> Mikko Rintasaari writes:
>
> > :What other weirdnesses do we have to explain? A tin
> > :roof? What's the mythic significance of tin?
>
> > Storm
>
> Storm is either bronze, silver or iron.
>
> --Peter Metcalfe
It depends how one reads and seeks coherence into the published sources: The stuff in Elder Secrets is very ambigious, and the main article is a 'within the world' type of article. Hardly the final word on the subject.
I know you love sticking with every word of every article published Peter, but parhaps it's worth concidering making some decisions.
Here's a scheme that I find has the most coherence.
Copper = Earth (earth deities accross the board) Gold = Fire/Sky (Yelm and the other proper solar guys) Silver = Lesser celestial realm, stars and moons. (Yelorna, Red Goddess) Tin = Primal storm/lightning (Umath)
[Iron = Death (Iron Mostali, Humakt?, Kargan Tor?)]
Bronze is an alloy, very neatly one of copper and tin. Copper has always been clearly indicated as the metal of earth. Bronze has often been indicated as the metal of Orlanth. As a young god, with his parentage (an earth/mountain goddess and Umath the primal storm) it makes sense that he's metal is bronze. The alloy that combines two primal powers and brings out something more resilient.
Interestingly enough Orlanth didn't have lighting until he took his birthright back from Yavor Lighting. (The solar warrior who took lightning from the brain of Umath).
***
There's often been references and hint's to this scheme in published works. Lighing bearing artefacts tend to be tin armbands. I seem to recall tin runed swords with storm magic, and so on.
Bronze has never been one of the pure runic metals (that effect magic and harm lychantropes...)
Iron eats magic and is scary in other ways. Invention of the Mostali, they claim. Propably something that appeared after the discovery of death. Not something I'd link with Orlanth in any other sense than that of a weapon in his hand.
***
Personally I'm really fond of these aspects of Glorantha, and fantasy in general. Mythic and magical resonanses with the physical substanses of the world help keep one's thinking aligned with a magical world.
Hence I like using gems in addition to the usual use of crystals. Luckily there's some quidelines in the old published stuff for this too.
Storm = Diamond Fire = Topaz, parhaps amber (for blood spilled into the sea) Earth = Emerald, jade* Sea = Sapphire (the classic blue kind) Darkness = Jet, Black pearls
*Though I mostly like to portray Jade in relation to Kralorela and the EWF, reflecting the ancient Chinise near worship of the stone.
With some work one could find some gems and substances to link with the other runic powers too.
For those people who like to fiddle with detail, I give bonuses for enchantments created with mythically appropriate materials. The larger and more flawless the gem, the better. Of course one doesn't need actual rules to benefit from this. It's still nice to have such things to draw on when thinking up the apprearance of items.
An iron sword with swirling air runes of embedded tin and a hilt adorned with a diamond(s), for instance (for a neat Storm sword, of course). In my experience players love such descriptions and details, and the consistency this brings.
Just my meager scholary aspirations, of course.
-Adept
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