Natural Materials

As posted in my original post "So many ideas"
Bamboo and Hemp are very versatile materials that have a wide assortment of uses.
Even before the domestication of the silk worm, for making of silk. Bamboo had been widely used for so many things. Weapons, armor, construction materials for buildings, staging platforms (scaffolding). Very strong and very durable, and still used to this day, even in modern construction. Furniture was even constructed of bamboo, a skilled craftsman of bamboo, could create masterpieces out of bamboo.
Plant based laquers, used to strengthen bamboo, until it was as hard as steel.
Paper and laquer also could be made to be as hard as steel. One only has to look to escrima sticks, and the first Maserati shell ever built. You guessed, it was made from layers of paper, laquered and sanded over and over again, remarkably, not as brittle to the cold as modern fiberglass. In the east, they knew these things, even before the west knew of them.

Another interesting material, is that of jade. In the east, they were using it to hammer copper, and for items of art and common use. Mesoamerica, they were using it for weapons, staffs, rods and maces. They too, wer also using it for personal adornment and in ritual (mostly burial).
Green jade is the hardest, but there exist variables.
White jade, is soft and malleable. Detail can be added to piece by using a bamboo stylis.
Imperial jade, is yellow, with ribbons of gold throughout, and has a bit of a yellow tinge to it. So rare is it, that it is highly sought after by collectors.
There is even a jade that is dark blue in coloration. And even Black jade, used to make death masks, it was also known as the Cursed Jade.

I thought of another alternative material or one that could be added to a list of possible materials. Such a material would require a journey to where volcanoes could be found, and of course f.elementals and fire ginats and possible efreets.
Ironwood, from the core of a tree that had its trunk blackened by lava flow. It would be as strong as steel, perhaps even stronger. One would have to have high level of wood crafting to be able to work it.

Now, I was going through my many rpgs the other night and found two materials. One being a type of stone that would require diamond alloyed tools to work it, and it was called Garshyl. Rare and possibly only workable by duergar and svirfneblin.
Another material, is called Krystone. A highly dense crystalline stone, far more dense than granite, and when mined, it brakes off in shards. As a shard, it has natural edge and also phosphorescent glow. It doubles the effect of any light spell cast upon it.

When it comes to materials, there are so many natural and fantastic materials to choose from.

Linseed Oil

Would it be possible for a new material, such as Linseeds. The reason, linseed oil is a great asset to strengthening wooden shields and weapons. It prolongs the life of a staff, club and even tool handles. Excellent treatment for wood furniture, keeping vermin away from infesting the wood and decreasing its duration of use. Its also has significant use in ship-building.
When mixed with beeswax, and can be used as wood polish

[lunchboxkilla]

Hemp? *Runs away from this post*
 

Whats wrong with hemp? Come on, its industrial grade hemp, I do not expect everyone to be smoking their clothing, rope or that fancy new hemp carpet they just laid out as the welcome mat at the front door

How about this natural material also, wormwood? That way characters could brew absinthe, especially the bards, they can drink it and become not only very creative but also very loopy

Been thinking of two herbs for the game, both having relatively the same use but could add more recipes to cooking and brewing
Orchid-vanilla(stamin)
Nut-nutmeg(powder)
Flower-Safrin(stamin), very expensive, hard to find (a single oz, cost almost 3x the cost of an oz of gold)
Root-Sassafras(extract)
Bush-Cinnamon(powder)

Strange that in the game, with cows for milking. There is no presence of cheese making.

What of cedarwood(material for making paper) and teakwood(ship's masts and furniture)

Vellum(making of something similar to paper from animal pelt)

Using wood,leather,metal and cloth for the purpose of making books and/or scroll cases.

[Grid Blader]

//Hemp, is very widely used in the world.  I use it a lot in plumbing (and no not to smoke).  When you lead and yoke a fitting.  The Hemp is used as the yoke to hold back the lead from running in side the pipe.  Ropes are still made from it, Clothing, and the medical feild uses it.

[Doc-Holiday]

*sings* You make me feel like a natural material

[Filatus]

Doc-Holiday - 11/10/2005  5:58 AM

*sings* You make me feel like a natural material

ROFL

Makes me want to sing: "I'm a natural material girl."

It seems a bit unusual to me that the the minerla based golems in the mountains near valensk do not yield any mineral upon their destruction. Would think there would be a very percentage chance of this happening when they are felled.
In the original game of DnD, to create a golem one needed a mineral of at least 10,000 gp value. Sometimes given a DMs kindness, the gem would be found intact, but in most cases the gemstone was shattered or reduced to a powder.
Not requesting a shard of a mineral, but perhaps some dust on the off chance as there are some spells that require such mineral components.
With diamond and erelads being used mostly for the making of rings, such dusts are very difficult to attain if not next to impossible.