Gold, Earth's very own starmetal or warpstone?

[Dannyalcatraz]

From their own website:

Kalevala Jewelry
Instructions from Kalevala website:

Silver Jewelery

Use a polishing cloth to clean slightly tarnished Kalevala Koru silver jewelery. Polishing cloths are available in jewelery shops. More heavily tarnished pieces of jewelery can be cleaned with polishing paste for silver. To avoid removing the oxide from the piece, the paste should not be spread too thickly. Apply the polishing paste with a soft cloth and clean the jewelery piece. To prevent the paste from causing stains on clothing, rub the paste off and wash the piece with water and mild washing-up liquid. Chains can also be cleaned as instructed above.

We do not recommend liquid silver polish. Pearls should not come in contact with silver polish.

Bronze Jewelery

Bronze - an alloy of copper, tin and zinc - oxidizes and tarnishes more easily than precious metals. Bronze jewelery is lacquered with a galvanic coating at our factory. However, with skin contact, this coating can wear off and cause the jewelery piece to tarnish. Tarnished areas can be polished with a special cloth, available in jewelery shops. Copper and brass cleaner can also be used.

General

Stones set in Kalevala Koru jewelery should not be rubbed with cleaning agents.

Ball-shaped pieces and badly tarnished jewelery can be sent to the Kalevala Koru factory for complete cleaning and restoration. A small fee is charged for this service. After restoration, the jewelery will be easy to polish with cleaning agents and with a wash with water afterwards. The green patina is a natural feature of old and antique jewelery.

Do not expose jewelery to hair spray or perfume. Jewelery should not be worn in the sauna or steam room, or in chlorinated or salt water.

Gold, silver and bronze jewelery should all be washed occasionally with water and mild washing-up liquid. This keeps dirt from collecting and helps prevent tarnish.

Kalevala Koru jewelery does not contain nickel.

(Emphasis mine)

Just lookin' out for you!

 

[S'mon]

From their own website:

(Emphasis mine)

Just lookin' out for you!

But it's not tarnished.

 

[DMH]

Gold could be a beacon. It is sent out and if there is enough concentration on a world(the sign of people hoarding it), slavers come calling.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Gold could be a beacon. It is sent out and if there is enough concentration on a world(the sign of people hoarding it), slavers come calling.

Devious!

 

[DMH]

It could be bits of a corpse of a great space beast. The creature turned to metal upon death and rained down on the planet. Now the parts are attempting to restore themselves by imbuing greed for gold. As it collects in larger and larger hoards, its effects become even greater. Eventually it will turn into oozes that will merge, fly into space and turn back into the beast.

Or turn the whole idea on its head, instead of from space, gold is from deep in the earth. Not mine deep, but core deep. It is sent up as bait to draw more and more mining to allow the deep dwellers easier access to the surface when they invade.

 

[Umbran]

I've never polished my wedding ring in 7 years

Well, the thing is constantly being worn, and that means constant rubbing on your skin and clothes - basically, constant polishing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But it's not tarnished.

Tarnishing due to exposure to oxygen and becoming brittle due to exposure to chlorine are 2 different chemical processes. I'm very familiar with the first, but not at all with the latter- chlorine's effects may not be as visible as oxygen's...until the ring takes a blow. You know, from slapping your hand down on a countertop or whacking a door handle with your armswing as you pass...*crack*.

 

[S'mon]

Tarnishing due to exposure to oxygen and becoming brittle due to exposure to chlorine are 2 different chemical processes. I'm very familiar with the first, but not at all with the latter- chlorine's effects may not be as visible as oxygen's...until the ring takes a blow. You know, from slapping your hand down on a countertop or whacking a door handle with your armswing as you pass...*crack*.

OK, if that happens I will PM you and tell you you were right!

 

[Nifft]

Dragons are obviously mages who amassed too much gold.

Similar for other, less intelligent monsters. This is why you kill monsters and find piles of gold in their lairs. They are monsters in the first place because their lairs were full of gold.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Kaodi]

In any case, I think this is kind of getting away from the original point of this thread. Modern science tells us virtually everything came from stars, which most folks in a fantasy world are obviously not going to know or understand. So " starmetal " to them is going to be metal that " came from the stars " in discrete historical events, not in the original planet forming events. So unless gold ever falls to Earth in meteoroids and asteroids in appreciably quantities, it is not going to count as " starmetal " I think...