How common is Iron gear?

[JRE]

As this is the Glorantha forum, rather than the Runequest one, I would prefer a deeper discussion than "it depends on the GM".

I never had much iron in my games, because it never was rune level oriented, more skeptical adventurers than true believers or parts of a strong community. Now, as I catch up, I am struck with the excellent vignettes in Guide to Glorantha.

There, apart from the dwarves, there is a decorative iron pectoral in a Pithdaros and Meliatan's Singing sword, inherited from Prince Snodal. All others, kings, nobles and heroes, wear items of bronze rather than iron when mentioned.

Other iron mentioned is the iron armor of Kustria's Tournament king and  Ironbreaker, the sword of the Bilini king, Hahlgrim Ironsword nickname may be from his ancestor, Tarandor Ironsword, though he also had for a time ironbreaker. Retter the Stalker sword, Trollbiter, is supposed to be still in his tomb. Aruzban ironarm (Delela) has iron arms, probably a dwarf gift, and could mean armor rather than a cyberlimb. That is all in Western or western linked lands.

That would indicate that even powerful people do not have so much iron.

To complicate the picture there are also cases of excessive, such as Kralorela Iron forts or the iron city in Magasta's pool, or even Mularik Ironeye iron clad company, that joins Harrek first and afterwards Argrath.

The excesses of the iron fort and the iron city point out that dwarves do not value iron too much, and that is confirmed because they do not actively recover it, as they do with other materials. Maybe they trust in their safety mechanism, rust, and it is indeed cheap.

Although it is not a cool alternative, that it is abundant and relatively easy to make would make it come from an unknown and undervalued plentiful ore, just like in earth, rather than an alchemical metal, as dwarves make huge constructs from iron that probably could not be made from other metals. 

Probably it is the antimagic effect (and the associated POW expense) which blocks most uses, except for immortal dwarves and brithini that can work with high penalties to magic skills. Maybe it is part of the World Machine repairs, iron everywhere so only Mostali magic works...

No conclusion, just pointing out how it appears in what I suppose we agree is the current primary reference.

 

 

[Darius West]

4 hours ago, JRE said:

As this is the Glorantha forum, rather than the Runequest one, I would prefer a deeper discussion than "it depends on the GM".

Completely fair, and well put.  While I haven't included the whole thing, your comment represented a good approach to the problem.

My understanding is that on Genertela pretty much all the iron originates from the Iron Mountains where the Dwarves trade it, with a few smaller outlying sources.  Most of the iron follows trade routes from the Belskan Mostali of the Iron Mountains to the far reaches of the continent, wherever merchants go.  It might be compared to how the bulk of bronze age tin likely came from the mines of Cornwall.  Of course we aren't really talking about iron from our world by Ur-metal.

I think it is fair to say that there was a lot more iron available in the Second Age, as the God Learners needed plenty.  I would suspect that the Clanking Ruins would be an excellent source for all metals, iron included.  I also think that the iron that is in circulation has probably been re-worked, re-forged, and re-purposed a great many times because it is rare.  As to how rare it really is, we don't know because most humans only have second-hand access to it.  The Dwarves seldom seem to want for iron supplies, so perhaps it is plentiful if you know where and how to find it?

[Joerg]

Unlike other fantasy games, I find RuneQuest to emphasize the character's abilities to usually trump equipment quality. Personal magic like bladesharp rather than permanent +X enchantments. And the setting Glorantha does so, too.

Iron does come with increased toughness which is nice to have and nicer to parry with, but has other properties like the anti-magic when unenchanted which may help or hinder. Dealing with hostile trolls and elves, iron does offer an additional advantage, but then it may make these elder races more hostile just for equipping the stuff. And dwarfs might assume that all iron is illicit unless shown a proof of origin. (And non-Openhandists may ignore such evidence.)

Unless you are a death dealer, having iron doesn't "augment" your magic the way the appropriate rune metal will. And in the setting of Glorantha, there is more to a character's activities than fighting.

[JRE]

I suppose the problem is all those combat oriented characters, that in my experience are 20-50% of the players, whose survival chance improves enormously with iron availability. 

I suppose that the dwarves in the Iron War (the name says it all) against the Machine City made sure the iron ended in the right hands after Zistor was destroyed. Any remains were probably taken away in the century before the Closing. 

If I were playing with plentiful iron I would probably have unenchanted iron rust easily, while enchanted iron is quite resistant to rust. I would also have dwarven steel that works as enchanted iron without being enchanted but also does not rust, if kept properly, as well as being a magic dampener. Most iron in Brithini hands would be of this type as well. 

I am divided whether iron is manufactured (quicksilver dwaves) or mined (rock dwaves), before the iron dwarves get to work it. Humans have gotten the iron crafting secrets of the iron dwarves, but are still missing the iron making secret, as those dwarves are less accesible. 

[Joerg]

On 3/9/2022 at 6:47 PM, JRE said:

I am divided whether iron is manufactured (quicksilver dwaves) or mined (rock dwaves), before the iron dwarves get to work it. Humans have gotten the iron crafting secrets of the iron dwarves, but are still missing the iron making secret, as those dwarves are less accesible. 

IMG iron "ore" is Stone, a rare remnant of the original Stone that has not undergone subsequent transformations (e.g. as igneous rock precipitated from magma melted when Lodril descended, or from hydrothermal solution of portions of Sea which had dissolved parts of the Earth, then captured inside the cube). It takes Rock caste Mostali to find and extract, possibly Quicksilver caste to extract and purify, and them Iron caste to smelt, with Brass caste aiding the heat control. Possibly Silver Caste to extract any remnant magic. No idea what the contributions of Lead, Copper or Tin would be, with Gold of course supervising.

The Iron Caste is not really part of the original plan of the World Machine, but an addition cooked up by the other eight castes to deal with problems resuting from the World Machine having gone out of order.

[JRE]

I fully agree, but we also see huge iron usage, such as the the iron forts in Kralorela, 70 ft tall iron statues left behind by dwarves in Pamaltela (even if hollow and only 1 inch thick, that is close to 150 tons) , or supposedly three miles long iron bolts...

And they make no effort that we know of to recover it, so that means they have more than enough.

Maybe it is what happens when you totally "kill" Stone material. That would mean you cannot make constructs as you can do from rock, stone and even other metals, as they are not fully dead. Iron's magic effect comes from its death, as well as its link with the death rune.

Many parts of the world machine died with Stone, and all that iron is just recycling, as the pieces of the world Machine need to be "alive" to work properly. And that is why Iron only appears after Stone is dead. That would explain why it is not so valuable for dwarves. 

That would mean it is mostly quicksilvers and silvers, though the break up will require all castes. And it makes iron fully different from the earth metal. 

[French Desperate WindChild]

the big issue/question I have :

Iron is the death metal. Does that mean Death is a mostali creation ?

 

 

[metcalph]

33 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

the big issue/question I have :

Iron is the death metal. Does that mean Death is a mostali creation ?

The Dwarves say Yes.  Everybody else says No.

[Joerg]

31 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

the big issue/question I have :

Iron is the death metal. Does that mean Death is a mostali creation ?

The Sword Story tells us that Eurmal gave Death to the Mostali who made copies of it. This could be a reference to the Mostali cooking up the Iron Mostali as a joint effort of the eight castes using the original, and then the Iron Mostali made copies both of themselves and the blade of Death, although reshaped into an axe. The true copy was lost by the Mostali (suppose Eurmal stuck around and took his toy back) and then lent it to Zorak Zoran who felled Flamal (at Hrelar Amali). ZZ afterwards lost the original (guess to whom) and some while later High King Elf takes revenge by putting the axe to the roots of the Spike, participating in the Breaking of the world with Zzabur and the Chaos horde invading the Spike.

The Iron Mostali were the first model of man-rune tools mass-produced by the Mostali, but even that was not sufficient to replace their losses, so the suivors of the eight castes and some of the Iron Mostali got together to design the self-replicating Clay Mostali, imitating a method of making man rune critters employed by a couple of deities (such as Pamalt and friends, Yelm and family, Viimorn, Soli (of Thinobutu), etc.) but without the need to keep doing so.

[Joerg]

1 hour ago, JRE said:

I fully agree, but we also see huge iron usage, such as the the iron forts in Kralorela, 70 ft tall iron statues left behind by dwarves in Pamaltela (even if hollow and only 1 inch thick, that is close to 150 tons) , or supposedly three miles long iron bolts...

Those statues were made for a reason and will be part of the dwarf plan. They might be connected to the Somelz restoration project that is starting up in the southwestern corner of the world.

That iron bolt was thought to be a message sent in the timeless border area between Life and Death halfway down Magasta's Pool. Reclamation may be posponed for the time when that void gets repaired. It might not even be a message, but the first clamp in order to close up that void. There are three or four fault lines in the Earth Cube coming together at the Pool, and the dwarfs mean to pull those back together eventually, like they have started doing with the Slon shard that slowly gets realigned to its proper position between Jrustela and Umathela.

1 hour ago, JRE said:

And they make no effort that we know of to recover it, so that means they have more than enough.

In case of the Iron Forts, those appear to have been made by the Babadi of Light Mountain in the northern Shan Shan, rather than those of the (still extant) strictly octamonist colony in the southern Shan Shan. The northern colony was exterminated, and the southern colony has a taboo about working iron, possibly to escape a fate similar to the northern colony.

 

1 hour ago, JRE said:

Maybe it is what happens when you totally "kill" Stone material. That would mean you cannot make constructs as you can do from rock, stone and even other metals, as they are not fully dead. Iron's magic effect comes from its death, as well as its link with the death rune.

As said above IMO it takes unadulterated Stone (though not necessarily Truestone) to manufacture Iron from a non-metallic state.

1 hour ago, JRE said:

Many parts of the world machine died with Stone, and all that iron is just recycling, as the pieces of the world Machine need to be "alive" to work properly. And that is why Iron only appears after Stone is dead. That would explain why it is not so valuable for dwarves. 

That would mean it is mostly quicksilvers and silvers, though the break up will require all castes. And it makes iron fully different from the earth metal. 

Another reason why these huge iron structures are inviolate might be the existence of gobblers and gremlins, two types of animate dwarf creations that punish violators and thieves of dwarfen Making.

Dismanteling a dwarf creation may require some knowledge if you want to recover more than slag (using Oakfed) or gorp-riddled remnants (applying Primal Chaos to isolate manageable portions). Pavis used the aid of Flintnail and his followers to dismantle the Faceless Statue after it had run out of the power that animated it, resulting in more than just masonry from the quarries of its remains.

Come to think of it, much of Old Pavis may be similar to the construction of a Waertagi Dragon City ship, with a semi-alive construct serving as source of all the building material. This may explain how the Old Pavis architecture retains roofs etc when any wooden beams or constructions would long have been devoured by hungry insects.

[Eff]

5 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

the big issue/question I have :

Iron is the death metal. Does that mean Death is a mostali creation ?

 

 

Well, think about it this way- the Mostali may have figured out how to condense and solidify death into a physical substance, or they may have determined a process for extracting the material aspects of death from undifferentiated Earth to create iron. But that doesn't imply that they created the deeper concept, just that they determined how to manipulate it in a particular way. Possibly you could do the same thing with other Power Runes. 

[French Desperate WindChild]

31 minutes ago, Eff said:

Possibly you could do the same thing with other Power Runes. 

a very very interesting thought, thanks a lot !

[Joerg]

42 minutes ago, Eff said:

Well, think about it this way- the Mostali may have figured out how to condense and solidify death into a physical substance, or they may have determined a process for extracting the material aspects of death from undifferentiated Earth to create iron. But that doesn't imply that they created the deeper concept, just that they determined how to manipulate it in a particular way. Possibly you could do the same thing with other Power Runes. 

Death (or conflict, or separation) is the only Power Rune we know (=have a story about) to have received an upgrade at the end of the Golden Age, and while Kargan Tor remained around at the Celestial Court until the Spike imploded (when Kargan Tor derelicted his post, though), it was others who wielded death under the "supervision" of Eurmal. Humakt retrieved Death only in the Underworld, IIRC prior to the Ritual of the Net, when apparently all the other powers (except Fertility) got re-assigned, too.

[JRE]

Sequential Godtime is a risk, but iron appears only after High King Elf uses Death (upgraded version, as Joerg says) on Stone/the World Machine.

Which is why I am now convinced that iron is the really dead parts of the world Machine, refined by the dwarves against their enemies. We have mostly dead stone that you use for jolanti, nilmergs, gobblers and the repairs to the World Machine, and the fully dead stone that is only good for killing things, though it is impossible / very difficult to animate, as it is dead. We will know better if those mostali iron statues animate at some point in the future. 

[French Desperate WindChild]

2 hours ago, JRE said:

Which is why I am now convinced that iron is the really dead parts of the world Machine

you just succeed to convince me something just one word different :

"iron is the really dead parts of the world"

 

[svensson]

Let's get a couple of things clear here:

Everybody's Glorantha differs from anyone else's. If this whole forum shows us anything, it's that the original author can write something down in the plainest possible language and we, the fans, will STILL parse, debate, argue, discuss, and vivisect every single aspect of the author's written word. NO art survives contact with the viewer unchanged and no artist can ever control how their art is received.

In this context, if a referee thinks a player character worked hard enough to achieve a full Iron kit, then that's what they'll award. And no one can gainsay them about it. Your Glorantha WILL Vary.

The reason why I made the original post was to get a sense of everyone's opinion regarding of just how much Rune metal is given to newly ordained Rune Masters. And, like I fully expected, the answer was, 'Well, it varies'. Here are my takeaways so far:

- Iron is easily the rarest of the Rune metals. Other than the Dwarfs, no society has enough of it and nobody is lightly equipped with it. And the Dwarfs begrudge every single piece of iron that's not under their control.

- Rune levels are ordained with a piece of Rune metal gear. The type of gear largely depends on the cult in question. Where a Wind Lord of Orlanth might be given an Iron sword, an Ernaldan might be awarded a Rune Copper harvesting sickle [no Lunar implications there], and a White Healer of Chalanna Arroy might be given a robe threaded with Rune Copper and enchanted with a permanent Shield matrix instead.

- Warrior cults are more likely to award Iron gear than more pacifistic cults are. It is almost always a cult weapon; swords for Orlanthi and Humakti, spears for Yelmalions, axes for Babeester Gors etc. Obviously, Aldryami and Uz do not award such things.

- The wealth and sophistication of cults and societies also plays a role. For example, Orlanthi are generally wealthier than Praxian nomads, therefore Orlanthi society generally provides the iron for the new Rune level, but a Praxian might have to find or capture their own iron, give it to their Khan, who then awards it back to the newly ordained Khan.

Now, I still have kind of an issue with a Lunar Rune level being fully outfitted in Rune metal upon ordination. That just seems like a lot to me. OTOH, the Empire IS a more sophisticated and industrial society and I can honestly see a new Yanafal being awarded an Iron scimitar and an enchanted Silver breastplate.

[JRE]

I think we are conflating a game solution (cool benefits for Rune Lords), which is there as a balancing mechanic for warrior cults to compensate all the lost time and money, and as a clear signal of status for players, with Glorantha the world. I am pretty sure if a clan needs a Wind Lord, or has a clear candidate, they will be ordained even without iron. It will be provided, when available, and make do in the meantime with other more abundant metal. 

I have never liked Earth cults taking always enchanted iron rather than encanted copper. It is again a play balance thing, and could be justified in a few cases by the death link of iron, but difficult to justify mythically. In the same way, though it goes against years of playing and powerplaying, I would prefer air cultists using enchanted bronze, Air's metal, rather than iron, but I know it is a losing proposition.

I also expect wide regional variations. Pamaltela is really lacking in Iron, except in Umathela and perhaps Fonrit, while in the West you can have a full company of soldiers (and none of them Rune level) with iron weapons and some armor. The Lunars have two important dwarven enclaves that trade openly, the Yolp mountains and Greatway, relatively close, as well as open trade routes to the West, so it would be expected they have more iron than Dragon Pass, though usually reserved for people working for the Empire, usually in the army.  

[French Desperate WindChild]

1 hour ago, svensson said:

Now, I still have kind of an issue with a Lunar Rune level being fully outfitted in Rune metal upon ordination. That just seems like a lot to me. OTOH, the Empire IS a more sophisticated and industrial society and I can honestly see a new Yanafal being awarded an Iron scimitar and an enchanted Silver breastplate.

well imagine your pc are able to defeat your new lunar rune lord. How many rune metal items will you "offer" to your pcs ?

for me it is a question of balance. Is your lunar rune lord a end level boss for your pc, or just a more or less dangerous encounter ?

 

in my glorantha status (aka rune lord, etc...) is provided when needed (not when possible, not just because you have the stats requirement). gear is provided when possible, and there is not a lot of possibility, anywhere in the world (except dwarf)

Edited March 15, 2022 by French Desperate WindChild

[svensson]

22 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

well imagine your pc are able to defeat your new lunar rune lord. How many rune metal items will you "offer" to your pcs ?

for me it is a question of balance. Is your lunar rune lord a end level boss for your pc, or just a more or less dangerous encounter ?

 

in my glorantha status (aka rune lord, etc...) is provided when needed (not when possible, not just because you have the stats requirement). gear is provided when possible, and there is not a lot of possibility, anywhere in the world (except dwarf)

Well, Tempered Iron [that does not reduce magic casting chances] is a right of Rune level membership. Anyone can use raw Iron [taking the penalty] if they can get it. But, and correct me if I'm wrong here, Rune levels are just as impeded by raw Iron as anyone else; the Iron they use has to be tempered and the process is involved enough that such work is reserved Rune levels only.

As for capturing Rune metal gear, ALL the artwork we have from Glorantha shows equipment engraved or embossed with Rune affiliations. In addition, there is a strong social stricture that forbids someone from wearing gear that's decorated with cults not your own. Disorder and Illusion cultists could get away with it, but everybody else is strongly discouraged from wear gear with Runes not from their tribe, clan, or cult.

So if, for example, a group of Orlanthi did defeat a Lunar Rune master and acquired his gear, several possibilities suggest themselves:

- If the Lunar were killed, the party would still have to have the equipment remade with the proper Runes. This is not something that any village smith can do. Cults control Craft Iron and governments [be they Sartarite tribal kings or Lunar provincial governors] use access to that skill as reward for those who please them;

- In the case of certain famous items, there may be an effort to ransom the item back. If, for example, King Oddi of the Bilini were to fall to the Lunars, the Bilini may make the sacrifice to get the sword Ironbreaker back;

- Most Rune metal gear with enchantments has user conditions on them, so odds are the PCs couldn't use it anyway. Not all Rune metal gear is enchanted, but a lot of it is;

- There's nothing whatsoever preventing family members of the fallen Lunar from taking vengeance on the people who 'stole' their Iron gear. You piss off a major Lunar family and there will be no end of problems, everything from curses to taking out a Black Fang contract!

- If the Lunar were only defeated and not slain, and the Lunar was ransomed, there are good odds that any ransom paid would specifically include the Iron equipment.

 

 

[French Desperate WindChild]

33 minutes ago, svensson said:

Well, Tempered Iron [that does not reduce magic casting chances] is a right of Rune level membership. 

yes that is a right. but as said, you become a rune lord if the cult needs a rune lord (and you have all the other requirements the rule or the gm considers) and they provide you what is your "right" if they can. Will you refuse to become rune lord only because the temple has no iron for you ? yes ? -10% in devotion 😛

 

33 minutes ago, svensson said:

 But, and correct me if I'm wrong here,

i will never "correct" any one about something I m not expert and I m not following Lhankor path  !

 

33 minutes ago, svensson said:

Rune levels are just as impeded by raw Iron as anyone else; the Iron they use has to be tempered and the process is involved enough that such work is reserved Rune levels only.

yes (for me) raw iron as the same effect with anyone, rune level have no specific advantage there.

but even if I agree with you about the difficulty to provide enchanted iron, I will not define as a rule that only rune levels can obtain it from a temple. there is room for exception. If you save a temple, a priest may decide to honor you with such rare gear. After all, there are heroes who are not following the standard path. A "true" hero may not depend on a temple (a rune level must follow the hierarchy, a true hero may follow her own way) but yes in 99.999% the effort is reserved rune levels.

 

33 minutes ago, svensson said:

As for capturing Rune metal gear, ALL the artwork we have from Glorantha shows equipment engraved or embossed with Rune affiliations. In addition, there is a strong social stricture that forbids someone from wearing gear that's decorated with cults not your own. Disorder and Illusion cultists could get away with it, but everybody else is strongly discouraged from wear gear with Runes not from their tribe, clan, or cult.

not so sure: if you are well known as anti-XXX you may wear XXX-armor, with broken XXX-runes (that is not broken the word I m looking for, but even in french I cannot find the good word) This armor then is the proof of your anti-XXX passion, you succeed to kill/defeat great ennemies. Of course, if you are "no one", or you show these runes respectfully, people  will consider it as you describe.

 

 

33 minutes ago, svensson said:

- If the Lunar were killed, the party would still have to have the equipment remade with the proper Runes. This is not something that any village smith can do. Cults control Craft Iron and governments [be they Sartarite tribal kings or Lunar provincial governors] use access to that skill as reward for those who please them;

yes, of course. You may find your ring members requiring you to "give" the gear to the clan!  For me , breaking (still not the good word) the runes are enough, so easier than reshaping the armor. So your clan smith (or even you) may succeed to transform it to something more "acceptable"

 

33 minutes ago, svensson said:

- In the case of certain famous items, there may be an effort to ransom the item back. If, for example, King Oddi of the Bilini were to fall to the Lunars, the Bilini may make the sacrifice to get the sword Ironbreaker back;

yes, of course. but it depends on the power of the new owner. You are just an adventurer, will the kingdom/empire army negociate with you ? it depends.

 

33 minutes ago, svensson said:

- Most Rune metal gear with enchantments has user conditions on them, so odds are the PCs couldn't use it anyway. Not all Rune metal gear is enchanted, but a lot of it is;

for me, it is not a good reason. the users conditions are for matrix use, not for weapon / armor use (well I think). An enchanted iron weapon is worth enough to be used, event if you cannot access to the matrix it has.

33 minutes ago, svensson said:

- There's nothing whatsoever preventing family members of the fallen Lunar from taking vengeance on the people who 'stole' their Iron gear. You piss off a major Lunar family and there will be no end of problems, everything from curses to taking out a Black Fang contract!

- If the Lunar were only defeated and not slain, and the Lunar was ransomed, there are good odds that any ransom paid would specifically include the Iron equipment.

of course, up to the family or the loser herself (aka GM) to decide what to propose

 

[svensson]

@French Desperate WindChild

I think the word you're looking for when describing 'breaking' a Rune on equipment is either 'mar' or 'deface', both imply that a piece of artwork was partially but not completely destroyed and that artwork and the damage are equally identifiable.

From Webster's Dictionary:

DEFACE:

verb (used with object), de·faced, de·fac·ing.

-to mar the surface or appearance of; disfigure: to deface a wall by writing on it.

-to efface, obliterate, or injure the surface of, as to make illegible or invalid: to deface a bond.

Google Translate suggests the French word 'défigurer'.

Hope that helps.

[svensson]

Back to the point of the post, I agree that a 'right' to Iron doesn't always mean you automatically get Iron. That's why I mentioned the level of sophistication of a society and how it distributes its goods. A newly minted Praxian Waha Khan may have to go raiding or trading to get his Iron, an Orlanthi Wind Lord may receive it from their Chief or Priest, and a Yanafal Lord's cult may actually have swords in storage waiting for someone to qualify for them!

I still think that being fully equipped with Rune metal the minute you're ordained as a Rune level is a bit much. I sort of think of it like 'The Mandelorian'.... you get your Rune metal gear one piece at a time as you complete major tasks for your cult.

[Sir_Godspeed]

Quick question: Does iron rust away in Glorantha like in RW?

[JRE]

IMG yes, though the only reference that comes to mind is the iron city in Magasta's pool. For me it is the reason the dwarves do not actively recover iron from others. Mythically, as presented in my theories above, it is the dead Stone slowly rotting.

With the exception of tin (who cares about tin) and of course iron, traditional Gloranthan metals are corrosion resistant (RW aluminium is not, but it behaves as if it is). That would help differentiate iron from the other metals, and why I like the idea that it rots, rather than rusts. 

[French Desperate WindChild]

12 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Quick question: Does iron rust away in Glorantha like in RW?

I consider that iron is the word explaining "glorantha is a bronze age world. But you can find another metal, powerful, magical, but very rare. And this metal is called Iron because RW bronze age people will be feared/impressed by a warrior with an iron (or steel) gear"

In fact I always consider that the RW word used in glorantha is used only to describe the first impression a RW bronze age would have (in my XXI century imagination of course, I never meet any bronze age person, to be clear). So no RW chemical point, no RW physics, etc.. 

That's sometimes a concern I have reading some RW savant people answers and demonstrations, very interesting fo my RW culture (really), but (for me) without any gloranthan proof

So does iron rust ? I found it nowhere in the books. My opinion is can death rust ?  does even rust exist ? for me no, as glorantha metal  (bones) have been here since the god wars without any change.