Lexicon:Modern/Blaenda
| Blaenda | |
|---|---|
| Stage | Modern CLT |
| Pronunciation | /ˈblaɪn.da/ |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Etymology | from Middle Blēndē, from Proto blenda |
| Related words | braswy, Kopra, Foergaet |
Blaenda — zinc. The pale metal that goes into brass.
Notes
Brass has been made everywhere for as long as there are records, by working zinc ore directly with Kopra. It is not difficult and nobody guards it. What is difficult is freeing the metal itself, which boils away at the temperature that would release it, and Forgegate is the only city that manages it reliably.
Pure Blaenda goes on iron. Fittings and nails dipped in it do not rust, which every coastal city wants and none can make for itself, so the trade runs down every road and out of every port. Bolted below a waterline as a plain lump it corrodes in place of everything around it, and a vessel that carries them keeps its ironwork through a voyage that would otherwise eat it.
A city that will not pay Forgegate’s price falls back on Kopra and bronze, which have fastened ships for as long as there have been ships and cost a good deal more.