Ferrum Caeleste
Mythological · Legendary · Ancient
Plutarch tells that in the eighth year of Numa's reign, while a plague ran through Rome, a bronze shield fell from heaven into the king's hands, and the plague stopped. Ovid adds that Jupiter had promised it as a pledge of empire and that the fate of Rome was bound up with it; he names no metal. Ferrum caeleste, heavenly iron, is this catalogue's name for a metal that falls that way: no ancient text uses it.
Identity
- Source
- Modern name, after the ancile of Roman legend
- Also known as
- Celestial iron, Fer du ciel, Divine iron
Physical Properties
- Appearance
- White-gold luminosity with faint star-like sparks visible within the metal grain at certain angles
- Luster
- Metallic
- Density
- 9.5 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 3800 °C
- Boiling point
- 7000 °C
- Lighter
- Vibranium
- Denser
- Bismuth
- Magnetism
- Ferromagnetic
- Electrical conductivity
- High
Mechanical Properties
- Mohs hardness
- 9
- Tensile strength
- 2800 MPa
- Softer
- Chromium
- Harder
- Divine Bronze of Hephaestus
- Workability
- Difficult
- Brittleness
- Tough
- Malleability
- Moderate
- Ductility
- Moderate
Chemical Properties
- Corrosion resistance
- Absolute
- Reactivity
- None
Lore & Narrative
Numa had the smith Veturius Mamurius make eleven copies so that no thief could tell the true shield from the others, and founded the Salii to keep all twelve; each March they danced with them through the streets. In this catalogue, the metal is iron fallen from the stars that a god sends to one smith in a generation, and a city that loses it loses its luck.
- Notable uses
- Divine shields, sacred weapons of generals, temple offerings
- Forge uses
- Divine shields, Sacred weapons
- Worldbuilding traits
- Divine, Roman, Meteoric, Protective
Sources
- Plutarch, Life of Numa, LacusCurtius
- Ovid, Fasti, Book 3, Theoi
Browse the Metal Encyclopedia — MGS Toolbox