History Main / MetalPoorPlanet

* ''Manga/BreakBlade'' takes place in an apparent post-apocalyptic world where almost everyone is magic and controls quartz, and quartz is the most abundant thing on Earth. The logical way to wage war? Giant mecha!

This can be a reason for a MedievalStasis or the driving force behind the development of MagiTek or OrganicTechnology. BambooTechnology is a possible (but uncommon) outcome.

!Examples

* ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' starts when magicians from metal-poor Kelewan develop a way to create rifts leading to other worlds. Scouts report that the world of Midkemia has unimaginable wealth in metal just lying around; a Midkemian viewing a magical recording of the events recognizes the "wealth" as being trash heaps and slag piles.
* ''Literature/APlanetCalledTreason''. In the backstory, a group of families attempted to overthrow the government of an interstellar republic and as punishment were banished to a planet without any accessible iron. Each family is given a teleportation device with the understanding that if they place something of sufficient value in it, they will be rewarded with iron. The story starts off when one of the families, now grown into a nation, starts conquering their neighbors using improbable numbers of iron weapons.

* ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'', an unimaginably large artificial world, has no mineral ores: if you dig into a mountain, you'll hit the [[{{Unobtanium}} scrith]] underlying the sculpted landscape after a few hundred meters. After the civilization that built the Ring collapses, a space-faring civilization can't rise again because there's no ore and you can only recover so much metal from ruined cities.
* In ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'', the planet of Terminus has so few mineral resources that its coinage is made of steel. As a result, they push miniaturization to levels that scientists of the Galactic Empire believed impossible.
* In the ''Literature/SeekersOfTheSky'', Earth itself was miraculously stripped of most of its minable iron in the backstory, leading to a civilization that is still struggling with industrialization around 2000 and where bronze swords are still common weapons.

* In ''Eater-Of-Bone'', set in the ''Literature/GreatShip'' universe, a colony ship was catastrophically damaged and flung off of its trajectory, sending it towards one of the lone stars at the periphery of the Milky Way. The [[HealingFactor nigh-immortal]] TransHuman colonists are forced to settle on a world which is extremely metal-poor (particularly in salts and iron), making [[LostTechnology any kind of machinery precious beyond belief]] and every drop of blood lost a tragedy. One character laments that there's metal in the world, but so far below the ground that it is unreachable to the damaged machinery of the starship. The colonists cooperated with each other for a short time, but the strains of resource shortages fractured them into dozens of small groups, who often fight each other for resources. [[ImAHumanitarian "Eater-of-bone" isn't meaningless]], either, [[HumanResources because even bone and marrow hold the metals required for metabolism]].
* In Creator/MarionZimmerBradley's ''Literature/{{Darkover}}'' series, the planet Darkover (Cottman IV) has a lack of metals compared to most Earth-type planets. The novel ''Darkover Landfall'' said that the planet didn't have a nickel/iron core, that the rock was low in metallic ores and that metals were very rare. The locals have developed PsychicPowers to a level verging on MagiTek.
* The ''Literature/{{Riverworld}}'' was intentionally built this way as a way to get every human who ever lived and has been resurrected at the same time to concentrate on more spiritual issues.
* The ''Literature/CoDominium'' series:
** In ''Literature/KingDavidsSpaceship'', Prince Samual's World is noted to be copper poor. As a result, one Imperial thinks that world will have trouble building communication lines without imports of the metal.
** ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'' has Mote Prime. Because [[spoiler: they've been trapped in their star system]], the Moties have mined out their metals and have to scavenge from older relics.
* Many of the worlds in the ''Literature/ChildeCycle'' lack metal resources, and as a result have to import it. And because these worlds lack these resources (among others) it affects their economy in interstellar trade.
* Takis in the ''Literature/WildCards'' series. However, this merely served to push the Takisians towards OrganicTechnology, which they have mastered to the point of literally being able to ''grow'' things like space stations and travel through space in {{Living Ship}}s.

* In ''Literature/TheIntegralTrees'' by Creator/LarryNiven, there is effectively no metal whatsoever in the Gas Torus where a LostColony of humanity is located; as such, all materials are made from local wood from the [[WorldInTheSky kilometer-long trees in the gas torus]] spinning around the neutron star. What little metal there is has been recycled endlessly from what the colonists brought with them.
* In ''Literature/NewKashubiaSeries'' from Creator/LeoFrankowski the trope is inverted as New Kashubia is made up of concentric rings of metal and really quite sucky to live on at first.
* ''Literature/{{Honorverse}}'' has this issue inverted on the planet Grayson, which has far more heavy metals than Earth. The colonists that had gone to Grayson had intended to forgo all high technology (believing the planet to be their Promised Land and technology to be a temptation by Satan) and still tried to do that, making a bad situation much worse while some practical religious leadership worked hard to square their ideals with reality. Some of the last remaining technology was used to genetically engineer higher resistance to heavy metals, but at the cost of a 1/3 male/female birth ratio, accentuating the conservative patriarchy of an already polygamous society (they are roughly Space Mormons with Japanese influences). By the time of the series a millennium later, the planet is still behind the galactic technology curve, but has domed cities, orbital farms, and better fission technology than anyone else since they forgot fusion and had loads of uranium lying about.
* ''Literature/TheCinderSpires'' has a variation. Metal is plentiful enough (the really rare material is ''wood''), but, due to a quirk in the composition of the atmosphere, any metallic iron exposed to the air will rust away into nothing in a matter of days.
* Another variant in Creator/HBeamPiper's ''Space Viking'', the planet Amaterasu lacks fissionable metals, causing them to regress to the industrial age after the Old Federation collapses, however they have large deposits of an {{Unobtainium}} used in FTL drives that require nuclear power. When the protagonist realizes that another planet he [[PlanetLooters raided]] had fissionables but no unobtainium he decides it would be more worthwhile to trade between the two planets instead of raiding them.
* Andriad from Creator/HarryHarrison's "The Pliable Animal" is such a planet. Tableknives and coins are tempered glass.
* ''Literature/LastAndFirstMen'': Earth itself becomes this due to the Early First Men (meaning modern-day humanity up until the collapse of the world state four thousand years hence) exhausting all metal deposits in the shallow crust (alongside all coal and oil deposits, for that matter). Thus, after the collapse of global civilization, humanity has no readily accessible sources of workable metal and remains stuck in a stone-age agricultural state for millennia. This is eventually resolved when the devastating eruptions that destroyed the last First Man civilization scatter layers of metal-rich debris throughout the Earth's surface.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' classic serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E3TheCreatureFromThePit The Creature from the Pit]]" takes place on the planet Chloris which has an over-abundance of plant life and virtually no metal; the local dictator's power comes from having control of the only mine.

* The TabletopGame/DarkSun setting in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is very poor in metals, which is why obsidian is commonly used for swords, armor, and such.
* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' takes it a step further with Solemn, which is infested with a bacterium that eats exposed metal, making it a bit of a DeathWorld to Synthetic characters or those with external cyberware.
* ''TabletopGame/EmpireOfThePetalThrone'' uses this, along with the definitely tropical climate, to limit the armour available to characters.

* In browser game ''VideoGames/{{Seedship}}'' you can find a metal poor planet while looking for a new home for humanity. If you'll settle on such planet, the human colony will eventually suffer technological recession to either medieval, industrial or atomic(only if you managed to enrich scientific database of your seedship before or settled on a planet with high-tech ruins) level of technology. The colony may avoid that recession if planet got a metal-rich moon, in which case, they'll build a rocket and mine metals from the moon.

* WordOfGod says this is why the world in ''Webcomic/{{Sins}} Venials'' never seemed to advance beyond the [[MedievalStasis medieval level]]: metal was just too scarce.

* Gordon Freeman from ''Machinima/FreemansMind'' theorizes that the lightning spewing aliens come from a mineral poor planet. He offers to share Earth's prodigious mineral wealth... at high velocities.

* Some cultures developed this way thanks to a lack of access to metal, one of the more well know examples being Japan's lack of iron deposits (which lead to the traditional metal folding technique used in {{katanas|AreJustBetter}} -- [[EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana and other swords]] -- to compensate).

* Andriad from Creator/HarryHarrison's "The Pliable Animal" takes place on such a planet. Tableknives and coins are tempered glass

* ''Break Blade'' takes place in an apparent post-apocalyptic world where almost everyone is magic and controls quartz, and quartz is the most abundant thing on Earth. The logical way to wage war? Giant mecha!

[[folder:Comics]]
* Marvel's ''Crystar, Crystal Warrior'' has a variation. It's set on the planet Crystallium, which, as its name suggests, is so full of huge impressive crystals that they're literally as common as rocks, and crystal is their primary building material. They may be poor in metal, though it's never lampshaded (armor tends to be made of dragonhide, as reptiles of varying types, both big and tiny but generically called "dragons," seem to dominate the ecosystem), but the crystal is so abundant that it serves their needs just as well. What they're ''really'' lacking, we learn when they visit Comicbook/DoctorStrange on Earth, is ''wood.'' They're astonished at the incalculable wealth represented by his wooden furniture and big bookcases full of paper books.
[[/folder]]

* Break Blade takes place in an apparent post apocalypse world where almost everyone is magic and controls quartz and quartz is the most abundant thing on earth. The logical way to wage way? Giant mecha!

* Marvel's ''Crystal, Crystal Warrior'' has a variation. It's set on the planet Crystallium, which, as its name suggests, is so full of huge impressive crystals that they're literally as common as rocks, and crystal is their primary building material. They may be poor in metal, though it's never lampshaded (armor tends to be made of dragonhide, as reptiles of varying types, both big and tiny but generically called "dragons," seem to dominate the ecosystem), but the crystal is so abundant that it serves their needs just as well. What they're ''really'' lacking, we learn when they visit Comicbook/DoctorStrange on Earth, is ''wood.'' They're astonished at the incalculable wealth represented by his wooden furniture and big bookcases full of paper books.

* Marvel's ''Crystal, Crystal Warrior'' has a variation. It's set on the planet Crystallium, which, as its name suggests, is so full of huge impressive crystals that they're literally as common as rocks, and crystal is their primary building material. They may be lacking in metal (armor tends to be made of dragonhide, as reptiles of varying types, both big and tiny but generically called "dragons," seem to dominate the ecosystem), but the crystal is so abundant that it serves their needs just as well. What they're ''really'' lacking, we learn when they visit Comicbook/DoctorStrange on Earth, is ''wood.'' They're astonished at the incalculable wealth represented by his wooden furniture and big bookcases full of paper books.

* Marvel's ''Crystal, Crystal Warrior'' has a variation. It's set on the planet Crystallium, which, as its name suggests, is so full of huge impressive crystals that they're literally as common as rocks, and crystal is their primary building material. They may or may not be lacking in metal, but the crystal is so abundant that it serves their needs just as well. What they're ''really'' lacking, we learn when they visit Comicbook/DoctorStrange on Earth, is ''wood.'' They're astonished at the incalculable wealth represented by his wooden furniture and big bookcases full of paper books.

* Marvel's ''Crystal, Crystal Warrior'' has a variation. It's set on the planet Crystallium, which, as its name suggests, is so full of huge impressive crystals that they're literally as common as rocks, and crystal is their primary building material. They may or may not be lacking in metal, but the crystal is so abundant that it serves their needs just as well. What they're ''really'' lacking, we learn when they visit Comicbook/DoctorStrange on Earth, is ''wood.'' They're astonished at the incalculable wealth represented by his wooden furniture and big bookcases full of paper books.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' classic serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E3TheCreatureFromThePit The Creature from the Pit]]" takes place on the planet Chloris which has an over-abundance of plant life and virtually no metal; the local dictator's power comes from having control of the only mine.

* In browser game ''Video Games/{{Seedship}}'' you can find a metal poor planet while looking for a new home for humanity. If you'll settle on such planet, the human colony will eventually suffer technological recession to either medieval, industrial or atomic(only if you managed to enrich scientific database of your seedship before or settled on a planet with high-tech ruins) level of technology. The colony may avoid that recession if planet got a metal-rich moon, in which case, they'll build a rocket and mine metals from the moon.

* In browser game ''Video Games/Seedship'' you can find a metal poor planet while looking for a new home for humanity. If you'll settle on such planet, the human colony will eventually suffer technological recession to either medieval, industrial or atomic(only if you managed to enrich scientific database of your seedship before or settled on a planet with high-tech ruins) level of technology. The colony may avoid that recession if planet got a metal-rich moon, in which case, they'll build a rocket and mine metals from the moon.

[[folder:Manga]]

[[/folder:Video Games]]
* In browser game ''Video Games/Seedship'' you can find a metal poor planet while looking for a new home for humanity. If you'll settle on such planet, the human colony will eventually suffer technological recession to either medieval, industrial or atomic(only if you managed to enrich scientific database of your seedship before or settled on a planet with high-tech ruins) level of technology. The colony may avoid that recession if planet got a metal-rich moon, in which case, they'll build a rocket and mine metals from the moon.
[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/Honorverse'' has this issue inverted on the planet Grayson, which has far more heavy metals than Earth. The colonists that had gone to Grayson had intended to forgo all high technology (believing the planet to be their Promised Land and technology to be a temptation by Satan) and still tried to do that, making a bad situation much worse while some practical religious leadership worked hard to square their ideals with reality. Some of the last remaining technology was used to genetically engineer higher resistance to heavy metals, but at the cost of a 1/3 male/female birth ratio, accentuating the conservative patriarchy of an already polygamous society (they are roughly Space Mormons with Japanese influences). By the time of the series a millennium later, the planet is still behind the galactic technology curve, but has domed cities, orbital farms, and better fission technology than anyone else since they forgot fusion and had loads of uranium lying about.

* In ''The Integral Trees'' by Creator/LarryNiven, there is effectively no metal whatsoever in the Gas Torus where a LostColony of humanity is located; as such, all materials are made from local wood from the [[WorldInTheSky kilometer-long trees in the gas torus]] spinning around the neutron star. What little metal there is has been recycled endlessly from what the colonists brought with them.