Weights and Measures

Everything about Illarion that fits nowhere else. / Alles über Illarion was inhaltlich in kein anderes Board passt.

Moderator: Gamemasters

Post Reply
User avatar
Vern Kron
Posts: 1565
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 10:20 pm

Weights and Measures

Post by Vern Kron »

Hello everyone.

I think I have discovered the actual weight of things.

The lightest item I could find in game was the blackberry, and it's weight is 2.
I had been told that we measure things in terms such as 'stone', but a pebble IG weighs 5. AFAIK, nothing weighs 1.

However, if we can find the weight of a blackberry, we can find the weight of everything in terms of our real world. Let us math!

I tried to find the weight of a blackberry, and it turns out there is no standard weight really recorded. However, after looking around, you can fit about 25 to 27 blackberries into a cup!

A cup of blueberries is 224 grams. We are going to pretend, that there is no air around these blackberries and they are mashed, you can fit 28 blackberries in there. This makes later math easy.
So, we divide 224 grams, by 28, you get a blackberry being 8 grams. So that means, whatever mystical measuring tool we use IG, is 4 grams.

So, let us pretend you have a pile of ore that sits at 5400. That means that ore in RL terms sits at 21,600 grams, or 21.6 kg.
For those of us who do not use the metric system, and may use pounds, that means 47.7 lbs.

SO, if you want to know what something weighs IRL, multiply the weight number by 4. Then you have it in grams. If you are using pounds, then divide that number by 453.6. You now know the weight of 216 gold nuggets to be 47.7 lbs.

If you wish to know your characters weight, you take their weight (mine is in lbs), so 148 lbs times 453.6 grams = 67132.8. Then take that number, and divide it by 4. The result is that if Artimer is naked as the day he was born, weighs 16783.2, OR 8391.6 blackberries (calculated by dividing by two, since that is how much a blackberry weighs).

I am glad to have cleared up this mystery that has plagued us for years. Now you too can know exactly how many blackberries your virtual fictional characters weigh in this virtual fictional world.

(This was inspired because a certain gm asked us to calculate our weight for a boat.)
Last edited by Vern Kron on Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Nitram
Developer
Posts: 7638
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:51 am
Contact:

Re: Weights and Measures

Post by Nitram »

Image
User avatar
Vilarion
Developer
Posts: 2008
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2004 8:10 pm
Contact:

Re: Weights and Measures

Post by Vilarion »

:twisted:
User avatar
Estralis Seborian
Posts: 12308
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:14 pm
Location: Sir Postalot
Contact:

Re: Weights and Measures

Post by Estralis Seborian »

Lol made my day.
User avatar
Djironnyma
Posts: 3221
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2002 4:34 pm
Location: Berlin
Contact:

Re: Weights and Measures

Post by Djironnyma »

If Artimer eats 28 blackberrys, how much heaver is he then?
User avatar
Banduk
Posts: 1288
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Exilant aus Trolls Bane

Re: Weights and Measures

Post by Banduk »

I found at the Gynk harbour the following brochure. The harbour master gave it for free ... nun I paid a gold and a little barrel beer.
There exist hundreds of different units. Each region has its own. Not even the same name would guarantee, the same length or weight is described. The best example is the foot. Its length varies if you trade with a tall elf or short dwarf.
The Gynk Association for Standards and Trade (GAST) make standardization one’s business. The Gynk Harbour Authority supports the work and stated that the normalized units of the GAST has to be used for each trade at the Gynk harbor if not explicitly agreed otherwise. Each petition to Gynk’s court must contain measures and weights in GAST units.
((German ‘Gast’ is guest))

Weights
Blub – It is an often told fairy tale, the blub goes back to a crazy alchemist, weights everything in multiples to blueberries. If this is right or not, an average blueberry weights about a blub. In Gynk a blub is defined as 25th part of a lump.
Quarter or quarter blub - Alchemists, gem trader and gold smiths often use parts of a blub. The weight of gems and herbs are measured in quarter blubs or shortened quarter.
Lump – Usually coal, ore and other trading goods are measured in lumps. One lump contains 25 blubs. The GAST have comparison weights to check the weights of the merchants and seafarers. These are made of merinium and called the Gynk Master Lumps. A personal copy you can purchase at the GAST office.
((Just to know, this word game is not understandable for Englishmen: In German a ‘Lump’ is a blaggard))
Man or manload – Larger quantities are measured in manloads or shortened mans. It is not the weight of a man or the load a man can carry. It originally came from the load, a docker is paid for. There are people know, who can carry three manloads at once. A manload has 48 lumps, often rounded to 50. Be aware if you trade with halflings. In Pennymill a manload has 36 lumps only. At the harbor in Gynk all trade has to be done in Gynk manload.

Counts
Counts are rather simple. Special descriptions are the dozen (12), the Gobaith chest (250) and the divine thousand (1024).

Length and Distances
Trile or treestep – It would take a very tall elf jumping to pass with a single footstep a trile. It is roundabout the distance normal men can pass with 3 ordinary steps. Within the main office of the GAST a merinium tile is put on the wall. It is exact one trile long and one trile width. Some copies are laid into the plaster of the market and the piers. Due to this stone tiles in the size of a trile, a trile often is called a tile.
Arrow – This is the distance, an experienced archer can reach with a very good bow. It is 10 triles long.
Cat or catwalk - A fairy tale says it is the distance a cat can walk away from a village and find back. The Gynk cat has 25,6 arrows or 256 triles and is used for larger distances. It is often used as doublecats as well. It has 512 triles.
((I put it here since I have no clue if that fit's with Lore.))
User avatar
Estralis Seborian
Posts: 12308
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:14 pm
Location: Sir Postalot
Contact:

Re: Weights and Measures

Post by Estralis Seborian »

*g* The most magic number on Gobaith was 62500, the value of 250 silver ingots.
Post Reply