> People not tanning in the sun may not sound big to you, but it opens a huge can of worms.
> Think of all those stories we've played in Prax, and how important seasons are in a game set in Sartar.
People sunburn plenty. Here's my take. Praxians are somewhat adapted to it, in a Darwinian sense. So they still burn; but living outdoors all the time means they are deeply tanned. Sun-worshippers are probably immune to sunburn. It helps explain why the Sun Domers survive in Prax. Agimori are immune to sunburn because of their relationship to Balumbasta, not because of their skin color. Heortlings immigrating to Pavis probably end up being badly burned for the first year or so -- no trees. The poor western immigrants at Knight Fort are probably permanently red. I bet Praxians call them "red men in iron skin," or something like that.
> Maybe one of you stounch defenders of these new ethnic descriptions can find me the source of these.
> I remember Greg's comment on how in his view Heortlings are pretty brown, and that wasn't many years ago at all.
When I first picked up RuneQuest in the mid-eighties, I was a little surprised to find out that technology was bronze-age and people were Mediterranean-looking. (I was expecting standard, undifferentiated D&D humans with 1d8 hit points, I suppose.) I don't know how I found that out. But it was confirmed when I returned to RuneQuest in the mid-nineties, as it was generally accepted Glorantha at the time. The people in KoDP seemed consistent with that to me. With a few exceptions (often intentionally unhealthy), the people are browner than I am (though that's not saying much with my fluorescent tan).
> Maybe get down off the high horse a little. Don't pretend theis is obvious and has always been like this.
As far as I know, it always has been like this, though I don't think anyone is claiming it is obvious, just apparent from a close reading of the sources. So, my horse would be a shetland pony.
Chris Lemens
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