Now, I know nothing about metals; but I know enough to know that gold is a very soft metal and absolutely unfit for a sword. (If bare hands can bend gold, two blades hammering against each other would tie themselves up in knots!) What I need help with is a suitible metal for the blade that is very gold. Also, if someone has a better suggestion than an amber, that would be welcome!

One more thing. Bows. The Minë-Isilians probably wouldn't have them, but the Noch' Kryl'ya do. Any suggestions for a working bow with arrows that matches the motif of the rest of their weapons?

There aren't many metals that are very gold like that except gold. * grimace * And really, the very best metal there is for swords and such is steel, and none of the others compare all that well. If you want a really good sword, steel is what you'd need to use.

There were periods where people used bronze swords. It's a sort of copper-brown color, and that's pretty gold-ish. I think it would be the best sword-metal of that color. Bronze doesn't have the combination of flexibility and edge-holding hardness that steel does, though. Good bronze is better than plain iron, but not as good as steel.

But perhaps instead of having the entire blade made of a gold-colored metal, you could have it layered with it on the outside, so it would just appear that color without actually making the sword have any less quality?

And I really like amber, I wish people used it more.

You could give them steel bows with black leather wrap or black etching or such. Steel bows aren't particularly common, but they did exist. Though no one is quite sure why exactly they were used since wood and such are much cheaper and work better than metal for bows. They aren't too bad, though, they work fine and they'd fit the scheme.

but doesn't bronze metal turn green when exposed to oxygen too long?

Layering...That's genius! wouldn't it be possible-by a skilled blacksmith or such-to actually mesh the gold into the outer layer of steel so that, while it looks like gold, the gold won't dent or flake off?

Metal bows are possilbe? How woud they bend? For that matter, what sort of string/twine/whatever would be needed to string it?

Do you-or anyone else-know how brittle ebony or obsidian is? Which is stronger?

Well, air and moisture. It's got copper in it, so yeah. But if you clean it and wax it, it doesn't change color, and with a normal steel sword you have to clean and oil it regularly anyway, so there's not much difference.

Mm... I'm not sure about that. * frowns and thinks for a bit * Well, I don't think that'd be possible, swords just get scratched and such no matter what you do to 'em, and the outer layer is what's going to be disturbed, no matter how you attach it. I don't think it would be that noticeable, though, for awhile, until it got scratched up quite a bit, so maybe they would just always re-coat it after several years? People need to fix their swords every so often anyway, I think.

Yep, they are! It's very difficult to string and draw a normal bow anyway, that's what makes them powerful, so metal is no worse really so long as its springy, which steel can be. You'd string them with the usual bow string... it wouldn't be any different.

Mm, no, obsidian would definitely not work for a bow, it's very brittle – like glass. And ebony doesn't seem to be a good bow wood. But I suppose they could just paint or lacquer the bow black without actually making it out of a black material.