a man might have as much blood, but the copper in it wouldn't make a very good blade, I wouldn't think. And if dragon blood uses, say, cobalt (or maybe uranium?), that could be even worse.

Depends on your dragon. I'd guess at least 40% of them across fiction and RPG's have iron based blood, if not more, given the whole reptile/dinosaur/tetrapod thing. The rest have some sort of venom instead of blood or some mystic substance with odd properties.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Does it have to be human blood? Perhaps not as good for necromancy, but harpoons made of whale blood could have some strong hunting magic on them, while a dragon's blood sword is suitable for fire related enchantments.

Cow blood could make for a perfect sword with which to kill a King, Clown, or Redhead woman.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Is dragon blood iron-based? I mean, a lobster the size of a man might have as much blood, but the copper in it wouldn't make a very good blade, I wouldn't think. And if dragon blood uses, say, cobalt (or maybe uranium?), that could be even worse.

Ah, but now you made me wonder how many lobsters it would take to create a bronze sword.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by JaneKing

Uhmmm..Do you need blood to forge a sword?

No but it's cool and gruesome sounding. Basically you need to carbonize it and different smiths had their own recipe some of which sound a bit occult but have some scientific validity. The urine of a red haired boy was one Ewart Oakeshott mentioned, though I suspect the smith's thrall just had red hair and he did not check out other hair colors.

Blood would be a perfectly useful thing for it. In fact given how thick it is it might work better. It does not have to be human blood, any blood would work. And dragon's blood sounds impressive though I don't know it's composition.

However the article is off. The blood does not supply the iron (that has to be mined). It supplies the carbon. What you do is twist hot bars together while forging and hammer them flat and pour the blood on. This was what we now call pattern wielding and it is sometimes still used to make decorative blades, except for the blood (hey that would make a great mystery-horror). I did not look up how they do the carbon now but I am sure there are more sophisticated means.

Forging from the blood of one's enemies is not practical if you killed them on a battlefield. Of course if you wish to line up prisoners and whack them at leisure like some Ninevite king that would work.

[Michael Cule]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

What you do is twist hot bars together while forging and hammer them flat and pour the blood on. This was what we now call pattern wielding and it is sometimes still used to make decorative blades, except for the blood (hey that would make a great mystery-horror). I did not look up how they do the carbon now but I am sure there are more sophisticated means.

Forging from the blood of one's enemies is not practical if you killed them on a battlefield. Of course if you wish to line up prisoners and whack them at leisure like some Ninevite king that would work.

How much blood do you need at a time?

Because a modern day smith might know you can take a pint at least (possibly more) from your bound enemy and then put them back in a cage for a while to recover so they can contribute to many, many blades before they die.

And for a mystery-horror it would have the advantage that the kidnapped red-head your PCs are looking for might still be alive by the time they figure out who has them.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

How much blood do you need at a time?

Because a modern day smith might know you can take a pint at least (possibly more) from your bound enemy and then put them back in a cage for a while to recover so they can contribute to many, many blades before they die.

And for a mystery-horror it would have the advantage that the kidnapped red-head your PCs are looking for might still be alive by the time they figure out who has them.

Oooh! He keeps a captured virgin in his basement just for that of course. Until the intrepid detective tracks him down.

Actually it can't be much if urine will do the job. Though I understand from Oakeshott better methods came to be toward the end of the earliest part of the Middle Ages.

Also I'm pretty sure you can refine the carbon out to a more pure form by now.

[dcarson]

Blue World by Jack Vance the people are descendants of a crashed spaceship who have the problem that there is no land at least as far as they know. They live on giant floating plants and lost most tech because the ship sank shortly after crashing. They get metal back by using blood as the source which makes for a very limited supply even after they develop methods to kill large sea life and drain them.