[I expressed skepticism that the Loskalmi would get their iron through recylcing]
>I find it unconvincing that if the Loskalmi have methods to mine and
>refine copious amounts of steel there still is meaningful trade in the
>Castle Coast.
I don't see how this follows. There is no evidence that the Castle Coast trade exists mainly to service Loskalm's steel demand. Other (and more probable) markets include Tanisor and Arolanit. Throughout most of history, I would assume that Loskalm received its iron from the Tastolar uplands where the Third Eye Blue came from.
>If the Loskalmi knew how to do it before the Ban, so would
>the Carmanian settlers under Syranthir, which in turn would make iron and
>not bronze the standard metal all over Peloria, too.
Again this does not follow. There is a big difference in time between the Syranthir's Ten Thousand and the pre-Ban Loskalmi. Moreover even if there was a cast iron reference that the pre-Ban Loskalmi did not smelt iron to any great extent, that does not prevent them from discovering how to do so and doing so on a large scale during the Ban as part of the plan to make Siglat's Dream come true.
Secondly Syranthir came to Peloria with the Third Eye Blue cult who are known to make iron. Hence I assume Peloria's bronze age is due to the abundance of brass rather than the lack of knowledge about iron.
>Seshnela lies on the seam between Danmalastan and the Theist World.
>Magnetic Mountain was slightly west of the seam between Danmalastan and
>"Bamatela". The Pentan mountains are roughly on the seam between Theist
>Peloria and Mystic East.
Except that a) the Von Hills are not in Pent and b) the four worlds hypothesis in the form that you describe it has a big problem in that the Greatlands have always been Animistic.
>That still doesn't mean that I expect deposits in Loskalm proper. As far
>as I am concerned, Loskalm during the Ban was cut off from iron imports,
>and had to make do with what was in the country.
And what's to stop the Loskalmi from being geniuses and discovering ways of making iron through alchemical processes?
>One means of re-distribution of that iron may have been the socialist
>regime of disallowing hereditary nobility, making the armour and weapons
>of a knight property of the office rather than the family.
Which doesn't make iron from nothing. Yet we are informed that the Loskalmi have enough iron to equip over twenty thousand knights _and_ they've recently started putting *barding* on all the horses of one particular regiment. Recycling can only go so far and you'll always end up with less than before.
>Nida might have very deep deposits of iron,
Why must they be "deep" and not "accessible"?
>but the Nidan Mountains were
>the result of accelerated mountain seeding in Kachasti lands. If that
>would be a method to access iron deposits, I would expect the Mostali to
>have applied it elsewhere as well.
And what's to say that they haven't?
>If Nida had its own deposits, they may well have surfaced when Gonn Orta
>shattered their mountain (while rescuing the Jolanti).
Where is the reference to Gonn Orta shattering Mount Nida? DW#24 says only that he liberated the Jolanti and opened the High Llama Pass, while the Creating Jolanti article describes the destruction of part of the Nidan Mountain Kingdom.
>If these deposits
>had been plundered then, Fronela and western Peloria would have amassed
>huge amounts of iron.
Even agreeing for a moment that these deposits were made, how does Western Peloria get access to them? Syranthir doesn't have the ability to truck huge wagonloads of iron into Pelanda and for the most part of Carmanian history, Fronela is hostile territory. So that leaves Loskalm with large amounts of Iron which is consistent with the sources.
>The Third Eye Blue smiths have been cited as the only humans who managed
>to steal the secret of making iron from the mostali.
Except the third eye blue are not cited as the only people who managed to steal this secret but as _an_ example of secret stealing from the Dwarves. Moreover even if the Third Eye Blue were the only humans in Genertela to steal the secret, it doesn't stop _other_ humans from learning the secret of making iron from the Third Eye Blue!
--Peter Metcalfe
End of Glorantha Digest, Vol 11, Issue 37
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