Re: Pamaltela & Horses

From: Greg Stafford <Greg_at_-s8yinv1TNKqFyVF7L9LDZEKLxEGzTIQ_s0JmAuraGlFnM3WaSdtdA2R3_1ftq7z717Yjmz>
Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 12:33:27 -0700

YGWV Question:
>> > why is Pamaltela so hostile to horses? Is there a mythic
>> > reason for this?
>>

ME:
>> It's not a deliberate hostility. Horses are not native to the
>> continent. They don't have food. They starve. It's nothing that Pamalt
>> did deliberately.

Quoting David Dunham <david_at_v3GvV3yH-b5pMMMdKSOa51K9Z93ylrApBUvEDqfntZ-BHNkRTYK9DwXNW13S6wXiU8txmXswCLO4XBM.yahoo.invalid>:

> My vague recollection is that it was something Hon Hoolbiktu did
> deliberately.
>
> ++++
> Sandy Petersen, 4 Jun 1997:
>
>> horses get sick on the plains of Jolar quickly.
> This is probably just a superstition, because we know that
> horses are used
> to this day in the parts of Jolar nearest Fonrit. Anyway, it was not the
> case in the Second Age. Perhaps one of Hon Hoolbiktu's Dooms was a
> horse-afflicting disease, carried by some insect or worm indigenous to the
> plains.

They may used there, but the lack of proper food is debilitating to them. The "Six Legged Empire" of the 2nd age was of men on horses, whose military superiority gave them the upper hand. But they still got sick and died quickly. So the empire was short lived.

---

Sincerely,
Greg Stafford

Issaries, Inc.
c/o Greg Stafford
1942 Channing Ave, #204
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA