<< the most likely result of a broo inoculating a creature is that the given creature dies of disease (agravated by the pregnancy) before giving birth to the broo. Since goats are very resistent, the chances that the host will survive long enought for the broo to be born are maximized. >>
Are goats that resistant to disease? The ones we kept didn't seem to be. Tough at surviving in cold weather etc. yes, but they got ill as often as any other livestock (as far as I could tell). In RQ terms, they probably do have a higher CON than sheep and so somewhat better off against disease, but I'd argue that they are not 'very resistant' to disease. None the less, I can certainly agree that goats are slightly more likely to survive long enough to give birth to broolings than many other animals. This is, however, a far cry from the concept that they can have multiple broo-births in their lifetime, which is what I object to.
<<Me:
> So why have a Command Goat spell? That such a spell is known to the
> Orlanthi implies that goat is a reasonably common food.
I think that there is a common agreement by now that Orlanthi herd and eat goat.>>
Indeed, but my comment was in response to your suggestion that Orlanthi are wary of wild goats. Hunting them with some regularity doesn't imply to me that they're that worried by the possibility of them being infected - no more than any other animal, at any rate.
<< - - as I said in a previous message, there are places unsuited for
herding
sheep or cattle. In such places all you can herd is goats.>>
As I said, I don't agree that there are enough such areas in Sartar to make it worthwhile herding goats if they are significantly more likely to be infected by broo.
<< unlike you seem to think, it's easier for broo to attack your sheep flock
than your goats and it's easier for the herder to protect his goats then his sheep. Why? Have you ever seen the incredible places where goats can go? Goats are very agile, much more then sheep or cattle, so the herder only needs to conduct his goat flock to some hard to access place to protect his goats. He can't do the same with sheep or cattle. To protect sheep or cattle effectively he must close them which increases both the work and the cost of keeping the herds.>>
It seems to me that this would make it more difficult to protect your goats from broo, not easier. A potential broo father doesn't need to get so close to your farm to nab them.
<< wild animals: humans don't control them and if they want to avoid any contact between these animals and broos they would have to exterminate the species. This happened in RW (and is happening all the time). The problem is that IMO humans are unable, at least in DP, to conduct such a policy (not enough people, not enough central coordination, etc.).>>
Given the length of time that Dragon Pass has been inhabited (even the non-humans living there following the Dragonkill would have also wanted to get rid of goats if they tended to bring broo with them), I don't agree that they would be unable to exterminate the goats. In areas with relatively low broo infestation, the goats would remain, but in the 1,600 years since the Dawn goats would at least have been made rare enough that the majority of broo around Sartar would be, say, antelope-broo from Prax or deer-broo, rathet than the goat-broo which appear to be in the majority.
<< - - animals herded by broos: IMO the only resistant enough to be in such
a
situation are goats.>>
I certainly don't agree that goats are that disease resistant. I don't think broo can herd anything much. Even if their average CON is as high as 18 (which seems *very* dubious to me) they're still going to die too frequently to be herded by broo.
<< Sorry Trotsky, I see nothing obvious about folklore. When you look deeper to folklore you find some reasonable explanation to it most of the time.>>
The folklore link is (IMO reasonably) explained by the fact that a high proportion of broo seen round Sartar are goat-broo. This is because the goats are on the fringes of society and easier for broo to get at. Thus, there *is* an apparent link, and I haven't denied that. What I dispute is that there is a *strong* link, of the biological type you proposed. That would significantly increase the risk of broo predation in areas with a high number of goats (since non-feral broo will be wise enough to know they will have a better chance of having offspring if they attack goats than, say sheep), and, in the long run, people would avoid goats, which they clearly don't in Sartar.
<<If the folklore links goats to broos it's because people know better. What they know is that the only occasional herds owned by broos are goat herds;>>
I don't agree that broo can herd goats (or anything else).
<< broos live in high and hard to access places, the same places where you find wild goats (aflter all, both seek those places for the same reason: protection).>>
This I do agree with. Indeed, this, I submit, is the real reason there are so many goat-broo about.
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #255
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