How to render much of a world's metal unusable?

Question

The idea of a metal-poor science-fiction/fantasy setting has fascinated me since I first encountered it in Dark Sun, and learning about Tekumel just deepened it. When it came to my own setting, I didn't want to do things the "easy way" and have metal be scarce; instead, metal is as plentiful as it is on earth, maybe even more plentiful! However, the people of the world, for whatever reason, can not make use of the metallic bounty.

My first attempt in explaining this was inaccessibility; however, that turned out not to be a good fit for the setting.

My second idea was unusability: metal is present in the world and accessible, but no one can use it. But a satisfactory explanation for what could actually do that eludes me.

The best one that I have been able to devise is:

There is a life form on the planet similar to the metal-/synthetic-material-eating bacteria on earth. These metal-phages live in and consume metal, but, either as a metabolic byproduct or a defensive mechanism, produce some type of containment that is both lethal to anything not them and, for all practical purposes impossible to remove...almost like radiation.

My question is... Without resorting to pure hand-waving, is there a way to render a planet's metal largely unusable to the people people living on it?

Answer 1

Look at this map

The Technological Development Of The People

The Africans are well aware of smelting and roasting processes.

The Asians and Arabians know all about gold and silver mining (pretty simple) but don't know about complex mining processes (for copper and iron).

The North Americans have a tech level comparable to Asians.

The South Americans even have iron foundries and roasters in place.

The Australians are a highly developed civilization otherwise but don't know a dime's worth of metallurgy.

The Problems In Exploiting Metallic Ores And Mines

Africa

People here had some small iron ores which they exploited to extinction. They made some nice axes and swords until the ores ran out. They went south in pursuit of this precious metal and found out that southern Africa has vast quantities of iron along with some strange, shiny substance. They set up large foundries and roasters but then something frightful started happening. The people involved in iron mining started contracting horrible diseases which led to a very painful death (cancer). Their children were born with grotesque and frightful abnormalities (genetic mutations). They soon started realizing even the fauna of the region was slightly different than the fauna of central and northern Africa. After a misadventure of 10 years and losing a lot of people, they quit the whole region in terrible fright and never returned there again. Now this region is known as "gods' cursed land" and there are a lot of myths and legends stating that gods cursed this place for one reason or the other.

Actually that region is very rich in uranium and radium and these ores are found side by side with iron ores. People working in these ores are hence exposed to lethal doses of radiation and develop cancers and other genetic mutations.

Asia

The Asians employ gold and silver in few of their household objects such as axes and knives, but making swords or other larger objects with these metals is impossible due to their extreme heaviness and high malleability. Folk poems and legends tell of a another golden colored, very (comparably) lightweight metal to the far northeast (copper), but that region is cut off due to extreme weather, mountain barriers, wolf packs, frozen lakes and lack of food resources. The Asians are primarily agriculture based people. After a few failed tries to reach that far off land, the Asians have quit the efforts altogether and mind their agriculture.

The Asians also know about the most precious metal on earth (iron) that is located to the far west. Besides the same weather problems (uncrossable mountains and extreme winds and cold), that region is home to hostile locals who consider the land beyond the mountains as sacred, where the souls of their dead forefathers live (there are yetis living beyond the mountains actually). They would never let anyone through their lands no matter what. Those locals have a couple of iron axes and some arrowheads, which are considered highly sacred and a legacy of their forefathers. These are passed down in generations to tribe chiefs.

Australia

The Australians are quite developed in agriculture and fishing, but don't know anything of metallurgy. They are aware of something called as copper in the western sides of their small continent, but that area has excessive ponds and swamps where mosquitoes abound and anyone trying to reach the ores, dies a painful death of raging fever (malaria and yellow fever). They have made several attempts to exploit those reserves, but all have failed terribly with more than 80% life losses. Now they have left those regions for good and wait for Asian traders who bring gold axes and knives in exchange for highly prized Australian fabrics and obsidian.

North America

The North Americans are also adept in gold and silver mining (pretty simple, huh?) like Asians. They use gold axes and gold tipped javelins for hunting and use gold tipped spears in combat. Other than that, metal has no part in their lives due to its heaviness. They know of a region far off to the east (Iceland) where there is a (comparably) lightweight and very sturdy metal which is considered the most precious in the world (iron). Some foreigners tried reaching that island but they all dies within few days. Still many foreigners arrive with gifts for local chiefs in order to pass from their lands and reach that tantalizing land of iron ores and the local chiefs happily allow them to pass. No person who ever goes to that island ever returns alive.

Unbeknownst to the North Americans and the foreigners, the Iceland island contains heavy quantities of perchlorate dust. It blows with the wind and tiny particles of it are breathed. Some of it also gets to the eyes of the people. The overall result is severe toxication resulting in a painful death.

South America

The South Americans know about huge iron reserves in the northern region of their continent and many attempts have been made to exploit those reserves. However, there are huge swamps and ponds where mosquitoes abound. The bite of these mosquitoes is known to cause extreme fever and a painful death (malaria and yellow fever). Besides mosquitoes, the rainforests are also full of leeches and ticks, both with venomous bites! And to top that, several trees themselves are highly poisonous. Even water dripping off some of them causes extreme rash and swellings (Manchineel Tree). And to top that, the area is home to pygmy tribes who are extremely violent and utilize the most deadly arrows and blow-darts in the whole world. The dreaded curare!

There are still attempts now and then by adventurous merchants now and then, but few return alive ... and those too, dishevelled and ghastly, in rags, after losing all their possessions and suffering famine and diseases.

Answer 2

Consider a younger, less seismically active planet.

Due to the mechanics that cause the creation of oil and coal you're going to have very limited supplies of either, meaning that while you have the metals, your species is going to have a hard time both building the furnaces and achieving the temperatures required to refine and work them.

Any major attempt to do so will clear large swathes of forest, wood being the major fuel (and construction material) before coal was utilised. Once the forest is gone, that's the end of your industrial age.

Coal requires a planet to have had vegetation near water for some millions of years.
Oil requires ancient seas to have dried up, usually caused by tectonic movement.
[Sources at some point later when I can find some that aren't aimed at primary school kids]

Answer 3

The Answer Depends on Why You're Asking

Whether for role-playing or fiction, a world building exercise must remember that plausibility alone means little. Just because a thing has an explanation, won’t necessarily make it satisfying to an audience (or players). Science and logic may have their rules, but storytelling has rules of its own. For example, storytelling hates irrelevancy and unnecessary details.

Your question seeks a way to make metals (things that players tend to find desirable, even necessary) available, yet somehow unavailable. This seems a role-playing equivalent of violating Chekhov’s gun.

Chekhov’s gun is the narrative principle that if a scene contains a loaded gun hanging on a wall, then the gun must go off later in the story. Otherwise why mention it?

What we’re talking about here is irrelevancy. Story’s are not fictional transcripts listing all things and every detail. Only things germane to the plot or characters are mentioned at all. Game worlds work the same way, describing only the things that are different (from the player’s real world) and that would effect game play. Extraneous details are dangerous precisely because players assume they must mean something. Later when the plot proves them irrelevant, players tend to obsess.

So I see three possibilities for an answer to your question based on WHY you seek to have, yet not provide metals.

Possibility 1 - You want to provide metals later.
Initially your players will find a world largely devoid of accessible metals. Those metal items they crave (swords, armor, guns) just aren’t there. But at some later point, you want to introduce them. If this is the case, the mysterious force that’s hiding your metals is DIRT.

Like our own real world, the valuable stuff is hidden below vast amounts of undesirable dirt and rocks. Every enormous cash of metals in our own history, was at some past point unfound. Everybody living in California in the 1800’s knew there was no gold in the Russian river. Then one day, someone found gold - Bam!, gold rush. In a story or game campaign, such an event would be a plot point.

Possibility 2 - You just don’t want metal.
If you don’t want metals then tell the players there aren't any. I could point out that this is perfectly logical. The non-fiction book, “Rare Earth” seeks to address the requirements for life by looking at Earth and our solar system as an example. One of the issues it covered is that the Sun is unusually rich in metals compared to other stars (which is why Earth is unusually rick in metals). Surely there are other systems atypically wanting in metals. No further explanation needed.

But this isn’t my point. The players may ask, but they don’t really care why there are no metals. They just need to know that metals are unavailable. Once they do, they’ll accept it as a reality of your world and move on.

Possibility 3 - You’re over thinking it.
Your goal is simply to create a world without certain things made of metal (swords, armor, guns). If that’s the case, there’s a simple answer - nobody’s invented metallurgy yet - or those particular things yet.

Or maybe you’re focusing too much on elaborate explanations for your world’s daily reality. As you said, “…I didn’t want to do things the “easy way” and have metal be scarce.” Why not? All fiction is a lie and the key to an effective lie is simplicity, not a web of interlinked elaborations begging for followup questions.

Or maybe the problem is thinking the explanations are what’s interesting to players - it isn’t - That’s YOUR interest as world-builder. What interests players are challenges and opportunities for their characters.

The world that player characters inhabit only needs to be understandable. If they smell an opportunity in the form of gold, iron, or copper then they’ll seek it. If you tell them there’s a reason they can’t, they’ll seek a work-around. Once they finally learn nothing will work, they’ll simply ask, “If we can't have the metal, why'd you say it was there?”

And they'd be right to ask. It's an irrelevancy. That's the Chekhov’s gun part.

Answer 4

Firstly, your idea of metal eating bacteria isn't a bad idea. There are theories (and perhaps evidence) that microbes eat through quartz dissolving and concentrating gold. There is plenty of energy available in metal (an oxidation reaction releases a significant amount of energy) so an engineered bacteria could do exactly what you suggested. However it cannot be a natural bacteria unless there is a symbiotic relationship between it and a metal creating plant to create its preferred food supply. Another restriction is the specialization of the bacteria to the metal element. This may mean several plants and bacteria would be required.

Most metals are locked in an oxide or fluoride, or dispersed in low quantities though out an ore deposit (eg nobel metals). If the story is about an alternative history, one could contemplate making the bond strength of metals stronger, making it difficult to find before a scientific age. However, our blood chemistry relies on iron oxidation, our bones on absorbed calcium, our muscles on magnesium, and our brains require readily available copper, aluminum, sodium and other metals. So changing fundamentals of chemistry isn't a good idea.

Answer 5

1) Your planet only has land in a fairly narrow ring around the equator. As a result, the temperatures encountered by the species is uniformly warm.

2) The species is herbivorous rather than omnivorous, and has extremely efficient digestion.

The result of 1 and 2 are that fire is not terribly useful, since it provides neither necessary warmth nor much added nutrition as a result of cooking. Consequently, without the widespread adoption of fire, the smelting of metal ores is never discovered. In addition, the cultural development of the species simply never latched on to the use of metal for purposes other than adornment. While this is easy to say, it's hard to justify, but it has a number of parallels in our history, specifically in the New World. The Incas, for instance, did excellent work in gold and silver, but never developed metal (native copper, bronze or brass) for use as weapons or tools, and it's not entirely clear why not.

Answer 6

Your planet is naturally far more acidic than earth. There's continuous acid rain due to overabundance of sulphur and oxygen. Life has evolved differently from earth and is capable of surviving in this climate.

While the cave people ancestors of the modern sapients did learn to smelt tin and copper, they found these of little use, firstly because they were far too rare, and the resultant squabbles over ownership rights cost more than the mines were worth. Secondly, whatever metals were extracted, quickly tarnished/oxidised in the open, meaning that they couldn't be used for anything practical.

As a result, society has developed a distaste for metals in general, with a few exceptions, like gold, which is considered holy and used for small outdoor ornaments by the rich and power to display their wealth.

This has also led to counter sects, considered heretical, but usually ignored, by the mainstream, that hold metals to be an abomination which the gods seek to remove from the earth. Noble metals are seen as defiant to the divine will, thus symbolising evil.

Answer 7

Your biology is simply different that ours. All of the metals are quite toxic.

As a result, people avoid metals because the pain, suffering and death resulting from handling metals pretty much discourages their use.

Although with careful handling, metal use would be possible, there is little incentive to overcome the fear of working with deadly poisons. For humans, beryllium is quite toxic, and as a result we rarely use it although it has some very useful applications.