Peter talked about iron ore used by human smiths: unless they are Third Eye Blue smiths, I doubt they are able to. All metallic "iron" in Glorantha comes from Mostali sorcery/technology. All non-metallic iron - be it rust, hematite/bloodstone, blood, ochre, magnetite, pyrite - has little if any connection to hu-metal. Or, to use an analogy of the phlogiston theory (stuff that burns gets lighter because the "fire-stuff" component is released - something finally proved in E=3Dm c squared), rusted iron has lost its death properties.
Special cases might be made for pyrite (predecessor for steel in "flint and steel" fire starters) and magnetite (looks metallic, is ferro-magnetic...), comparatively pure iron ores.
Iron ores are abundant in real world soil and rock - oxygen-bound iron (and to a lesser extent sulfur-bound iron) is what makes rocks look greyish or red, mostly.
Ochre is relatively pure iron ore mythically tied to life and blood. Chemically, too...
Gloranthan bronze being close enough to cheap steel (aka blacksmith's iron) in quality, I suppose that the normal metallurgic means (smelting of ore, addition of easily available reduction agents like charcoal) won't yield even the brittle, hardly useful stuff processing bog iron ore does. This technology is sufficiently known to Gloranthans if they use tin and lead (or alloys thereof).
As a chemist, I like to keep some Gloranthan natural law close enough to the real world. The case of Gloranthan iron is special, though.
Let's forget about modern chemistry for a while and go back to early renaissance metallurgy, as in the great books of Georg Agricola. Let's find out what made iron so special back then:
Back to Gloranthan basics of metallurgy. RuneQuest 2 hints at the concept of essential, hermetically pure metals which require enchantment or they disturb magic, and mentions that coins usually are alloys just for this reason.
Metallic iron is different because it buggers up magic even in less pure form. But then silver has a similar property (able to wound magical beings unaffected by other metal).
IMO the magic-dampening effects of hermetically pure metals still are at work in Glorantha. As well as magical means (called "enchant metal") to circumvent this. By logical extension there ought to be a method to create objects from hermetically purified iron which don't dampen magical effects.
Enchanted pure metals don't lose their other magical properties, they rather increase those. Enchanted iron might be stronger in separation magics (death-dealing).
As a side trip to troll cuisine and mostali bones: uz like eating mostali. Their usual fare would be iron mostali since those are the most likely caste to be encountered. Mostali tend to have or develop metallic bones. Iron mostali are known to use magic, especially the most devout ones.
Possible conclusions:
- unlike with other food, an uz eating an iron mostali will pick the meat
off the bones and ritually destroy them. They might even have a rite to
summon dehori demons to carry the death stuff back into Subere's keeping.
- metals still in bone form (be it mostali or divine) count as enchanted
hermetic stuff.
- Mostali know special magic to use with hermetically pure metals beyond
normal "enchant metal" effects, making their metal creatures rather
magic-proof to opponents.
All enchanted metal weapons might still count as "magical" attacks affecting creatures otherwise immune to damage from metal.
Speculations on iron:
Terminology:
"iron" and "steel" are pretty much interchangeable terms for products from
the smithy. Steel usually is carbon steel, not modern alloys.
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