Riln, what is it made of?

[qinweiqi]

There was a conversation in the IRC recently on the topic of 'what is riln made of?'
Various ideas were tossed around, including looking at what real world materials make sense based on the density. Since it is defined in the game, we know the weight of riln, but not very much about the volume of a riln. According to Rias, 400 riln weighs a pound (thanks Rias!). I looked at some common coinage from the USA for a bit of reference:

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Coin           mass (g)   volume (cm^3)   density (g/cm^3)
Penny           2.500         0.433                5.771
Nickel           5.000         0.689                7.257
Dime            2.268         0.340                6.669
Quarter         5.670         0.809                7.009
Half Dollar   11.340         1.582                7.167
Dollar           8.100         1.102                7.349

With riln weighing in a 1/400th of a pound, a single riln has a mass of about 1.134 g. Thus, if a riln were the size of standard us coins, these would be the densities and some materials of about the same density:
Penny: 2.617 (aluminum, agate, flint, granite, quartz)
Nickel: 1.646 (magnesium, sugar, soot, bone)
Dime: 3.334 (barium, garnet, ochre, topaz, carbon)
Quarter: 1.402 (calcium, brick, coal, sand)
Half Dollar: 0.717 (sodium, lithium, oak, alum) <- note that this density is less than the density of water (1 g / cm^3), so riln would float at this size
Dollar: 1.029 (sodium, camphor, polystyrene, amber)

Obviously, many (or most) of the materials above wouldn't be a good fit for currency, but some might.

[Kunren]

As OOC as it is to not know what coins are made of, Or even what they look like(that could be changed possibly actually) without an official mint making stamped riln, there's no reason why someone couldn't make as much false riln as they like. Or why a skilled metalworker couldn't at least. I am fine with them as is, and would prefer not digging too deep into the specifics on riln.

[Lysse]

Considering the technology level of Clok, it might be appropriate to try to dredge up historical weights of coinage in the British Empire, maybe around the 1700s or so? Along with metal compositions and the like.

[Sneaky]

I rather like the idea of bone, but it was most ikely tin, possibly some kind of alloy as well.

[Vaylon]

In the IRC conversation on riln, I suggested aluminum, but I think I'll change my suggestion to titanium instead. The reason I suggest titanium is threefold:

• It fits the low mass of riln.
• If riln is made of a typical precious metal such as gold or silver, people might want to be able to melt it down or attempt to make it themselves from existing gold/silver reserves. Being made of titanium would give a plausible reason as to why riln can't be smelted, since it isn't possible to produce it through normal reduction methods.
• The difficulty in obtaining pure titanium and its corrosion-resistant properties are the reason why it's used as currency and might explain why it's difficult to fake.

[Fayne]

It's already been established that the world of Arad doesn't have the technological requirements to utilize titanium though.

I do think it is safe to assume that riln is made of either metal or stone, as it has been alluded to that two or more riln pieces striking together creates clinking noise several times. Wood, bone, or similar organic materials wouldn't make this noise. I suppose they could also be composed of a shell of some kind with very low density or size, or perhaps they are crafted from mother-of-pearl. This would explain why riln is so hard to reproduce for anyone save those who are supposed to craft it.

If it is a stone, perhaps there is a small active volcano somewhere in Arad, and riln are crafted from volcanic rock. This would limit the supply of the material riln is crafted from, thus explaining the inability to reproduce it.

I don't believe riln is actually composed of metal unless it is some completely useless alloy that has to be mixed right in order to be colored correctly. This is the only plausible solution I can see as to why it is so difficult to reproduce riln. This might also be why riln is so damn valuable, as it is interesting to note that a one-pound bar of gold doesn't even sell for 400 riln to my knowledge, meaning that riln is more valuable than gold in weight ratios. Then again, it is safe to assume that the markets buy materials at less than actual value, and sell for more, so perhaps gold is roughly equal.

I think the best way to figure this out from here is to figure out whether or not riln floats, as we can easily retrieve a pile of riln from even the middle of Mistral Lake. Are we supposedly diving for them, or are they floating along the surface for us to pluck out of the water?

[Elystole]

Maybe, just maybe, no more thought was put into riln than "CLOK needs a form of currency, and 'riln' sounds cool."

Some films can be endlessly dissected and debated. But Luke Skywalker himself says "Star Wars" was just meant to be fun.

Twenty-seven years after the first movie debuted, actor Mark Hamill said he is amused by all the fact-checking fans do. One recent Web site shocked him.

"I think it was speculating on the administrative cost of the janitorial staff of the Death Star, taking this hard-edged reality to something that's fantasy," Hamill joked. "But I was that way myself. I remember saying things like, 'Well, wait a minute. I just got out of the trash compactor. How come my hair's all perfect?' And Harrison (Ford) would go, 'Hey kid ... it ain't that kind of movie."'

(From this article.)

[Rias]

Trivia: The word "riln" was provided by my older brother who was in the room when I was making my own pen-and-paper system and world in early high school (D&D was far too rules-lawyer-y for my tastes).

I'm not going to stay up late at night wondering what riln is made of and what it looks like, but it'd be nice to determine at some point.

As to people smelting riln into metal bars and minting your own riln from bars - I think as long as the bar is of equal or lesser value than the amount of riln it was, it wouldn't be an issue. And we could also simply make it impossible to do, like it's impossible to loot items from PC corpses "just because".

Piles of riln not sinking in deep water is a bug due to how riln pile items are generated and placed uniquely via the drop command.

[Fayne]

I sense a new 'diving' skill possibility. :P