> > There's money to be made! As another writer pointed out, when Sartar
> > goes to war with the Empire, they're going to need lots of everything
> > from weapons and armor to fortifications and rice from Kralorela and
> > Teshnos. (You can't keep the Sartarite army in the field very long if
> > they have to go back home and plow or harvest, so the Prince of Sartar
> > is going to have to import a LOT of food.)
> While it is a nice idea to have Pavisites in the east attempting to
> establish caravans carrying food across the Wastes, basically turning
> murderous bison riders into bulk cargo handlers (none of the other Beast
> Riders would be able to transport as much on their generally weaker
> beasts),
That only Bison riders could handle this task is not clear. What decides the beast a clan is associated with is what mounts the warriors ride; they need not be the only beasts of burden that the clan has. For, say, a High Llama clan to have some (captured or bought) bison to use as pack animals makes a lot of sense: Llama riders make better scouts than bison riders, so the clan is less likely to get ambushed. For items with a a high value-to-weight ratio, having the warriors carry them makes a lot of sense: they might escape a disastrous ambush. Morokanth probably could not do the task, and maybe not Impala riders, but why not Sable riders? Pavisites might regard them as the "safest" Praxians to deal with.
> I find this highly impractical, considering
> a) the distance for overland transport, and the possibility of sea
> transport (at least part of the war period)
Seems kind of analogous to the imports of oriental luxuries to medieval Europe
> b) the proximity of one of the world's greatest exporter of food, Esrolia,
> with water transportation available right next to his heartlands (and
> another, Lowland Tarsh, under conquest)
> c) the scarcity of food (and desperate measures against this scarcity) in
> Pavis
A single Issaries merchant might travel with a Praxian clan, with some prearranged security (eg. a Praxian warrior held by the Pavisites).
> d) the difficulty in civilizing the Beast Riders
They don't need to be made civilised, they only need to be paid.
> e) the ongoing (but secret) project to return Genert's Garden (and grow
> the food there).
The nature of this difficulty is not obvious to me.
Charles
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