Orichalcum - What Does it Look Like?

[jcpatten]

What does orichalcum look like? As in color? If I walk around with an orichalcum breastplate on, will everyone recognize it?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Somewhere in the gold-copper-bronze space.

"Orichalcum" comes from a Greek term meaning "mountain copper." The Romans mistranslated it as "gold copper," and by the late Republic, Roman writers were saying it was a copper alloy resembling gold, which suggests more of brass than a tin bronze kind of look.

Anyway, yeah, I'd rule that it's got a distinctive appearance, or at least an appearance which makes people think that you've either got orichalcum or you're trying to look like you've got orichalcum.

[Polkageist]

Go fancy with the description of it!

"It has the hue of a sunset over a lake. Not the gaudy luster of gold, nor the loud sheen of brass, nor the rosy blush of copper, but a red-gold glow that seems to come from within the contours of the breastplate. The quiet shimmer suggests at any moment that it may fade to a quiet dusk or brighten to a blazing dawn. The metal itself looks alive and proud to guard the warrior it girds."

[benz72]

It can be whatever color the heat treatment/surface treatment produce.
E.g. if the final step of working Orichalcum is anodization then any of the following colors (or more) are possible. https://www.sunshielder.com/wp-conte...-Treatment.jpg

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Polkageist

Go fancy with the description of it!

"It has the hue of a sunset over a lake. Not the gaudy luster of gold, nor the loud sheen of brass, nor the rosy blush of copper, but a red-gold glow that seems to come from within the contours of the breastplate. The quiet shimmer suggests at any moment that it may fade to a quiet dusk or brighten to a blazing dawn. The metal itself looks alive and proud to guard the warrior it girds."

I support this statement. This is awesome and I'm stealing it.

[martinl]

Safety orange.