<< Candles in sealed bottles, etc - in my Glorantha the usual result of such
experiments is that the experimenter gets lynched as a God Learner.>>
Even dwarves?
Dan McCluskey:
<<Covering a fire with Linen or burying it in dirt CAN extinguish the fire, as
you are exposing it to Darkness. Lack of Air doesn't hurt the fire, it is the
darkness summoned by the linen or earth covering -- and everyone knows that
darkness and fire are enemies.>>
But fire doesn't go out at night or in a dark cave, though. I have no doubt that a strong presence of darkness (e.g. a shade, those clouds of darkness in Dagori Inkarth mentioned in Drastic, etc.) can reduce the strength of a flame or extinguish it, but what if you put your candle in a metal box and carry it about (possibly a useful tactic for an adventurer who's going to need a light but doesn't want to get spotted sneaking around beforehand). Somebody's bound to have tried it, and the darkness inside the box is no stronger than that you'd get in a cave so by your logic the candle wouldn't go out.
Now maybe it would in your Glorantha but if so, it contradicts not just
20th century physics (which is fine) but even the way that bronze age
societies would
have understood the world and makes it difficult for players to formulate
tactics because even basic things don't work the same way. Personally, I find
this to be going too far, but maybe that's just me.
David Cheng:
<<GM: You're deep in the cave. There is a sulfurous smell in the air.
There is a rockslide. You're trapped.
Player: What's the chance my character can make a roll on his high
Intelligence to make gunpowder from the sulfur in the cave? We'll blow our way
out!
GM: Um, your chacter is an Orlanthi thane... Where does he get the
inspiration that gunpowder is made from sulfur?>>
This is an example of using 20th century knowledge (or even 14th century for that matter) which is clearly a Bad Thing. Its not quite the same as saying that wind doesn't make fire grow stronger, fire in enclosed spaces won't go out and those same people trapped by the rockslide won't suffocate - all of these are things that real, myth-based bronze age/iron age cultures would know and ought to be the same in Glorantha, IMO.
Of course, the reason's *why* they work are quite different and if anyone did attempt to put some renaissance or later knowledge to use, there's no reason to assume it would work. In order for air to be breathable it not only has to be present, but it also has to be in contact with Orlanth/Storm in one way or another (or possibly with Entekos if you're Pelorian, the detail is unimportant) - when you're down a cave trapped by a rockfall with no appreciable gaps in the air is no longer in contact with the Middle Air, and that's why you suffocate, not because of some chemistry and physiology connected with 'oxygen'. And somebody else explained how flames eat air - I'd add that if the bit of air is really strong it takes objection to this and beats up the flame which is then 'blown out'.
So, IMO, bronze age physics is OK and its just our enlightenment era stuff that's a no-no. Even for dwarves, who have different ways of doing things that just look like our technology superficially.
<<And, what is gunpowder?>>
That stuff the dwarves make to cause explosions - the existence of dwarven cannons has, I believe been established in Glorantha from an early date, although we do know that they're pretty rare and I'd agree that an Orlanthi is unlikely to know how they do it.
Mind you, they don't necessarily make it with saltpetre (sulphur is OK, because that comes from volcanos which have a pretty obvious mythic link with things going bang) and they probably require a Stabilise Explosion spell or suchlike.
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #368
Powered by hypermail