> I'm not an expert on Glorantha in any way, shape, or form, so I
> realise this might have been explained in some source that I haven't
> even heard of, much less seen, but I was wondering if diamond had any
> of the impact that iron seems to have had on Gloranthan societies?
Well, diamond is the magically altered remains of long-dead Aldryami, so it is one of the few things that are sacred to Aldryami and Mostali. I'm not sure what effects that has on cultures, though.
> Does diamond have any useful properties that are usable by non-Mostali
> craftsmen or magicians?
Apart from being very hard and being able to scratch glass? I suppose Caladra and Aurelion archers could make arrowheads from diamond, if they were being flash, but that's about it.
Don't they speak Diamondtongue as well? Diamond is their cult material, I should think. Sharper than obsidian, lighter than copper or gold, but very rare.
Peter Metcalfe:
> There is also the trivia fact that Adamant is the greek word for Diamond
> so the two substances might be related at some level.
I can see diamond as being the pinnacle of minerals, but adamant is pure Law (or refined Truestone if you want to make any nowadays) so I'm not sure how they could be connected. Maybe you could refine diamond to get adamant, or maybe not.
John Machin:
> I was wondering, assuming that Hepherones' Elemental Philosophy is
> correct and there is a sixth element, where would this fit in the
> Elemental Progression? Would it instead be a kind of neutral "axis
> 'pon which the others turn" sort of thing or would it take a place in
> the cycle, conquering one element while being conquered by another? Or
> wouldn't it fit in at all (thus showing that the Philosophy is
> flawed)?
Well, the Lunars probably claim that Moon is the Sixth Element and it does seem to fit. The idea of Moon as an axis between the other elements dovetails nicely into the idea of the rotating, changing moon. Moon's sense is Balance, which fits the axis idea.
>From another point of view, the Red Goddess freed the Young Elementals, so
Moon could be seen as the culmination of the elemental track, although the
Young Elementals lack Air and the Moon was born from Sky not Air, so it is
not an exact match.
The philosophy is probably flawed anyway, but is still useful in that it categorises the elements quite nicely, thanks, and gives a lot of useful game stuff, for instance elemental metals, senses, body parts and such like. It also keeps Tin as the Air metal, rather than having Silver, which everyone knows is Lunar and not Air....
See Ya
Simon
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