> 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. The Canadian
> and American prairies weren't really opened up until steel plows with
> moldboards were invented and they're a fairly late invention in the west
> (11th century for the moldboard (which turns the soil rather than just
> scratching it) though they were known in China a millennium before that).
> The colter, a sharp blade that cuts the soil in front of the plowshare
> is also a Medieval innovation. Lunar farmers would be unaccustomed to
> working with heavy soils...
Well argued, but misleading. The moldboard plough is found in "mediaeval" Loskalm, and was introduced thence to Peloria in the early Second Age by Syranthir Forefront's Carmanian followers (this is in the first couple of paragraphs of the Zero Wane History of the Lunar Empire, FYI). Perhaps not coincidentally, the most prominent Lunar settlers in Prax are translocated rebels from Talastar, the Redlands and Carmania, all of whom would possess native familiarity with such ploughs (as Oliver notes).
Remember also that the Lunars had prior experience cultivating the Pentan steppeland in Oraya and the Redlands: they knew what they were getting into. Their Dara Happan heritage in taming barren country may also have helped: I recall occasions from Fortunate Succession when great armies of prisoners and/or slaves were sent to carve up wilderness into cultivated valleys.
I agree it's not easy: that's why no right-thinking Lunar would have wanted to settle and farm in Prax. But at least the deported rebels are in with a chance of making it work -- and *everyone* benefits if they do. Cf. River of Cradles p.26 for more on this development.
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