Red Moon Exports

[Sir_Godspeed]

The Red Moon is a divine realm, a place with a geography and natural features and a civilization of sorts, even though it is of course mythic and weird and all that stuff.

My question is quite simply: is there any kind of trade between the Red Moon and the Middle World. My one assumption is a tribute train, but maybe that stops at Glamour. Are there exports from the Red Moon, perhaps as gifts to especially noteworthy cult members or Lunar nobility? If so, what are these?

[Akhôrahil]

Moon Rock, for sure!

[soltakss]

Of course there are exports from the Red Moon:

• Scarlet Scimitars
• Red Jumpers (Is that what they are called? They were in Plunder or a Plunder Plus)
• Moon Swords
• Nightmares
• Cheese
• Dreams
• Demons
• Tomatoes (seem to remember a short story where someone smuggled tomato pips out from the Red Moon)
• Moon Rock
• Moonbeams

 

[Nick Brooke]

Moon Rock at great velocity, if you anger the Crater Makers sufficiently.

Brilliant ideas. Inspiration. Progress. Revolutionary Idealism. All valuable exports.

We know from the Guide to Glamour that Moonson leads hunting parties up the Silver Bridge to hunt on the surface of the Red Moon, so add bizarre moon animal parts, meats, etc.

@soltakss is remembering Lunar Sweaters from Plunder., but they're actually made by a craftsman working in the heart of the Lunar Empire, who is not stated to be on the Red Moon.

[soltakss]

13 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

@soltakss is remembering Lunar Sweaters from Plunder., but they're actually made by a craftsman working in the heart of the Lunar Empire, who is not stated to be on the Red Moon.

Thanks Nick. 

Does the Rough Guide to Glamour have a section on exports from the Red Moon?

[Nick Brooke]

No. But it does have the lyrics to Pelorian Rhapsody, and a picture of a Broo toilet attendant. Will that do?

[soltakss]

Good enough.

[Nick Brooke]

Being briefly serious: the surface of the Red Moon is an otherworldly, heavenly location, like Orlanth's Hall or Yelm's Chariot or the Sky Dome.

While there are certainly magical substances and artifacts that can only be obtained from those places, I think it'd be absurd to start measuring a balance of trade or quantifying exports between the Middle World and the God Plane.

The biggest magical intrusion from the Red Moon into the economy of the Lunar Empire is the Red Dancer of Power, who manages it according to her own weird perceptions of economic cycles and epicycles. Being from the Lunar sphere, she is -- by definition -- utterly insane in mortal terms. That's the Lunar economy for you.

(You can see her on the back cover of the Rough Guide to Glamour, read about her inside its pages (or on my antique website), and she also has a rather tasty cameo role in a convention scenario I really ought to finish writing before Darren Happens and Pookie are released from lockdown) 

[Qizilbashwoman]

45 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

Lunar Sweaters

tell me about the lunar sweaters

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

Tomatoes (seem to remember a short story where someone smuggled tomato pips out from the Red Moon)

maize, and probably all the foods we call "New World Crops" in real life, are from the moon. GO POTATOES.

If you do the conversion, maize first is revealed on the Cube by Hon-Eel... in 1495 ST. The same year it was introduced in Europe.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Qizilbashwoman

[Nick Brooke]

10 minutes ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

tell me about the lunar sweaters

They're a daft magic item from Plunder, one of the RuneQuest Classics. I wouldn't use them in my Glorantha, because it Varies.

[Joerg]

4 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

My question is quite simply: is there any kind of trade between the Red Moon and the Middle World. My one assumption is a tribute train, but maybe that stops at Glamour. Are there exports from the Red Moon, perhaps as gifts to especially noteworthy cult members or Lunar nobility? If so, what are these?

Trade items:

• All manner of illuminating substances and food for the tables of the cognoscenti in Silver Shadow Satrapy, and especially those of the Emperor.
• Space 1889-style liftwood or moon reeds for moon boat construction.

Each trading expedition to the Red Moon is a heroquest or quest into a magical land at least as hard as the expedition across Dorastor. The Etyries cult might sponsor some.

Entering the Red Moon may be similarly addictive as is entering the continent of Vithela. Unlike Vithela, the moon has madness and raving chaos awaiting right next to blissful rapture, so there may be dangers. A good level at illumination is advisable for every visitor of the moon.

Looking at the Cthulhu Dreamlands for the intermixture of soothing realms and sheer horror might be a good start. There is sort of a gazetteer of places and regions on the Moon. All rumors are true, especially when they contradict one another.

1 hour ago, Nick Brooke said:

Being briefly serious: the surface of the Red Moon is an otherworldly, heavenly location, like Orlanth's Hall or Yelm's Chariot or the Sky Dome.

While there are certainly magical substances and artifacts that can only be obtained from those places, I think it'd be absurd to start measuring a balance of trade or quantifying exports between the Middle World and the God Plane.

But then the Silver Shadow is almost like the surface of the Moon, and its highest level Lunar nobility will be alternating between residences in the rural parts of the Shadow, in Glamour, and on the surface of the moon.

The Red Dancer of Power is an interesting concept.