I just realized that it says glass is supposed to be super rare and make amazing weapons, but if that is true why are there so many glass bottles, shot glasses, etc around?
Don't say "poor quality" cause it is really easy to purify glass.
Glass is made from heat and sand. I don't know how it could be so rare when those are the two things zalanthas has a seemingly never-ending supply of.
Actually making glass products isn't really the problem. Making glass with any kind of quality to it, however, is. Can just anyone melt down a bunch of sand? Sure. Will you get a nice glass pane out of it? No. I've seen glass blowers at work; what they do is quite intricate and artistic, to say nothing of the process by which they get clear, unbubbled glass. There's a place in game where the people know the secret to manufacturing quality glassworks; if you want nifty things made of glass, I suggest asking around in game to find out where you might find them.
Also, remember that most Zalanthans are very uneducated and have no idea glass is actually sand. This is also in the interest of the extremely powerful Merchant Houses. Kadius sells its bubbly glass for, I'm sure, a very nice profit. They won't be able to make as much if every other Sun Elementalist started making glass.
To a Zalanthan, a hot air balloon would be a large flame (the balloon's torch) trying to reach Suk-Krath, and it would be seen as magickal rather than scientific (hot air rising and all). Similarly, glass is probably 'mystery material' to most people, or simply something harvested like raw obsidian.
Go use the other glass thread that shanahan started five minutes earlier.
This one's locked.
-- X