> > Even 44cm (17") is too much. Mojave Desert
> > averages 10" and is considered a wet desert.
Prax is not technically a desert (except for a few arid spots like the Dead Place). IIRC it is a mixture of chaparral and grassland - no good for farming, but not the Mojave.
Now the Wastes probably have significantly less rain - much of Vulture's country is probably in a rain shadow and gets very little rain.
> I think 44 inches is OK. (If I had been writing it,
> I'd have said less, but I can live with what it says.)
> All of it falls within a few weeks during the winter.
> Think about how unpleasantly useless it would be to
> get 2 inches of rain every day for three weeks, then
> nothing for the rest of the year. That would not be
> uncommon as I see it. Remember that many years
> receive no rain at all. (None, zero, zilch.) This
> really prevents a lot of ground cover from growing,
> which means more run-off, so more erosion, so more
> run-off, etc.
I fully agree with Chris.
> Fertile? By what standard? Pavis County is only
> fertile by comparison to the wastes. Sartarites would
> consider it scratching out one of the the toughest
> livings ever. They only go there to escape death and
> worse.
Actually, I disagree with Chris here. I suspect Pavis County is probably a pretty good place for farming. Although Prax is notoriously bad for agriculturalists (and might be because of Eiritha's loss), I don't think that the River of Cradles is. In fact, the RoC must be fertile, because otherwise it simply could not feed the urban population of New Pavis, let alone the idle Lunar army of occupation. Even a fertile area would be well-pressed to support that many idle mouths.
>From some old notes of mine, the Pairing Stones is a major Orlanthi
holy site - in particular, it is sacred to Vingkot. It is there
that Vingkot was married to his Summer Wife, a daughter of Tada.
This marriage ended the fight between Tada and Vingkot. The Summer
Wife is worshipped as a local variant of Orventili the Peacemaker.
Both Vingkot and Orventili are worshipped at the Pairing Stones - as
a result, both are popular subcults of Orlanth and Ernalda.
As a result, Pavis County may have been the location of Summer Home - the farmlands of the Summer Wife. Certainly, the local Ernalda cult believes this to be true.
Jeff
>
> Alison Place:
>
> > Now, the corollary to this is that sensible
> > farmers now in the ZF valley
>
> Where in the Zola Fel valley would one find "sensible"
> farmers? Sensible farmers would leave as soon as
> possible. ;-)
>
> > will be making serious collective efforts to
> > corral that rain into cisterns and ponds
> > for irrigation to get their crops and
> > livestock through Fire Season.
>
> Also, that way, they can grow _extra_ mosquitoes. And
> don't forget that bad or chaotic spirits (the arsenic
> spirit, etc.) may leach from the rocks into their
> ponds.
>
> > Fortunately for the settlers, nomads don't
> > organise worth a damn.
>
> That's not what the ground men say in 1625.
>
>
> =====
> Chris Lemens
>
> (Not an ad: If you have a little extra money to donate to a good
cause, check out http://www.modestneeds.org/.)
>
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