>I don't know where Joerg got this.
From "growing up" with RQ3, I suppose.
>Pure metals are _still_
>special, are _still_ often termed "Rune Metals", and are _still_
>able to strike lycanthropes etc. when enchanted.
Big deal. Sorry, Sandy, but there is nothing in da Roolz for the metals that indicates you can use only purified metals for the enchantments. In a few cases the newer stuff contradicts the RQ2 statements WRT metals.
Take for example the coinage. Wouldn't you think that a Wheel would make a superior surface for light spells? It's gold, it is enchanted (when coined from the metal bar by a Lokarnos priest), and its a coin. Is it pure gold, or does it have one of the usual three-quarter or half gold contents?
> In addition, most metals have some special feature. For
>instance, unenchanted Silver is able to strike lycanthropes, unlike
>any other metal.
Nothing is said about the purity, so I assumed that any "alloy" (read: metal produced from somewhat impure ore) with sufficient high silver content to retain the name silver would do the trick.
Note that the purity of a metal to retain its character can range from 75% (as with yellow, red, and possibly white 18 karat gold) to far more than 90% (in the case of copper, which will become a bronze with less than 10% tin, or brass with somewhat higher additions of zinc ores added).
I suspect that the sacred copper axes of the Babeester Gor maidens are actually made of (the equivalent of) arsenic copper (not for any poison character, which would be about as critical as amalgam tooth-fillings, but for hardness).
> No metal but iron has the magic inhibition effect, true
>enough, but all other metals require enchantment to bring them to
>the hardness of Bronze. Otherwise a gold or silver blade is less
>than worthwhile.
I didn't necessarily think of blades, but of everyday implements. Brooches, fibles (are buttons known on Glorantha?), needles and pins, pans, spoons, cups, coins, musical instruments, and so on.
Under RQ2 rules, the pure elemental metals were magical in themselves. They inhibited any magic, then, which isn't quite the effect I'd like to see. However, even unenchanted lead or gold should further/hinder light/darkness magic or natural phenomenons.
BTW, has Peter Metcalfe's theory (supported by "experimental evidence") which made tin (Ze-metal) quenched gold (El-metal) been accepted, rejected, or made its way into the numerous contradicting theories on Gloranthan metals?
And is Gloranthan bronze (Hu-metal) alloyed from 9 parts ga-metal and one part ze-metal, or more balanced in its composition?
Oh, and can hu-metal be enchanted? Will enchanted hu-metal harm lycanthropes? Will hu-metal crafted from actual divine bones do the trick?
A lot og Gloranthan metallurgy remains to be written...
Martin Crim contributes an interesting observation:
>The one thing I've never heard of being made of bronze is the humble horse
>shoe.
Does anyone know when the horse shoe came into common use? Was this during the Roman Empire (with its stone-paved roads)?
If hu-metal has to be hardened in fire and if it resists reshaping by simply hammering it into the desired form (e.g. to resharpen blades), it will do nicely.
BTW, air-metal horse shoes correspond nicely with the Breaking of Hippoi myth. How better tame a sky beast than attach it to storm metal?
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