> plants like wheat and barley were incredibly successful because they had
manipulated their environment (us!) into ensuring their survival and
propagation over vast areas of the world (eg the midwestern US).
Indeed. And the same goes for our domestic animals. In fact, modern humans could not survive well without our domestic plants and animals. Our plants and animals have domesticated us as much as we have domesticated them.
VS Greene:
>Cattle in the "real world" they aren't ridden usually,
You obviously don't tune in the rodeos on your television to entertain your dogs!
> That first guy to get on a critter and ride it instead of doing like any
sane person and hooking it
to a cart or chariot was a brave person indeed.
True enough. In GRoY there are references to the beginnings of riding horses. Entekosiad refers to several waves of invaders mounted on audads probably an extinct animal), and on cattle. There were also bird riders in old Rhinliddi.
Perhaps animal domestication in Glorantha is easier than it is in the real world. No doubt one has to invoke some sort of animal god or spirit. (Or the animal's god invokes you...)
Oliver offers a great discussion on the merits of various plows and soil types.
> You need a lot of oxen to pull a heavy plow because the yoke is an
inefficient way to harness an animal. You need the heavy
plow because the soil is so hard to turn.
Great points!
>For example in Mesopotamia and Egypt they used donkeys, onagers or camels to
plow. The soils there were so light partially due to the annual floods
and to the fact that the areas had been under cultivation for
centuries. This allowed them to use a very
simple and light plow that quite different than the kind used in Europe.
More great points!
>Continuing in this vein I find it unlikely that Lunar farmers would be able
to till the soil in Prax. Prairie soil is just about the hardest to
cultivate.
Remember that Peloria is a big place. There are probably quite varied
farming techniques used on the different soil types: the rocky hills of
Darsen, the alluvial plains of Darjiian, the rice paddies of Dara Happa,
the rich, forested soils of Kostaddi, the rolling hills of Scylilla,
the prairies of the Redlands.
And the Empire moves people and ideas around quite a bit. So when a
bunch of ex-Lunar soldiers wind up in Prax, someone would likely know
what to do with that sort of soil.
There could still be lots of politics and good plots involved, however. (Some guy could monopolize the only suitable plow, or the oxen, or several of them might head for the Zola Fel and start to build rice paddies.)
> IMO you'd need a whole range of these sorts of prayers/spells for day to
day life in Glorantha.
Much agreed!
> Sites of mass slaughter would be appalling places due to the numbers of
ghosts around.
Quite possible. Also, the land istelf might generate evil spirits in respose to the terrible events: "blood pixies", or something sinister like that.
Pam
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