First, this doesnt need to be said, but Im pedantic.
There are infinite possible permutations of Glorantha. Any G.M. or player had better know this, and many characters know it perfectly well. If you want cattle, sheep, goats, dogs and alynx all together in one happy family go for it, you are not running Gregs Glorantha. Certainly there will be people who ought to know better telling you that youre doing it wrong, but thats their problem. I wont run Glorantha anymore because of that kind of Flack, the situation doesnt appear to have changed much. I dont own all the resources, and couldnt afford to if I wanted to.
On with the show.
On goats, goats are, when possible, browsers versus grazers. They are also much less domesticated and stupid as sheep as a rule. They go feral easily. This is RW. In the Real World, you dont have broo etc. reinforcing religious prejudice. As the broo were explained to me (very early Stafford - - RQ 1 era) , the broo were goat people that interbred with anything, the "base" form was of a goat-man hybrid. This may have changed in the various history revisions, with the social stigma remaining. If you dont like it dont use it.
On goats, sheep and cattle. In small scale farming any animals will be used. RW goats are very useful clearing pasturage of overgrowth to improve it for the grazers, sheep or cattle. Unfortunately, goats will also get into and eat all the crop plants if they can get to them, and goats are clever about getting to them. Most fantasy worlds are woefully lacking in such useful things as hot-wire fences.
On the comment that cattle are kept on lowland pasturage and sheep are kept in high pastures. If you know about high and low pastures, then you aught to know this. The grazers are moved to the high pastures during the summer months to allow the low pastures to grow the winters supply of harvestable hay, not to segregate herds. Cattle are voracious but inefficient grazers, sheep are less voracious, but will take the plant down to dirt (split lip). The combination of the two will destroy an ecosystem if not CAREFULLY managed. If it doesnt work this way on youre world, great. My wife farmed and raised sheep and cattle, I worked ranch-kill/slaughterhouse for several years and got a lot of on hand experience with the trials and tribulations of herding. Especially illuminating was the variety of things that went wrong when the those progressive souls ignored all those ignorant superstitions. Technology will allow only a certain level of abject stupidity, I suspect magic has similar limitations. Im sorry if Im a bit touchy on the subject, but Ive seen too much good land destroyed by people who "knew better" than to listen to all those ignorant superstions. I suspect this is part of why I avoid the "close to the land" games, too close to too many old "wounds". Pity about that, the Seattle Farmers Coalition seemed like interesting folk, and quality players.
On the Dog / Alynx controversy, play it the way you want, Gregs Laws only extend to published material, if that. Remember though, youre playing with the myth structure he created, you should at least listen to him. RE dogs and herds, in medieval times dogs were primarilly hunting animals and scavengers. The latter were also food, even in Europe. The dog as food taboo is relatively modern. Sheepdog as watchdog goes back a ways, sheepdog as herder does not. This is just Earth history, use what you want. If you dont want dogs owned by your Orlanthi, you can justify it without blowing away realism. If you do want the Orlanthi to own dogs, you can justify that too. If you want EVERYONE to play your way, I suggest you go take a nap, and let your mommy read through all your posts before you send them.
A quiet little aside, how many of you are aware of the feline socialization studies done with semi-feral farm cats. Did you know that felis domesticus has a strong tendency to form social units very similar to lion prides. Semi-domesticated alynx may well have the same tendencies. (Try not to assume ignorance)
On all the incipient flames, am I missing something or isnt the purpose of a list like this to get alternate viewpoints? We are dealing with FANTASY here, no one can possibly be right or wrong. Not even Greg or Sandy or the Seattle Farmers Collective. All anyone can do is cite the history of a non-magically active world, or what works for them. If you dont agree you dont have to, but that doesnt mean that they are wrong.
Allen
End of The Glorantha Digest V5 #243
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