The Aztecs were a pre-Bronze Age society, and had some degree of literacy, quite advanced non-metallic technology, etc.
Just because Europe and the Fertile Crescent were a bit slow in developing stirrups doesn't mean that Gloranthans have to be - they have a lot more riding people, too.
Halberds, or rather: hugh axe blades on long poles, were known to the ancient Greeks (or there wouldn't be a name for them, like romphia).
Rapiers and jointed plate armour are the real issue - this is where the quality of the metal counts.
However, a rapier is nothing but a slim spatha-type longsword with a point to allow "impaling" attacks. It has little similarity with the highly elastic fencing tools of our time.
Peter Metcalfe:
>_If_ you assume that bronze in modern glorantha is just as difficult
>to work and extract as the RW bronze age cultures.
As easy to work and extract, you mean? The bummer for the bronze age was the distance the ore had to travel. Bronze is a lot easier to work and produce than iron.
>But IMO there has
>been a major increase in the amount of bronze used by glorantha over
>the years to the extent that it has become as cheaply available as
>iron was in the Iron Age.
As I recently was told by a smith working with experimental archaeologists, in that case your average stead would have one or two knives and one axe. It takes huge amounts of your average "grassy" iron ore found alongside river valleys to produce small amounts of iron, and as huge amounts of charcoal and work. And then the iron is likely to be of a quality little better than bad bronze.
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