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So this is that overly long example section that I rambled my way into while responding to this post about the speculative logistics of equipment forging and upgrading in Monster Hunter. I was talking about the kinds (and quantities) of monster materials that go into upgrading weapons, and how clearly not every material put in has a spot in the final design.

Dreamsylph brought up a few items that never seem to show up (especially sacs and gems) and so I started poking examples of long swords (the weapon I’m most familiar with). The two most basic long swords, the iron katana and the bone (seriously, just ‘bone’) both have pretty humble creation requirements:

Iron Katana (3) Iron Ore (1) Machalite Ore

Bone (2) Monster Bones (sml) (1) Jaggi Hide

According to the game, this is all it takes to craft the most basic (and presumably poorest quality) long swords in the game. To refine that katana to the final version, Iron Gospel you will need:

Iron Gospel (8) Iron Ore (5) Machalite Ore (2) Great Jaggi Claws

On top of the ore used to create the original katana, and that used to upgrade it to the intermediary form. These katanas of course are all the same weapon as far as appearances go, merely more refined, higher quality versions of that weapon. It’s not hard to speculate where all that extra ore goes--much of the excess can be explained away in the process of beating out impurities to create a stronger, sharper blade.

That said, these are for pretty basic weapons that don’t include much monster material. For a weapon that clearly takes on the characteristics of the monster it was made from, I’ll pick one of my favourite long swords, the Coiled Nail, modeled after the Najarala. To craft a coiled nail, you need to cannibalize the bones of your lupine katana (mostly g. jaggi hide, claws, and some jumbo bones) plus:

Coiled Nail (4) Najarala Shells (2) Najarala Fangs (3) Monster Bones (lrg)

The shells probably make up the bulk of the weapon’s covering (which provides a small bonus to defense) and sheath, while the fangs no doubt contain enough paralytic venom to bestow the weapon with the power of the Para status, with the monster bones probably making up a solid portion of the rest of the weapon combined with the lupine katana it is built from. This seems fairly reasonable, but as this weapon gets upgrades through the tiers to its final version, the Parazagged Edge, it’s going to take a lot more materials, including:

Parazagged Edge (6) Najarala Carapaces (high quality shell) (6) Najarala Cortex (G quality shell) (8) Najarala Hide+ (8) Najarala PIel (G hide) (5) Najarala Fangs (5) Chilling Beaks (2) Heart-stopping Beaks (1) Najarala Marrow (noted to have paralytic properties) (4) Paralysis Sacs (4) Omniplegia Sacs (paralysis) (3) Najarala Sounders (idk? oh, it’s an acoustic shell...) (3) Najarala Sounders+ (3) Najarala Ampsounders (1) Najarala Medulla (brain stem??? reportedly a coagulant in crafting) (1) Large Wyvern Gem (4) Dah’ren Mohran Bloodscales (3) Monster Keenbones (3) Monster Slogbones (2) Black Gravios Carapaces (2) Black Gravios Cortices

Even if the majority of these materials simply get swapped out for their higher-qualities versions on upgrading (as seems to be suggested where I grouped up similar materials), there just doesn’t seem to be room for all these materials in one weapon.

Sacs could be explained as providing the raw material for the elemental or status effects of the weapon, whether paralytic neurotoxin or flammable jelly (though one wonders why you never run out of fuel from a purely mundane biological standpoint). What I’m more interested in are the gems. What the hell are they? They apparently grow inside wyverns like kidney stones, but so many are described as ‘holding secrets’ to their power. It’s almost as if the monsters have a sort of innately supernatural force that powers their strength and abilities, and the gems are concentrations of this spiritual energy, a physical mass that is anchored to this metaphysical power.

I rather like the concept of a sort of very low-fantasy magical force that is expressed through the biology of the monsters. Humans (and perhaps other races like the Wyverians) would even display an element of this when you consider how insane the abilities of the hunters are, potentially fueled by their own fighting spirit. Additionally, humans (and others) perhaps display a rather unique skill that allows them to don the flesh of their fallen foes and take on the attributes of those monsters to enhance their own abilities through armour skills.

I think I wandered off on a tangent again, but I just have so many thoughts about this. Originally I had a small fanfic idea where I was going to touch on this, but I really know where I want it to go after the first like 3 sentences, so I’ve got nothing to work with at the moment.

#mh4u #monster hunter #forging equipment #crafting #speculation