joe_at_sartar.toppoint.de (Joerg Baumgartner) responds to my post:
>> Of course, it would have larger footprints, covering a greater area of >> the field, although it would be dragging a plow behind it, tending to turn >> up the earth...
>
>> I can think of many limitations as to why the lunar army wouldn't take them >> into the field. Perhaps the dinosaurs are most active (and useful) during >> the warmest parts of the year, while the army tends to campaign when it is >> somewhat cooler (wouldn't you if you had to march around wearing an oven).
Furthermore, it seems to me to be to the Lunar advantage to meet the bulk of an enemies forces in mass combat, where the organization of the army and magical support can be used to the utmost. If the warriors of a society are not defeated but are left with little to lose, isn't that a prescription for guerilla warfare?
>> Perhaps the dinosaurs are somewhat like the Praxian lion; anachronistic, >> and sustained only by extraordinary efforts of a cult -- the cult of Gazzam? >> (with rune spells such as Warm Egg, and the ever-useful Speak Gazzam skill?)
The question in my mind is not whether I can find in my Glorantha a place for dinosaurs. The question is, why aren't they more widespread?
I am convinced a trained working dinosaur would be a very valuable commodity anywhere where major civilization would be happening. A dinosaur has significant advantages in reach and coordination over a similiar weight of humans. It is something like a steam engine in the age of simple machines. (although steam engines are reputed to have appeared in our own classical age, they were not cost efficient compared to slave labor. Dinosaurs require no metal and do not require highly educated philosophers to understand their functioning). Dinosaurs on treadmills operating grinding machines. Dinosaurs carrying heavy timbers for use in bridges. Dinosaurs pulling ferries across great rivers. Dinosaurs used as conterweights to lift heavy blocks to the top of the (very high) city walls. Dinosaurs as the operating weights in brick presses. Dinosaurs crushing grapes for use in wine. Dinosaurs stomping down the ground for roads, or pulling graders to make canals... the uses are potentially endless (although my imagination ends here).
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