The Reliques of Tolti-Aph — 3 of 57
Graham Nelson
Chapter 1 - Fundamentals
Section 1(a) - Substance
A material is a kind of value. The materials are stone, wood, paper, magic-imbued wood, metal, clay, flesh, sustenance and air.[1] A thing has a material. Things are usually stone. People are usually flesh.
Substance relates a thing (called the item) to a material (called the stuff) when the material of the item is the stuff. The verb to be made of implies the substance relation.
[The verb phrase "to be made of" is on the face of it only a shorthand, but our biggest aim in writing the source text is to make it look like normal English prose - we think it will be more understandable, and therefore more likely to work first time, if it reads naturally.]
Note
[1]. The idea of anything being made of air caused some controversy when this game was being tested, particularly as it was also the material of bodies of water such as the Icefinger River. In the end, I put a sort-of explanation into the spoof magazine accompanying the game.