What exactly is a ferrofungus and how do the Telvanni use it to make armor?

Ratzkifal

I understand the logic behind the other two great house style materials, but the fungus? Does it have like a high iron content? Or is it a mushroom that grows on metal?

Varana

"Ferro-" means "iron". So it seems it is some kind of especially hard fungus, maybe even with metallic enclaves. The "axe" chapter talks of "forge-hardened ferrofungus", so it can be worked with heat. So for lore, I'd say that it is a hard organic material from the stems of some kind of mushroom that can be used like chitin or certain resins etc.

SirAndy

You are worried about the logic behind a fungus but you are perfectly fine with the idea of using a shard of a crystal to reassemble all your atoms and return to the living every time someone blows you to bits?

I always find it amusing when people try to inject real world logic into a fantasy game ...

SirAndy

I mean, seriously, why not a fungus? A metal fungus. Grows on metal. Or has metal in it. Or is made entirely of metal.

None of that directly contradicts lore ...

Ratzkifal

@SirAndy I don't want to know a scientific explanation mind you. I want an in-lore explanation. Just like how the stars in the Elder Scrolls are holes in oblivion left by the magna-gi during their escape to Aetherius.

So to rephrase my question. How would a scholar on tamriel explain the ferrofungus?

Ratzkifal

@Varana Thanks! I didn't find the contents of the motif parts anywhere. But from that it becomes a lot more clear what a ferrofungus is.
Where can I find the rest?

Leandor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_reduced_iron

It becomes a bit more logical, if you think German instead of the latin bastardization "ferrofungus", in German there is the word "Eisenschwamm", which, if literally translated, means Iron Mushroom. It is an intermediate state in the iron production process.

Actually makes a lot of sense, more than any of the other style mats.

Varana

Ratzkifal wrote: »

@Varana Thanks! I didn't find the contents of the motif parts anywhere. But from that it becomes a lot more clear what a ferrofungus is.
Where can I find the rest?

For things like this, the UESP:
http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Crafting_Motif_50:_Telvanni

Aliyavana

I wish schick could come in this thread and reply to it

WhiteCoatSyndrome

@Ratzkifal This is from a Clockwork City quest, not Vvardenfell, but there are apparently some very durable mushrooms growing there:

Strain E-02-K:
Large to huge, drooping caps, gray. Subject's first attempt to consume a fully mature specimen resulted in the loss of several teeth and a minor stress fracture to the lower mandibular enhancement. Factotums coaxed subject to make a second attempt with an immature, smaller specimen. Subject extracted and ate the warts on the stalk with no ill effect. Note: Attempt to create weapons and armor out of mature stalks.

Beamer_Miasma

Speaking more on the earthly side of things, mushrooms actually do have a very high iron content. For example Morel mushrooms have the same iron per weight ratio as the well known high-iron staple veggie spinach, and mushrooms are often recommended as a healthy food for people who are anemic or following a vegetarian diet and are therefor missing the iron source from red meats.

Of course this is dietary iron and doesn't directly translate to some ore that can be mined for use in manufacturing. However it is worth noting that unlike plants which get well over 90% of their material from the air (Carbon from CO2 through photosynthesis), fungi get ALL their material from whatever they grow on, so a fungi that grows on iron-rich soil is likely to have a lot of iron in its structure. IF you were looking for a way to 'mine' iron from a biological source, fungi would certainly be an interesting one to look at.

Ratzkifal

@Beamer_Miasma Although spinach does have a high iron content among vegetables, it actually isn't as impressive as was commonly believed. This misconception stems from the orignal handwritten document on which the 3.5mg were easily mistaken for 35mg of iron and later texts copied it as 35mg and not 3.5mg.

In conclusion, the ferrofungus is most likely a type of mushroom that absorbs metal from the ground. The high metal content allows for it to be worked at a forge. It's still unclear if the caps are used like plates in plate armor, but it certainly looks that way. I would expect weight and hardness of the fungus to vary depending on how it has been processed as it's being used for cloth and leather armor too. Also, it probably has some secret to it that makes it as easy to repair as regular metal. Perhaps damaged mushroom tissue can be restored with a ferrofungus-patch.