Gloranthan Minis, More Sun Stuff.

From: Gary R Switzer <gswitzer_at_loop.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 16:56:16 -0800

I suppose I'm showing my age but I still have some of the original Gloranthan minis, those made by Archive back in the late 70's. These included many of the Heroes from WB&RM (Gunda, Harek, Jar-Eel, Beat Pot, Ironhoof), Nomad Gods (memory fails me here) and some basic monsters such as the Jack O'Bear and Dragon Snail. Oh, and ducks...lots and lots of ducks. Archive was still kind of in business as late as 1988, IIRC, showing up at the occasional Dundracon, and the molds probably still exist...somewhere.

On the subject of Noon and the Sun in the Sky:

Michael Cule says:

>I think no. It seems to me that Noon on Glorantha is the hour at which
Yelm is
>at his highest point above the lozenge, in the mid point between Dawn and
Dusk.

I'm thinking that there would be a distinction between Universal Noon and Local Apparent Noon that would vary depending on where you are. (Maybe, once upon a time, there was even a God Learner Noon, different still.)

Then Peter Metcalfe says:

>Personally I'm of the opinion that glorantha really has time zones but

             >nobody knows this.
>Thus days look normal wherever one is on glorantha.

But where is the MGF in that? And time zones in a world of Yelmdials and waterclocks?

Then Alex Ferguson almost gives me a nickname and says:

>This is the dread "solar [or anything else] parallax
>question", and is, even as we speak, Not Settled. Even supposing that
>such places do show clearly distinct views of the sun, then as we don't
>know how (apparently) "big" the Sky Dome is, we don't know much different
>they're going to be.

But, couldn't one measure degrees of arc and notice differences without knowing how big the Sky Dome is? The more of the Sky Dome Yelm traverses in a given time, the larger the Dome is. If Yelm is directly overhead in Sog City only a shot time after it is in Boldholm, then the Dome (and the distance between the Gates of Dawn and Dusk) is quite large, but if Local Noon in Sog City is noticably later in the day (to someone from Someplace Else) then that would indicate a smaller Dome. Your third "possibly" may be very near the mark. :)

I even get mildly Sandied when he says:

> In my opinion the Sun is so far from Glorantha that it does not
>seem appreciably further away at Dawn whether you are in the East Isles
>or Jrustela.

I guess what I am getting at is that the further West you are at Dawn the more stuff is in the way, sometimes for much of the morning, whereas if you are in the Eastern-most East Isles you get a pretty clear view, while the opposite occurs when Yelm sinks slowly in the West. It also occurs to me that Kero Finn would be Glorantha's biggest Yelmdial, casting a shadow that would reach, at Dawn and Dusk, clear to the edge of Dragon Pass and beyond.  Perhaps our SFC friends could tell us what their characters see at such times?

Gary R. Switzer--Aero Hobbies

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