I'd forgotten the windmill at Old Wind Temple on the DP board & I agree windmills whirling away on hilltops are somewhat appealing but I'm not convinced the Heortlings are that advanced technically. Sure there were plenty of windmills in the middle ages but I like my hill barbarians firmly in the dark ages :)
However giant whirlythings for status and religious reasons sound
fun and easily enough built without the need for gears etc to change
the direction of rotation.
Actually chaining the wind for work would sound somewhat evil to your
typical smelly traditionalist orlanthi though.
Of course the womenfolk who (I suspect) do the hard task of grinding would be quite happy for the wind to make itself useful for a change. (typical man, just blowing about the place making a nuisance of himself) I imagine down in Esrolia there will be windmills aplenty for grinding grain. After all the big O is just one of a number of husbands about the place and has to make himself useful. The secret of harnessing the wind in this manor could have come from the west where I'm sure every petty lord has one on his manor. Esrolia is also more organized and grain rich than Sartar and I seem to recall one of the reasons for feudal lords *insisting* on you using their mill was that you had to grind a fair amount of grain to make it a worthwhile investment (and greed of course).
So giant whirlythings gets my vote, but not as mills. Still useful though coz if your bored you can always tie the clan trickster to it for a laugh, he likes a good joke doesn't he.
Chris Brown
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