Quote:
Originally Posted by Sindri
Lava* is cool. Low tech use of lava in forges and stuff is a common concept in fantasy. People have historically used lava produced materials like obsidian and profited from geothermal energy. Modern people have even cooked meat on lava. What could a TL 4 society realistically accomplish with lava?
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Nothing really. Most lava is cooler than a typical medieval forge, glassblowing pot or pottery kiln. At the bottom end, it's actually cooler than a wood fire, and almost none of it exceeds the 1200 C minimum for crucible steels or blast furnaces (most of which actually get several hundred C hotter than lava ever does). If you can make glass, you can remelt most igneous rocks.