I can almost see James Turner's bottom lip quivering
as he sits waiting for someone, anyone to reply to his
armour question. As my geas prevents me allowing a
dumb animal to suffer ... no I can't say that :-)
_
Anyway, armour metal -
OK, it was necessary to consider iron as the basic metal
for RQIII because of the "Fantasy Europe" setting but
the same rules work equally well (or badly) assuming
the standard metal is Gloranthan bronze.
_
Does it say anywhere that the plate armour worn by the
mounted clanking ones of the far west is generally iron
or steel? I've always assumed most western knights
are in bronze armour.
_
It may not always be possible to tell which metal has
been used. For starters Gloranthan bronze may not
always be "bronze-coloured". Remember the metal is
mined from the buried bones of long-dead gods and the
gods are renowned for for being as varied as the mortals
who worship them. This allows those of us who use
miniatures for RQ or Gloranthan battles to use historical
figures with a clear conscience.
_
"The Duke of Tortun keeps her inner guards in shirts
cunningly worked from thousands of tiny scales of
metal. They say that each scale is of a different colour
and that the bronze comes from mines along the Doskior
River valley. A functionary in the Duke's household told
me that the bronze is the last remains of an army of a
thousand godlings killed by Arkat the Hero during the
Gbaji War. I politely demured from puncturing this
obvious falsehood as I may be able to make further
use of this talkative underling."
____Raphius Palzi writing to Balzakus Mistae,
____Lunar Governor of Kartolin, 1620 S.T.
_
"The Third Eye Blue people who came to our land from
Peloria in the time of King Oslap know many secrets of
the working of metal. Among the enchantments is one
to change the colour of bronze before it is worked into
weapon or armour. To do this they need to bathe the
red-hot metal in a certain fluid.
Now if Olwy Gundarsson is to have a hauberk of fine
blue mail for his wedding feast at the end of Storm
Season the redsmith will have to start drawing the wire
in two weeks' time.
And that's why we want you to bring us the milk of a
troll priestess before ten days are up. I'm sure you can
see this is for the good of the clan...."
____Magnus Sothcott, carl of the Balnoring clan, Sartar.
_
"Go, scout for the sky scratchers, and make them give you
metal cooking pots before you come back. And make
sure you get the red metal ones, they heat up quicker!"
____Uruul the Basmoli's aunt sending him off to serve the
____Sun Domers.
_
Oh look, he's smiling!
_
Richard Crawley
richardc_at_sypte.co.uk
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