Cold Iron
In the days of the first Brethren Wars, humans were sorely pressed to gain advantage on the Brethren that called themselves "Gaia's children" or which the humans themselves called "the fey". The weapons of the natural world - bone, stone and wood - seemed to bounce off the flesh of the fey and do them little to no harm. With the workings of iron and steel still in the hands of dwarves - a part of the Brethren themselves - it is no wonder that the first Brethren War found the humans cowering in defeat against the might that was Gaia. A priest of the god Faburin - thought by some to be an aspect of Naristan or his divine son - prayed for deliverance for his people from the oppressive natures of the Brethren and all that they suffered at the hands of Gaia's servants. These prayers were answered, in short, when the priest arrived at the temple of the Maker the next day.
A man, short in stature but broad of chest and thick in the arms and legs, was there when the priest arrived. The priest could not place the man's face, though it seemed familiar to him somehow. Without a word, the man pulled out many strange implements from a pack that was obviously magical in nature and went to work. The priest looked around the hall and saw no others stirring in it, and it was strange to him, though he watched curiously as the man made many things of out small bits of metal he had pulled from his pack. This fascinated the priest as metal - iron - was hard to come by and to work it was a great mystery that only the dwarves knew. Then, the man pulled a hunk of iron so large out of his pack, even he with his great strength could barely lift it. He proceeded to work the fires of what he called a 'forge' - though how the priest knew this without the man saying a word is a wonder - and before long he had a red-hot glowing sword held by the hilt that he dowsed in cold water before it came up shining in the forgelight. The man finally looked at the priest with piercing ice-blue eyes and threw the sword down at the priest's feet, walking away without a word and leaving everything he had brought with him behind. When the priest picked up the sword, one word was etched in the blade... "Salvation".
Perception:
Cold iron is a creation of the humans of Ersadia and they credit the discovery to a priest of Faburin named Orinnae Forgelighter. Forgelighter - so named because he was the first known human to work a forge - spoke of a miracle vision that could have only come from Faburin himself and he even claimed to have been in Faburin's presence watching him make the sword known as "Salvation". The sword - and many of its kin, though none ever as great - turned the tide on the oppressive behaviors of the Brethren towards the humans. When the fey thought to cow the humans again, they found themselves dying by the hundreds on these new blades - which Forgelighter dubbed "cold iron" because of the process to make it. So started the second Brethren War and ultimately the defeat and banishment of the fey. To this day, it is said that fey creatures - both Seelie and Unseelie alike - can sense the presence of cold iron near them and consider any who wield it to be an enemy not to be trusted.
Silver
For many years after the Brethren Wars, the Unseelie fought all who would deny them the right to live on the Prime. Their greatest supporter was a sidhe by the name of Kelm. Kelm would one day become a god of the Unseelie creatures and any that opposed Gaia - or her traitorous new name, Sylvana. When Kelm and his followers became so displeased with Gaia's treachery and human-loving ways, they fought back against the natural world, perverting everything within it. This is the birth and the cause of the dreaded disease lycanthropy, a mockery of both nature and man. Kelm saw to curse animals and humans alike with this deadly and incurable disease. The goddess of the moon, Sylvana, cursed Kelm for making her once beautiful heavenly face the cause of such pain and death. Lycanthropy plagued Ersadia for many years before anything was found to combat it.
On the night of a full moon, a merchant - travelling with his son and daughter - had made camp at a well-known rest stop along a popular highway. The family was about to retire for the evening when they heard the howls of wolves off in the distance. Setting a watch and circling the horses, they fell into an uneasy sleep. The merchant woke up to the sounds of his son being attacked by a large wolf. The man sought desperately for a weapon only to find that his daughter had already been attacked and killed nearby. In a towering fit of rage and grief, the man took the only weapon close to hand - a long, silver knife he had made his daughter as a present to defend herself against unruly gentlemen. Taking the knife he ran to his son's aide, slashing and thrusting with all of his might. The wolf howled in rage never having felt pain such as this. In his anger, the merchant was able to deal the deadly blow against the wolf. After the wolf's last breath, the merchant was amazed further still, when it transformed from a hairy monstrous creature into that of a man. All of this was soon forgotten, though, as a small cough came from behind him. Tears of joy ran down his face as he realized it was his daughter and she had only suffered a few bites. She would live.
Perception:
Silver is a precious metal to those that follow the natural world. Born of the earth and Gaia's womb, it is the most pure and precious metal of the followers of the Moon Mother. The legend of the silver merchant and his family differs slightly depending on the telling, but it always has the same line: a family member thought dead and bitten whilst the unbitten fight on, usually with some unsuspecting implement made of pure silver. In the end, though, the bitten always live on to carry on that most cruel of curses from the Fallow One. The mistreatment of silver - coins or other uses - is a deep disgrace to those who worship the Goddess of the World and is a good way to gain their ire. Contrarily, gifts of silver to a Sylvanite or a Seelie fey are most treasured and will bring nearly instant friendship. The more finely wrought the silver, the deeper the appreciation and hence the relationship is between the gifter and giftee. With the exception of silver coins, any implement of silver is seen as alliance or sympathy towards Sylvana or Gaia and the Seelie court by those who know its history.