The list does tend to get into a lot of intellectual and theoretical discussions. That's fine; certain people crave that. I finally learned (and this is my advice to everyone else who gets confused at time) that I didn't have to absorb everything on the list. I tend to just look for topics that interest me, and read those. I freely admit, that I didn't know what a Dara Happen was until this weekend, and just skipped the whole Yelm discussion that has been going. So, to those people like myself who find stuff occasionally confusing and over your head, don't worry about it. You don't have to know everything about Glorantha. I'm quite content to learn about the Storm and Earth cults and the Dragon Pass area, since that is where our campaign centers.
*Gloranthan Metals*
I think it is difficult to make comparisons between RW metals and Gloranthan bronze and iron. Glorantha is a magical world, and its metals are the bones of dead gods! Hence, it isn't going to behave like metal in our world. Gloranthan iron doesn't have to correspond to RW iron, and shouldn't. We don't have magic, and hence, have no idea if RW iron would affect magical casting or if it could be enchanted. Gloranthan metals surely have some similar properties to RW metal (both solid, both durable, both malleable, etc.), but Gloranthan metals also have vastly differing properties. Perhaps Gloranthan bronze is much tougher than RW bronze, just as Glorantha iron has inate magical components.
As far as iron being "common" in the west, it all depends on your definition
of common.
It may simply mean that is available in the west, but it doesn't nessecarily
mean that there is enough to outfit a century of knights in iron armor. If
there are hundreds of sets of iron plate armor in the west, I would think
that some Orlanthi from the Holy Country might hop on over and take some of
the iron by force due to its value. Just think of how many iron shields you
could make out of a set of plate armor. It may be common enough that the
knights own an iron sword and/or shield, but to have dozens of knights in
iron plate armor seems a little excessive. Doesn't mean that it can't be
that way in your campaign, it just means that those knights better hold onto
all that iron.
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