Firebone and Earthbone cost

[glarkhag]

Hi,

 

Are there any references for what firebone and earthblood cost or more to the point can be sold for? Is there any guidance on distribution of the stuff?

 

thanks

Rich

[soltakss]

I can't remember any. But, think about it, Firebone and Earthblood are sacred to the Caladra and Aurelion cult. Nobody else is really interested in it. You can do almost as must with charcoal as with Firebone. What is Earthblood good for except burning? There are lots of other oils that can burn and are easier to make. So, the market for Firebone and Earthblood is limited outside the C&A cult.

 

[Squaredeal Sten]

According to the Earth cults book Gloranthans do use earthblood tar for caulking and waterproofing.  Also for mortar.

So-   You can use it for shops. boats, baskets. and for building projects.

[Ormi Phengaria]

Petroleum has a ludicrous number of uses outside of being refined into combustible fuels: construction, waterproofing, boat building, small crafts, medicine, etc. It's gasoline which is just an odd curiosity for several hundreds years after its discovery. Coal doesn't have any uses completely distinct from other fuel sources except that on occasion it is more plentiful and easier to exploit than wood.

[David Scott]

15 hours ago, glarkhag said:

Hi,

Are there any references for what firebone and earthblood cost or more to the point can be sold for? Is there any guidance on distribution of the stuff?

thanks Rich

No, the same entries as Earth Goddesses are in Weapons & Equipment under Fuel where it says: No prices are provided, as the cost is included in the price of any item created with fuel. 

 

[glarkhag]

15 hours ago, soltakss said:

I can't remember any. But, think about it, Firebone and Earthblood are sacred to the Caladra and Aurelion cult. Nobody else is really interested in it. You can do almost as must with charcoal as with Firebone. What is Earthblood good for except burning? There are lots of other oils that can burn and are easier to make. So, the market for Firebone and Earthblood is limited outside the C&A cult.

 

Ok, I've not got the source that states that and if it does it's in conflict with Weapons and Equipment, which states  "there is a lively trade in coal with Dragon Pass, particularly Boldhome and Furthest. There, it is used in hypocausts to heat baths and homes." 

 

[andyl]

8 hours ago, Ormi Phengaria said:

Petroleum has a ludicrous number of uses outside of being refined into combustible fuels: construction, waterproofing, boat building, small crafts, medicine, etc. It's gasoline which is just an odd curiosity for several hundreds years after its discovery. Coal doesn't have any uses completely distinct from other fuel sources except that on occasion it is more plentiful and easier to exploit than wood.

In the real world Coal has a few more uses (ignoring more modern chemical engineering).  Decorative jewelery, ornaments and figurines for example. People have even made furniture out of it.

[David Scott]

3 hours ago, glarkhag said:

Ok, I've not got the source that states that and if it does it's in conflict with Weapons and Equipment, which states  "there is a lively trade in coal with Dragon Pass, particularly Boldhome and Furthest. There, it is used in hypocausts to heat baths and homes." 

The paragraphs in Earth Goddesses are near identical (a bit of rearrangement only). What Earth Goddesses does have in the Caladra and Aurelion chapter, is more details on those in relation to the cult, where they have specific spirit magics to find them, and tells us that sites where they are found are considered holy. It also tells us that dwarfs are the main users. There's nothing about stopping others using them, although the elves consider their burning to be desecration of their dead.

[soltakss]

6 hours ago, glarkhag said:

Ok, I've not got the source that states that and if it does it's in conflict with Weapons and Equipment, which states  "there is a lively trade in coal with Dragon Pass, particularly Boldhome and Furthest. There, it is used in hypocausts to heat baths and homes." 

It was my opinion, not a source. I don't see the use of coal and oil as particularly Bronze Age, although bitumen seems to have been used in the Bronze Age, and lignite was used for carving in the Neolithic. 

[Joerg]

Dwarf technology sold to humans may require significant amounts of coal or char-coal, a subtle Mostali plot to let the humans help them against the encroaching forces of Grower.

Natural tar is but a convenience. Most mesolithic and neolithic cultures had quite advanced pyro-technology to distill tars and pitch from special wood or barch. 

Birch tar is one of the oldest man-made plastics, a very versatile material that requires quite a bit of sophistication to do right, and yet ubiquitious in the archaeological record.

Charcoal is an essential resource in smelting metal from ores, and a great fuel for melting metal ingots for casting. Suitably aerated, it enables metal welding in the smithy, too, and good pottery requires temperatures beyond what wooden fires can provide.

"mineral coal" varies in quality and usability. Graphite is the gold standard, almost pure carbon (or, in German, "coal-stuff", Kohlenstoff) with greater density but otherwise similar properties to high quality charcoal. Rock coal contains quite a bit of rocky material, and tends to contain sulphur, too, creating quite noxious fumes when burnt. Lignite is more or less petrified peat, still rather wet when unearthed, containing even more impurities, but may improve upon drying.

Creating coke from natural coal may be unknown to Gloranthan humans (although the Third Eye Blue may have inherited that Mostali secret).

Petrol as fuel will be primarily useful for light, as in oil lamps. While tallow, whey or ghee may serve as replacement, those are foods that may have other uses. 

[Ormi Phengaria]

12 hours ago, andyl said:

In the real world Coal has a few more uses (ignoring more modern chemical engineering).  Decorative jewelery, ornaments and figurines for example. People have even made furniture out of it.

Oh yes, that does bear mentioning-- deeper layers of lignite being hard jet, a mineraloid gemstone. Good thing to put fire spirits in!