<< I think that Herd Man biology and human biology must be nearly identical.
If there were differences, I think it would be much easier for non-Praxians
to say, "They just look human, but really they're not like us at all. Pass
me another rib, old boy---er, old morocanth.">>
This would assume that they know there's a difference. IMG herd men look just about identical to true humans from the outside; the magical changes wrought by Waha were to their digestive system which is kind of difficult to see. The only way to tell the two apart is by looking at the teeth, most outsiders don't know this and often wouldn't get the opportunity to notice.
<<That Herd Women look so much like human women must be perversely tempting for young Praxian braves, Oasis youths, and the sexually-repressed Yelmalions, of course>>
This would still be true IMG.
<<That Herd Men can derive nourishment from grass and the other vegetation native to Prax is true, and is unmistakeably a magical result of the Covenant of Waha, not a change in their biology.>>
I disagree. Yes, it is a magical change, but IMO the effect of the magical change was to alter their biology.
<< However, I think that Herd Men must fare badly on such a diet; dwelling
near the comparative fertility of the Cradle valley, they can find more
nourishing food. I think that they must have at least some meat in their
diets as well, such as rats, small toads and frogs, and the occasional
fish.>>
The problem is that if Herd Men need more nourishing food than other herd animals, it puts the Morokanth at too large a disadvantage v. the other tribes, especially given all the disadvantages that herd-men already have, which you listed later in your post. Also, I'm not aware that the Morocanth remain close to the Crade valley all the time; I thought they were just as nomadic as the other tribes. After all, there is an awful lot of them (80,000, the third largest Praxian tribe and 16% of the total population of the Wastes) which presumably means a truly huge number of Herd Men.
<<If the Morocanth cheated when the Covenant of Waha was created, at least they got the leanest pickings.>>
Well, everyone else says they cheated. But as any Morocanth will tell you, come on, out of all the tribes in Prax, only in *one* do the four-legs get to eat rather than be eaten? And you say it was *us* who cheated??
Forward the glorious Red Army!
Trotsky
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