Damascus Steel had actually first originated in India, where it was called Wootz Steel. The earliest forging techniques explicitly stated at which stage of the process a certain number of slaves had to be thrown into the steelmaking furnace.
The human body contained a high amount of carbon. Perhaps it really did help with steelmaking, but that also meant Wootz Steel's output was extremely low. Those without power or status simply could not afford it.
What was even stranger was that if slaves were not thrown into the furnace, Wootz Steel could not be produced. Even if every other step was exactly the same, the result would only be ordinary steel.
Looking at it now, it was probably because the temperature and carbon content were insufficient.
But the A'Sans of that era could not figure it out no matter how hard they thought, so Wootz Steel was said to be metal bestowed by the gods—a reward granted to humanity after accepting the sacrifice of life.
Later, this metallurgical technique spread to Damascus. No one knew whether it was a matter of feng shui or different iron ore, but producing Wootz Steel there did not require throwing living people into the furnace. As long as the molten iron was folded and forged before cooling, Wootz Steel could be obtained.
That greatly increased the production of Wootz Steel, and it even became widespread. Any halfway decent warrior could have a Wootz Steel weapon in hand.
As they used such weapons on the battlefield, their reputation for cutting through hair with a puff of air spread as well. Europeans did not know where Wootz Steel came from. They only knew that Damascus warriors used these weapons, so these curved blades came to be known as Damascus Blades, while the uniquely patterned steel used