Smelt Natural Metals (sage ability)

Smelt Natural Metals is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Alchemy, which grants the character a rudimentary understanding of extracting metal from naturally occurring ores. This knowledge is primitive, relying on techniques that date back to the Bronze Age rather than the more advanced metallurgical methods of the 16th century. The process is crude and inefficient, requiring a small clay or stone furnace, a steady supply of charcoal and a means of producing high, sustained heat, such as a manually operated bellows.

The character is capable of recognizing surface-level deposits of metal-bearing rock, particularly those containing copper, tin, lead or iron. Once gathered, the ore must be broken down and roasted to remove excess impurities before being heated to a sufficient temperature for smelting. Without precise tools or a controlled environment, the results are unpredictable; the yield is often low, and the extracted metal is of rough quality, requiring further refinement to be useful in most applications.

Smelting under such conditions is time-consuming, typically requiring several days to gather enough ore, prepare it and maintain a fire hot enough to extract usable amounts of metal. The character may, with great effort, produce small ingots or lumps of crude metal, suitable for simple forging or trade with a more knowledgeable smith. However, without further refinement, the results lack the strength and purity needed for advanced tools, weapons or armour.

Tools & Method

The character is not granted knowledge in how to manage and maintain a forge, nor do they possess the expertise required to operate advanced metallurgical equipment. Instead, their understanding of smelting relies on simple, ancient techniques, requiring only a handful of crude but effective tools.

The most essential component is a small clay or stone furnace, typically a pit or a dome-like structure made from packed earth, clay or rough brick. This primitive furnace is designed to contain and concentrate heat but lacks the sophistication of a true forge. Heat is generated using charcoal, which must be consistently fed into the fire to maintain a high enough temperature to separate metal from ore.

To increase the intensity of the fire, a hand or foot-operated bellows is required. This is usually made of wood and leather, allowing the character to direct air into the furnace, though it is physically demanding and requires constant effort. In some cases, a simple blowpipe or reed tube may substitute for a bellows, though it is far less effective.

A stone or clay crucible is necessary to hold the metal-bearing ore as it is smelted. This small, fireproof vessel is placed within the furnace and heated until the metal begins to separate from the rock. The character must then carefully extract the molten or softened metal using clay tongs or wooden sticks, crude implements that offer only limited control over the process.

Once the smelting is complete, the character requires a stone or metal hammer to break apart slag and free the metal from impurities. A simple mould or sand bed may also be used to cast the metal into small, rough ingots, though without the precision of a forge, these ingots will be impure and unsuitable for fine work.

Yields per Metal (oz./day)

Metal	Yield
adamantite	1 - 2
antimony	1 - 4
bismuth	2 - 6
copper	8 - 16
gold	0.5 - 0.2
iron	12 - 32
lead	10 - 24
mercury	2 - 6
nickel	1 - 3
silver	0.2 - 0.8
tin	4 - 10
zinc	2 - 6

Yield

A single day of crude smelting using these methods produces only small amounts, which may nonetheless be all that an alchemist requires. Gold melts at a relatively low temperature and does not combine with most impurities, making it one of the easiest metals to smelt, though finding gold-rich ore in significant quantity remains the primary challenge. Silver requires slightly higher temperatures and often occurs in complex ores with lead or copper, so that additional silver beyond the amount produced is lost in the slag or mixed with other metals. Copper smelts readily at moderate temperatures, but its ores often contain sulfur or arsenic, which must be burned off, producing unpleasant or toxic fumes. Tin is easily extracted but is rarely found in pure deposits, requiring multiple rounds of heating and hammering to remove impurities before producing usable ingots.

Lead melts at a low temperature and can be easily separated from its ore, but its extreme softness makes it less useful unless alloyed with another metal; its toxic fumes pose a serious health risk. Useful iron is difficult to extract with primitive techniques, requiring a bloomery furnace to achieve reduction, and even then, it does not fully melt but instead forms a spongy mass that must be repeatedly hammered to remove slag. Mercury does not require true smelting, as it vapourises at relatively low heat and must be collected through condensation, though this presents a serious inhalation hazard. Antimony behaves similarly to lead but is brittle and difficult to refine, often ending up as a useless impurity unless specifically separated.

Bismuth melts easily but is found in small quantities, and its separation from other ores is unreliable with primitive methods. Adamantium can be smelted, but is difficult to reduce due to its strong affinity for oxygen, requiring reducing agents that a simple charcoal furnace might not provide. Nickel often appears alongside iron and copper, blending with them instead of separating cleanly, making it difficult to extract in pure form. Zinc presents a major problem, as it vapourises before melting and escapes as gas unless carefully condensed, a technique beyond the skill of most amateur smelters.

Chromium, manganese, molybdenum, platinum, tungsten, vanadium and mithril all require extreme temperatures for reduction and cannot be effectively smelted with this level of skill, as they either remain locked in their ores or demand carbon levels that a simple bloomery cannot provide.

See also,
Anachronism
Earth & Sky (sage field)
Geology (sage study)
Science (sage field)