So if an item becomes rusty/corroded, how should I handle breakage, and why can't I find any official rules about such already anywhere in Rolemaster?
So I'd assume it would begin to affect a blade's edge/spiky bits, and the overall breakage factor of an item? What about in terms of ancient traps and metallic objects found in damp dungeons? Corroded metal against similar metal seizing as they become one lump of rust/corroded mass would be a thing too I'd assume.
There is so little to go on but assumption about this sort of thing, but it's highly relevant as it's always the case that adventurers wander into a dungeon and find pretty much immaculate weapons and armour, and all the doors work, despite having metal hinges, or being composed of metal, set in metal frames, etc.
Chains, trap mechanisms, locks on chests and hinges, chain/plate armour, things with buckles and metal fastening of other varieties, nails sticking out of old floorboards that were cast aside in a pile of rubble, metal water troughs, metal filings getting everywhere - rusted or otherwise, etc, etc.
Silver tarnish, copper, bronze, other oxidised materials, etc, etc. Nothing really seems to age naturally in Rolemaster.
Also, tetanus, lock jaw and dying due to a rusty blade, or anything rusty, like the iron filings sticking an adventurer.
It could be good, with metal filings in pies to poison someone, or accidental rust in a tray with a pie served to someone, there are so many possibilities. Larger structures and rust/corrosion... I feel there is a possible optional chapter missing from Rolemaster and maybe a spell list or three.
Just imagine the iron golem with a surprise for the adventurers, or maybe it can't move at all now and it's spirit calls out for release, giving the adventurers a quest to free it, or the iron fortress, or the stash of low steel weapons...