> Gazzam/dinosaurs should join cows, ducks and emus (emus?) as
> domesticated aminals of Dara Happa.
Let's not forget that Pelorian village stalwart, the water buffalo. Beautiful animals, extremely useful for all kinds of agricultural tasks: and we know there are bison native to the Pelorian Bowl. Just another way of making the land feel pleasantly different...
Now evil Joerg will try to kill my poor water buffalo to reduce variety and fun in Peloria, snif. I wonder why? Maybe he was scared by a gazzam while still very young? Mum bitten by a bison while bearing him? ;-)
> Manirian Theyalans use them in war - there ought to be a difference.
> (The Lunars adopt these tactics in Dragon Pass, where earth shakers
> are common, though, at least in the later stages of the wars between
> Tarsh and Sartar.)
In other words, Lunars *do* use any local dinosaurs they come across in warfare. (Not that we needed them to *hammer* Joerg at Herdecke!). How easy can this be, if you're learning to herd them from scratch? Having previously sat on the fence, I'm now lurching to MOB & Sandy's side of things, as promoting a brighter and more colourful Glorantha. Seeing what a civilised Empire does with its dinos is bound to be more fun than what the barbarians of the Pass get up to...
Besides, as there aren't that many dinos left in Peloria, what the heck, we can export them from Dragon Pass into the Heartlands and sell'em to fashion-conscious nobles for a hefty profit! Of course, they won't fit on those Oslir river-barges, so you'd have to take them on an overland route through all the Provinces before getting to market: and the Exiled Maran Gor fanatics of Tarsh are likely to react badly to anyone trying to steal their sacred beasties: and they know Command Dinosaur runespells, always useful for upsetting peaceful traders! Anyone else see good scenario material in this?
> BTW, on some dinosaurs Command <species> might need Extension 3 to
> start to work...
;-) a good point! But not conduicive to MGF, much of the time. I daresay this would depend on the game situation...
The Lunars employ warlike priestesses of military Lunar cults in special regiments like the Crater Makers, so the argument that Earth priestesses of peaceful Naverian agricultural cults won't want their dinos to go away and fight still holds just as long as a bronto-built dam.
> The Charg mystery might well bind the forces of a good part of the
> Heartland Corps.
Unlikely: the Lunars thought the Ban solid enough to deploy almost all their forces away from the West Reaches out to Oraya for the Nights of Horror in the Fifth Wane; while the intense local defence efforts by the Carmanians (Kaufan Destrino's Great Wall of Bindle!) suggest to me that the Empire isn't really panicking about this -- why else would these Citizen Foreigners be willingly picking up the bill for a defence effort only Count Kaufan takes seriously? If anything goes seriously wrong in Charg, the decadent Empire muses, it'll be held up for a while cutting through the Carmanians before we have to deal with it ourselves...
(Please remember, Carmania is *not* part of the Lunar Heartlands!)
I posted my estimates of Lunar strength to the Daily a couple of years ago, then deleted them by mistake; if anyone out there has a copy (John Medway?), could they please repost 'em? It's getting topical again...
> BTW, is the Fortunate Succession more complete than the Dara Happan
> Book of Emperors distributed at Convulsions?
It's far more complete! Good maps, illustrative art styles of the period, and some stuff not in the earlier collection. Vastly expanded details of the later masks of the Red Emperor; articles on high and low Dara Happan Religions and Illumination; extracts from my Carmanian Shah lists, and a Dara Happan Sacred Alphabet. Plus a whopping great six-page five-column small-print comprehensive Index to the whole thing! (It doesn't have any of the earlier DHBE's astronomy notes, though).
The Fortunate Succession should be available soonish from Reaching Moon Megacorp. Soon as Greg sends us some originals for repro...
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