Crafting Resources

No good blade was ever smithed of bad steel.

• Hammerfrost Dwarven proverb

Nothing comes of nothing, and every craftsperson in Ariel knows it. The skilled tradespeople of the Lakes Region excel at producing marvels, highlighting their skill and making goods that command a fine price in any market, but they need resources to work these goods.

Raw Goods

Raw materials are born of primary industries, and while some can be used to create finished products directly, some more complex pieces require refined goods made from these raw goods.

Wood comes from trees. Often gathered in lumber camps or by individual woodcutters, it is plentiful as a resource and a primary resource of Harodom, Deepwood, and Michian. Wood is gathered using the skill Labourer: Lumberjack.

Stone is quarried and cut from mines and quarries. Along with wood, stone is a primary building resource, and used in the construction of buildings, forges, and other utilities. It is frequently exported from Harodom, Portnos, Hammerfrost, and Ang Gijak. It is gathered using the skill Labourer: Miner.

Iron is mined, and refined using a process known as smelting. The minotaur miners of Skrulmiter produce the majority of the iron used in the Lakes Region, but the largest deposits in the region are found in Harodom, Bograker, Sorr Bukra, and the Broken Reach. Iron is gathered using the skill Labourer: Miner.

Silver and Gold are both valuable metals like iron, and are similarly mined. Both resources are considerably rarer than iron, and finding an appropriate mine is required in order to extract it from the ground. Harodom, Michian, and the Broken Reach have considerable silver deposits, but Hammerfrost, Skrulmiter, and Bograker have the majority of the gold deposits in the Lakes Region.

Hide is harvested from hunted and herded animals, either for use in fabrication directly, or to later be tanned into leather. Although some hunters claim that most any creature can be skinned for hide, decorum and the market dictate a limited appetite for hides from some animals. There are hunters and farmers in most lands, but Deepwood, Eldersire, and Ang Gijak produce the majority of hides for international sale. Labourer: Farmer and Labourer: Hunter can both be used to gather hide.

Wool is sheared from various fluffy creatures: within Harodom, this is mostly sheep, but in the mountainous ranges of Hammerfrost, great goat-like creatures simply named Herdbeasts provide similar material. Used in the creation of rope and cloth, wool is substantially traded by Michian, Splishenfellow, and Bograker. Labourer: Farmer is required to raise and keep the beasts that provide this wool.

Refined Materials

Craftspeople taking and refining raw materials is the primary source for refined materials that can be used in crafting. In some cases, the raw materials are sufficiently abstract (or not used in any other capacity), and while raw materials are consumed, they are represented within this system as a cost in coin – the cost of gathering these materials, or of hiring others to do so.

Although listed below are the most common elements in creating an item or device, it should be noted that a great many

Tools are generally made of iron, although specialized trades may require tools that are made of other materials. While not required for every function of labourer or craft skills, many trades require suitable tools to be available in order to complete basic functions of that trade; it is difficult to cut down trees without saws or axes, and difficult to build a table without hammers and some means of cutting wood. Tools are made with the Craftsman: Blacksmith skill.

Hardware is traditionally made of iron; it represents nails, screws, washers, hinges, mounting plates, nuts, bolts, frames, wire and any and all other metal hardware that would be reasonably used in a normal crafting or woodworking capacity. Hardware is made with the Craftsman: Blacksmith skill.

Lumber is refined from wood; whereas wood is harvested directly from trees, lumber is planed and cut to make planks or other shaped wood suitable for crafting into more refined projects. Lumber is made with the Craftsman: Sawyer skill.

Cloth is woven from spun wool, cotton, or flax; cloth fabric is then used in the fashioning of garments, bedding, towels and other linens, tents, canvas, and so forth. Cloth is made with the Craftsman: Weaver skill.

Leather is tanned and refined hide; undergoing this process will often involve a hide being scraped, immersed in a bath or baths of specific mixtures, and then stretched and dried. Leather is then used to make armour, bags, various containers, belts, boots, garments, and for various other purposes. Leather is made with the Craftsman: Tanner skill.

Rope is traditionally made by spinning fibres until a dense cord is made. Although vegetable fibres are preferred in a lot of places, within the context of the local region, wool is the dominant element in a lot of Lakes Region rope. Rope is made with the Craftsman: Weaver skill.

Containers include earthenware jugs and pots, made from clay that can be commonly found in most areas in the Lakes Region, although some regions are well known for their clay deposits. Containers are made using the Craftsman: Potter skill.

Parchment is made from a variety of materials, commonly the skin of herd animals that has been scraped under tension and cut to size. Used by Craftsman: Bookbinders to create spell books and other high-quality tomes, parchment is made using the Craftsman: Parchment Maker skill.

Other particular projects, may require other basic or refined materials, or basic equipment. This listing however provides a basic understanding of what kind of materials and equipment specialists can craft, and how these systems interact.

Authored by: Andrew Dunlop
Fantasy Alive Lore Team 2026
Copyright © Endless Adventures Ontario