Are Gloranthan Counting Systems Decimal?

[Zit]

On 1/8/2023 at 7:08 PM, Bill the barbarian said:

Brahmagupta was also the first to show that subtracting a number from itself results in zero.

Substract the creation from itself, you get the Void. Zero is Chaos. Don't use it, you fools !

[Jeff]

On 1/7/2023 at 1:58 PM, Joerg said:

Pamaltelans like to use base 17, Lunars like base 7, Dara Happans use base 8 or base 10 (especially Plentonius).

In our world, Germanic counting systems know the small hundred (10x10),. the large hundred (12x10) and the gros (12x12). The French and the Danes count and number in twenties rather than tens all the way to 100. And we all use base 12/24/60 for time (except people using SI units, which have decimal seconds and multiples thereof).

Given the history of British coinage (which had the guinea, worth a pound plus a shilling, or 21 shilling, or 252 pence), the Gloranthan system for 1:20:200:2000 is pretty easy to remember.

None of that is correct.

The Theyalans have a base 14 alphanumeric system, the Pelorians use a base 10, which I suspect those Lhankor Mhy sages have adapted for their use. New Pelorian did not impose a base 7 system - think of it more like Simplified Chinese.

 

[scott-martin]

On 1/8/2023 at 11:38 AM, Jeff said:

Theyalan languages give a number for each of the days of Sacred Time, so 1-14. 15 gets represented as 1-1, 28 as 1-14, and so on until we get to 210 which gets a new signifier. 

This is of course "knuckle bookkeeping" where uh digits fill up one hand and then transfer to the other register. Not weird at all as a way to track where you are in the theyalan octave.

It would be nice if their hot dogs were also sold in seven-packs so everyone in a lightbringer ring could have one. However this is probably not done for ritual reasons. I truly suspect the dogs are sold by the eight so you have an extra (ritual reasons) whereas the buns come six to the pack because the Ginna abstains (ritual reasons). I am hoping this doesn't come off as an unusually goofy statement because it actually hints at cosmic mysteries.

Edited August 14, 2023 by scott-martin
different person on the keto plan

[Nick Brooke]

One of the eight “sausages” is really a detached part of Eurmal, just saying.

[Malin]

52 minutes ago, scott-martin said:

This is of course "knuckle bookkeeping" where uh digits fill up one hand and then transfer to the other register. Not weird at all as a way to track where you are in the theyalan octave.

I just counted my knuckles and was blown away. This makes sense.

[scott-martin]

47 minutes ago, Malin said:

I just counted my knuckles and was blown away. This makes sense.

Bonus round, it means all the hand jive you see when people launch their magic in this part of the world has a dynamic computational component and is not just a static pose . . . they're loading the program and when the floating point hits GO the spell happens. Which is fun. People who like to preload a lot of "hanging" magic can work most of the way through it and then hold their hand that way to save strike ranks in a crunch. Of course you don't need the physical fingers (hot dog reference) as long as you have a developed sense of the astral calculations . . . a real master magician can launch the magic even if forced to wear special boxing gloves engineered to discipline mere apprentices.

 

53 minutes ago, Nick Brooke said:

One of the eight “sausages” is really a detached part of Eurmal, just saying.

This too is part of the cosmic mystery, the "wriggle room" that guides theyalan demography, event catering and other statistical sciences, +/- 14%

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by scott-martin
forgot the most important statistical science of all

[Nick Brooke]

Back to Lunar Wanes by way of Lunar zero. 27 plus one for “none of the above” equals 28, times two equals 56, days in a season. Four fourteens.

I suspect number fourteen out of 27 (28!) is the Third Eye rather than the nose.

[Ian Absentia]

2 hours ago, scott-martin said:

I'll see your Stephen Strange and raise you a Tony Stark:

...who are, of course, flip-sides of exactly the same character.  One Science, the other Magic.  All the same prestidigitation.  Slight differences in wardrobes and facial hair.

The holographic UI invokes the mandalas and magically inscribed sacred spaces that are, in fact, "shadows" of transdimensional spaces where they intersect with ours, er, Glorantha's.

!i!

Edited August 14, 2023 by Ian Absentia

[Exubae]

Use base 12 for the Kralori and base 10 for the Teshnan.

Heen Maroun passed on counting the pads of his fingers with thumbs. 12 is also a bit more divisible in whole numbers than 10. They are also aware of zero and have schools of mathematics studied by those wanting to prove their worth in government. 

(mentioned in the Kralori primer

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/324278/Kralori-Primer) 

Teshnos derives 10 from the number of holy flames of the land, but dont use the concept of zero.