Thunderstones, meteorology

From: Ian Gorlick <Ian.Gorlick.igorlick_at_nt.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 17:04:23 -0400


The thunderstone debate has stirred up my cheesy physics impulses. Weird and silly ideas follow. Be warned.

Ever wonder why our science of weather is called meteorology? Our ancestors believed that meteors were an atmospheric phenomenon so the study of the air became misnamed as meteorology.

Now, what if, in Glorantha, they were right? Could meteors actually be weather and not astrophysics?

Imagine being near ground zero of a meteorite strike. You see a bright flash and then you hear a loud, sharp bang. The closest phenomenon in your experience would be lightning and thunder, so obviously it is a sending of Orlanth.

You go over to the crater and find inside it a smoking lump of iron. Iron is the metal of the storm gods. Obviously this is a gift from Orlanth of his sacred metal.

Sometimes instead of iron, you find a rocky chondrite. This would be the prototypical "thunderstone". It isn't flint but the mode of its arrival proves the presence of a powerful lighting spirit.

So while ordinary lightning is the manifestation of Orlanth's spear, then meteors (thunderstones) would be his sling.

Bonus:
The Red Goddess has her Crater Makers. This would be another intrusion of the RG into Orlanth's realm and powers. Another reason to hate the bint.

There could also be some implications for interactions between Orlanthi and Yelornans. (For those of us who still play around Pavis.)
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