Depends on the area of Glorantha. And for what it is worth the Central European Bronze Age was likely richer than you are giving it credit for (one of the players in our gaming group is an archeologist with the Neues Museum here in Berlin and has dramatically changed my perspective on the Central European Bronze Age - which happens to be her speciality).
> The architecture is Iron Age, even Roman Iron Age. Pelorians and God Learners both used the same type of concrete which enabled the Romans to produce all their prestigious buildings, never mind the facades of marble, natural stone or brick.
Are you sure of that? I'm certainly not.
> Gloranthan roads are Roman, too – Sartar with its dwarf-taught masonry even outshining the Pelorian network of highways, with the possible exception of the Daughter's Road (which should be considered one of the miracles of contemporary Gloranthan architecture, along with a number of really incredible (nonmagical) bridges elsewhere).
A few magically constructed roads are comparable to what the Romans had (or are even more impressive). But most are not different from the roads of the Bronze Age (which were no different from most roads of the Iron Age or the Medieval Age for that matter).
> Transportation has at least the standard of the middle Ages, if not Roman (note that Roman standards are higher than those of subsequent times well after the Renaissance). You get roads suitable for wagons, and you get wagoners even where the roads are dubious. You get mule caravans (also a very Roman Age invention).
Are you sure of that? Again, I am not.
> Shipbuilding is up to classical Mediterranean and Dark Ages Atlantic quality. (If you want Bronze Age shipbuilding, look at the Hjortspring boat, or Minoan and Sea Folk boats and simple low-board penteconters. Instead we get longships, triremes and complex rigging.)
You get boats "comparable" to longships and triremes. Comparable for rules purposes at least.
> In a sense, Glorantha is downright mediaeval in its technology, taking into account that the Imperial Age saw great mechanical (as well as mechamagical) wonders constructed by the Zistorites.
Are you talking about the Third Age in Central Genertela? Then you are likely dramatically overstating the case. And those Zistorite wonders are confined to the Machine Ruins, warded by spirits and ghosts and curses.
> Metallurgy isn't quite Bronze Age, either. Orlanthi bronze swords and Seshnegi iron swords have the same quality as the steel swords of the Iliad, and Pelorian bronze blades aren't far inferior.
Why do you imagine that Pelorian bronze blades are so superior?
> Metal nails and clamps will be used (sparingly) in construction. Admittedly Gloranthan bronze rather than iron, but hardly weaker than in Roman or mediaeval buildings. Foundries can produce bells and could theoretically produce cannons (though with the dwarf monopoly on non-magical explosives, these are unlikely to happen).
Again, are you sure of that? As I keep saying, I'm certainly not.
> The Lunar Empire may not be up to Roman standard in technology, but certainly up to the standard of Alexander's successor states.
Joerg - one thing that I have been impressed upon by folk who actually make a career in this is that there was not really much of a technological revolution between 500 BC and 100 AD. The proposition that the metal-work found at the Hochdorf grave (circa 6th century BC) is inferior to the metal-work found at the Limes just can't be supported (and I'll be an eyewitness to that since I was at both last week). As an aside, the Hochdorf vase was likely made by Greeks, but includes replacement pieces crafted by a local smith (at least by a non-Greek).
The same thing is true in Glorantha. Population numbers are far greater in 1600 S.T. as in 100 S.T., but I am not sure that the best metal-work of 1600 S.T. is any more technologically advanced than that of 100 S.T. Then again, the best metal-work in any age belongs to the dwarfs (who are marvelous and can craft things unimaginable and impossible for humans to duplicate).
Jeff
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