Stormblooms, Boltblooms and 'wild shamrock manners'

From: John Hughes <nysalor_at_...>
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 14:57:03 +1100

So what's the Sartarite national flower? The Irish have their shamrocks, the feisty Scots their thistles and the Welsh their leeks - but what is the leafy weed that sets the Sartartarite heart all a flutter? I've been thinking about this of late, but have decided to cast my bread upon the waters and ask the list.

Some preliminary thoughts:

It will probably evoke the Orlanthi colours of blue or cloudy grey.

It will probably be a stormbloom - that is, a hardy species of plant that flowers in the wild and windy weather of Storm Season - probably with weedy, 'armoured' shoots and relying on the wind for propagation. It will also be a boltbloom - flowering where lightning has struck the earth, noted in TR as a sign of an Orlanthi holy place.

It will be usually found in mountain meadows or wild uplands.

It will have mythic associations, and possibly more recent historical associations (King Sartar?) as well.

Can anyone suggest the name for such a plant, possible real world analogues, and suitable myths? I'll be incorporating suggestions into a story cycle that will see publication later this year.

Cheers

John

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nysalor_at_...                                  John Hughes

Questlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/

"It'll all go back to normal if we put our nation first" But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse