Me>> If [Tradetalk] is just an ordinary language then why would merchants
>> use Tradetalk at all and not some pidgin version of their own
>> language?
>Because Tradetalk was there first, of course.
Not true for large parts of Glorantha. Pidgins almost certainly existed in first age Pamaltela and Vithelean lands yet Tradetalk was not spread there until the Imperial Age. So why did Tradetalk displace them?
Bob Stancliff:
>Merchants use Tradetalk because it is the official language of their
>god (devotion),
Issaries is not the god of all merchants, only Orlanthi ones.
>because it has spread through much of the world (practicality),
So people throughout much of First Age Glorantha were too stupid to create their own pidgins? And if they weren't, then _why_ has tradetalk displaced those previous pidgins?
>because the people they teach it to will usually teach it
>to someone else (universality),
So there's something in Tradetalk that makes speakers want to teach it to others? Interesting concept, but it's not an effect that occurs in RW languages.
>Issaries put all of his skill into
>designing a small language that anyone can learn and use in a minimum of
>time.
Given that it is created by a God, why would the God not use a portion of his powers to make communication easier? It is what is implied in the Tradetalk description in River of Cradles.
>This is magic in the sense that 'all sufficiently advanced technology
>will appear as magic to a primitive being'. It is also magic in the sense
>that it is created and directly given by a god, and is spread religiously
>by that god's priests.
And I suppose Issaries Create Market spell is really just a sophisticated burglar alarm? Issaries is not the type of God that goes around creating non-magical effects. He's the God of Communication which in glorantha is a particular type of magic. Likewise Humakt's sense assassin and Storm Bull's sense chaos are not really non-magical detective psychology 101 but heightened magical sensivity to the presence of death and chaos respectively.
>Many things in Glorantha that are described as
>magic, required little, or no, spell casting, just brilliant engineering
>and/or a lot of laborers.
I do not believe that the Walls of Pavis, the Roads of Sartar, the Daughter's Road, the Brazen Walls of Sog or the Building Wall are examples of brilliant engineering and/or lots of laborers.
>The dwarves have created many items of 'magic' that are appropriate for
>the late medieval and early renaissance periods on earth, and these mark
>some of the high points of their technology.
I likewise do not believe that their muskets or cannons use RW blackpowder but an equivalent magical substance instead. Likewise their gnomes and jolanti are seen as magical substances. Thus they are examples of Dwarf magic and the dwarves do not see any division between magic and technology.
>Tradetalk is the closest thing Glorantha has to a common tongue and most
>adventurers have to learn it if they are going to travel much or work
>closely with other cultures.
Not really. If you want to work with Lunars then learning New Pelorian would be more effective as Lunar Officials would be more receptive towards you if you sucked up to them speaking New Pelorian rather than Tradetalk. You would even get a better deal with the Malkioni if you spoke their language and not Tradetalk which damns you as a pagan and so it goes.
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #128
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