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>IMO even if there are rare Gloranthan (human) metallurgists able
>to produce iron from some of its ubiquitious ores, it would be
>as strange and rare as Aluminium was in the 19th century - expensive
>because of the (possibly unnecessary) magical and otherwise preparations.
>The TEB smiths know how to work iron, but can they refine iron ore? IMO
>not.
umm, from what I've heard the Dwarf City of Kitor are the wretched slaves of a Third Eye Blue Hero (where anywhere else they would be the wretched slaves of their own philosophy }B-). I would expect some diffusion of being able to smelt Iron Ore but I would agree with you that such a process is likely to be incredibly expensive.
>The God Forgot people might once have known the secret of processing
>Gloranthan iron ore to metal - Machine City mass produced crude magical
>swords, which might well have been of (similarly crude) iron.
hmm? They were Ibiros Brand-X swords with a permanent Bladesharp 3 enchanted in the crystal of the sword. (sources Glorantha Book G:CotHW and the Mostal Special of Different Worlds). The magical power is more likely to derive from mass production of magic crystals.
>BTW, how do the Mostali produce iron? Do they process iron oxide or
>sulfide ores, or do they scratch up bones from fallen Iron Mostali
>only? Or do they summon the iron from other sources?
I think the Mostali mine iron ore, but I don't think they have the knowlege of (or care about) where it came from. Humans in their circumstances would by the slanting foreheaded primates for you. This is different from knowing where such an ore would be likely to be found.
>The Hittite fully armoured
>warriors kept the edge over the less armoured peoples of the Levantine
>area unless tactically outmanoeuvred (David of Judaea) for some time.
I think you mean armed here, Joerg. Iron Armour was a much later invention (ie the Greek Hoplites still use bronze armour) mainly because of the difficulty then of smithing iron plate which was not brittle.
Joerg asked about the Sedalpists:
>Where in Fonrit were they settled?
There is a Temple of the Invisible God in Tondiji. It's probable in current light of the latest Malkioni scholarship that this is a temple was a temple to the Creator instead.
And the Sorcery Rules:
>However,
>with the rules standing as they are, sorcerers are suckered when it
>comes to certain powers if they remain pure.
>However, IMO, they needn't, at least not Old Malkioni and Brithini or
>Vadeli sorcerers. IMO the Kingdom of Logic had numerous schools of
>sorcery with spells for a certain Element or Power (as per the Runes of
>the Celestial Court).
With spells like Form/set darkness, Glow etc? I think the schools are a thing of the past and the boundaries have long since dissolved. Further - -more I would credit the Elemental Schools to the Seshnegi (Predawn and Pagan).
>IMO these schools were taken by later monotheist Malkioni philosophers
>to make up the tales of the False Gods Worlath, Ehilm and Humct (as
>given in the Prosopaedia - I reckon there were others as well: Macsta the
>Sea Sorcerer, anyone?).
Whilst I agree the False Gods are Euhemerized, I prefer to make them Lawgivers of Equal Standing with Malkion the Lawgiver (ie before he recieved his Divine Relevation). I dislike the logical ordering of the universe and would suggest that the Lawgivers operated like Islamic Jurists (ie one can choose which cleric to follow in matters of faith and living).
Cryptomat:
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>Since I don't have the time or energy to write volumes about The Invisible
>God and His Prophet, Malkion, I keep hoping that someone will find me some
>Arabs somewhere in Glorantha. While Persian Carmanians aren't Arabs, they
>are the closest thing that I've seen so far.
Try Fonrit with Ompalam with his emphasis on submission. I know Ompalam is considered Evil but this may have been the work of the Kalabarian God Learners. The Culture (in a rare lapse of earthly comparison by Sandy and Greg) is stated to similar to North Africa (ie Barbary Pirates, Mali et al.)
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