Volume of Mostali

[Lord High Munchkin]

Has anyone considered that a Mostali is roughly about 0.01 cubic metres... melting down one of them gold caste types, might be quite a profitable undertaking.

Mind you, it would be c. 193 kilos of gold Mostali to shift... so bring a wagon.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Has anyone considered that a Mostali is roughly about 0.01 cubic metres... melting down one of them gold caste types, might be quite a profitable undertaking.

Mind you, it would be c. 193 kilos of gold Mostali to shift... so bring a wagon.

If you mean Gold-caste Clay Mostali, then you're out of luck, they are man-rune creatures just like Uz and Aldryami are so they are (mostly) made of flesh and bone. If you mean the original, true Gold Mostali, then they are largely made of gold, but they are rare, well-defended, and very, very powerful. Taking on a True Mostali is like taking on a Mistress Race Troll, in other words it's like taking on a demigod that has walked the earth since before the dawn. Good luck with that!

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

It was a "straw man".

That said, the reason I started this is that 'Monster Colosseum' actually says that they are moulded out of the metals (although gold dwarves only have a gold-leaf "skin"—probably over a structural frame, as mentioned under the quicksilver entry).

Aldryami as you mention are tied to the Man-rune, but Aldryami are not composed of flesh... they are made of pith, cuticle, sap, leaves, and wood. Additionally, why are female Aldryami depicted with breasts... what would those be for in Aldryami terms? It's not like they nurture saplings with milk— Aldryami merely plant their feet in the soil to draw water and nutrients, and expose themselves to Yelm. Actually why woven cloth clothes, those have to be made, (or clothes at all, bar to please outsiders, as it would hinder plant functions)?

 

[PhilHibbs]

It was a "straw man".

I expected as much, I had written a bit of slightly more tongue-in-cheek text at the beginning of the post but I think I accidentally deleted it. I hope I didn't come over as a nay-saying old grump!

Aldryami as you mention are tied to the Man-rune, but Aldryami are not composed of flesh... they are made of pith, cuticle, sap, leaves, and wood. Additionally, why are female Aldryami depicted with breasts... what would those be for in Aldryami terms? It's not like they nurture saplings with milk— Aldryami merely plant their feet in the soil to draw water and nutrients, and expose themselves to Yelm. Actually why woven cloth clothes, those have to be made, (or clothes at all, bar to please outsiders, as it would hinder plant functions)?

The Man Rune gives them their general form, some of which may be redundant, and I do think that it affects their composition - they're not made of solid wood (IMO), and I imagine their sap as flowing more like blood than tree-sap does. Similarly, Gold Mostali would have gold in their system - their bones might be infused with it, and impregnated in their skin as well. Their blood might have a golden colour and a small amount of gold may be distilled from it.

It also raises an interesting question, were Gold Mostali lightweight, floating beings before the death of Yelm? That's when all gold died and came down to earth with a thump, in an attempt to join Yelm in the underworld.

 

[Loz]

It also raises an interesting question, were Gold Mostali lightweight, floating beings before the death of Yelm? That's when all gold died and came down to earth with a thump, in an attempt to join Yelm in the underworld.

This would be the Solar explanation. The Mostali have a different explanation: the seven metals were already available to Mostal before the sun died.

 

[Rasta]

That said, the reason I started this is that 'Monster Colosseum' actually says that they are moulded out of the metals (although gold dwarves only have a gold-leaf "skin"—probably over a structural frame, as mentioned under the quicksilver entry).

I never much liked the idea that Clay Mostali would be anything other than Clay Mostali. I always thought the castes were just descriptions of professions. I didn't like the idea that they would have natural armor either.

Aldryami as you mention are tied to the Man-rune, but Aldryami are not composed of flesh... they are made of pith, cuticle, sap, leaves, and wood. Additionally, why are female Aldryami depicted with breasts... what would those be for in Aldryami terms? It's not like they nurture saplings with milk— Aldryami merely plant their feet in the soil to draw water and nutrients, and expose themselves to Yelm. Actually why woven cloth clothes, those have to be made, (or clothes at all, bar to please outsiders, as it would hinder plant functions)?

Presumably, covering the head and feet would be the only thing that would interfere with "plant functions". They would likely wear shoes for protection, and probably only cover their head with armor if at all. Perhaps other clothes would serve a social function.

Perhaps they routinely remove shoes or headwear to "get a breather".

Interesting questions.

 

[PhilHibbs]

With any of these questions, there are differences of opinion, and "The One True Gloranthan Answer" is hard to come by. When something has been published in a Mongoose book, then anyone writing official Mongoose stuff should consider respecting it so as not to confuse the players that do like to go by the book. For instance, Dragonewts are supposed to be incomprehensible and unpredictable, and while the Races of Glorantha writeup of Dragonewt philosophy does leave a large degree of scope for bizarre and baffling behaviour, it does pin down some hard rules such as "getting too close to human culture is bad for Draconic progression", and maybe even these speculations are not to be trusted as absolute certainties. In my game, Gold Dwarves are not made of gold. If I were to write an official scenario, I'd have to discuss that detail with the chief editor of the Gloranthan product line. If it were a Living Glorantha scenario, then I expect it would have to have an even more stringent consistency check against other Living Glorantha material.

But in your game, go with the answer that you like best.

 

[soltakss]

The original True Mostali were, indeed, made of their metals, but they are to Mostali (Dwarfs) what Mistress Race Trolls are to trollkin, and then some.

When most of the Mostali died after the Spike exploded and they lost Mostal's Workshop, some of the True Mostali survived. However, the Mostali wanted to retain their knowledge and produced Castes that passed down the inherent knowledge of the True Mostali to normal dwarfs. So, Clay Mostali (Dwarfs) can belong to the different Castes and be known as Gold Mostali, Iron Mostali and so on.

Some Mostali managed to find a way to emulate their abilities, so producing the Diamond Dwarfs who are normal Clay Mostali but with special abilities appropriate to their Caste. They are close to, but not as powerful as, the original True Mostali.

How many True Mostali are still in existence? Nobody knows. The Dwarf of Dwarf Run is said to be a True Mostali as, perhaps, was Flintnail. Tales of the Reaching Moon has a True Iron Mostali guarding Dwarf Knoll in Prax. I can't think of any other True Mostali off the top of my head, but I am sure that some of the rulers of the Mostali Cities are True.

 

[PhilHibbs]

It also raises an interesting question, were Gold Mostali lightweight, floating beings before the death of Yelm? That's when all gold died and came down to earth with a thump, in an attempt to join Yelm in the underworld.

This would be the Solar explanation. The Mostali have a different explanation: the seven metals were already available to Mostal before the sun died.

So that's a "no", then, presumably gold was only a floating, dancing, light metal in Yelm's court and the areas in which his mythology was dominant.