Actinate

Actinate is a natural alloy, primarily of iridium and osmium, with an imprecise composition that dwarves cannot readily alter. Different discoveries are clearly the same metal but have varying physical properties, so dwarves understand by implication that it is a blend of other metals. The names osmium and iridium are not used in-game; they are referents for world-builders. Actinate is the dwarves' own name for the alloy, and humans who use the word are borrowing it from them.

Actinate is unworkable for normal smithing and is hard to work at all, needing machinery. When it is used, it is usually compression-welded onto blade edges and then ground down, at great cost in time and materials. The form of an ingot is comprehensible, and a dwarf would consider an ingot the most sensible way to store and transport it.

See also: Osmium, Iridium, Platinum