Funnily, though, these beasts fit perfectly to the numerous bone finds in Hedeby, from the Viking Age, which don't quitequalify as a time or area of malnutrition.
Also, there is an anecdote about a Frisian tribe which had to pay its taxes to the Roman Empire in oxhides. When the tribe got uppity, the Roman tribune (or whatever) demanded that they bring hides in aurochs size, i.e. three times the area. Soon afterward the tribe was close to be ruined, and went into outright rebellion, which the Romans gratefully crushed, bringing home a wealth of slaves.
How's that for a Lunar Sartar theme?
>Wild cattle are *big*: bison, cape
>buffalo, guar, aurochs, and water buffalo are normal sized cattle, and
>they are all big enough to ride.
Yes, and none of them except the water buffalo and the aurochs were domesticated. The domesticated aurochs was the diminutive domesticated cattle of ancient and mediaeval Europe.
>>Ever wondered why it takes eight oxen to make up a plow team?
>We of the Seattle Farmer's Collective were wondering this earlier this
>week. The upshot of the discussion was that Heortlings:
>a) use crude metal plows that don't cut through soil very efficiently
Metal plow blades? Only affixed before the wooden blade, if at all. IMO.
>b) don't have horse or cow collars, so the animal has to pull by using a
>rope around its neck
If I remember correctly the yoke is one of the oldest successes in technology, so successful that even draft horses were yoked quite a long time (which is outright silly). All the ancient world knew it, and to go below the yoke was a term for being dominated. ("subiugare"...)
>c) the land is rocky and continually invaded by treeroots
True in Taming of Dragon Pass, but hardly in Lunar Sartar.
>d) all the medieval source books say that's what was used, so that's
>what we use.
Yes. The mediaeval source books don't tell why, but the notion that the oxen were a lot smaller does explain some things, right?
>Peaceful Cut
>Why do only hunters use it? Don't shepherds care about their herds?
>Almost everything is daily Gloranthan life involves at least a small
>ritual. Surely Orlanthi cows are butchered with a prayer to Barntar,
>swine to Ernalda, chickens to, um.... Chikala! Chikala, the giant
>pecking horror that eats even giant bugs...
Because these cultures often have a different ceremony, reenacting the breaking of the beast's spirits. Think of the Buseri in Dara Happa, or worse of the Carmanian bull slaying stuff. For the more civilized peoples, the essence of hte spirit isn't to be returned, but to be ingested. (In that regard the Cannibal Cult is very civilized...)
>Seriously, I think that many cultures recognize animal butchery as a
>special occasion, and leave the event to folk who know the proper ritual
>or spells.
If you take the Viking parallel, yes, there is a special occasion ritual, and it is called sacrifice. The blood of the beast (at least the first spouts) are given to the deities, the rest is eaten in the sacrificial feast. Since the spirit isn't sent back to the cycles, but to the receiving deity, the cut needn't be peaceful, but might.
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