RE: Eiritha hills

From: Sandy Petersen <SPetersen_at_ensemblestudios.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 10:32:58 -0500


Richard Develyn
> I can't quite figure out which way she's lying, or what orifice Horn
Gate might be guarding the entrance to.
  1. Take out any handy map of (all of) Prax. If you have RQ II, there's a fine map in the appendix.
  2. Now, turn the map so that East is at the top, away from you.
  3. There's Eiritha!

She is, of course, a herd animal (what did you expect?). Horn Gate is at the tip of one of her horns. Agape is her mouth. The Paps are ... well - -.. The Paps. There is not a major special shrine for her naughty bits (vulva/anus), and it's just as well, I suppose. There is a strange site at around her shoulder. Perhaps it was once her heart.

K. Paul McDonald
>On the White Moon...I like the Lovecraftian overtones to the prophesy
in the Genertela book:

        Thanks. I wrote it myself.

>There is no evidence I can find for there being *any* visible moon in
the future, though.

        I suppose the Blue doesn't count, since it's not continuously visible. The East Islanders, of course, would be quite used to this situation because two of their most important moons (the Dream Moon and the Black Moon) are _never_ seen. Most islanders assume that the White Moon would be visible when it rises, but if it wasn't, they wouldn't be too taken aback.

Joerg Baumgartner
>A mountain is everything which rises significantly over the rest of the
country.

        *scoff* Only true if you're a lowlander. People who live/have lived in mountainous country use the terminology more precisely. In any case, the Praxians are well aware of what a "real" mountain is, since they can see the Rockwoods to the north and west and if they travel far enough east they get the Shan Shan. Hence, they would not call the Eiritha Hills "mountains". Even Tada's Tumulus, which is taller (IMO) than any of the Hills is not considered a mountain.

>If you look closely at the boardgame map, there are some parts shown as
mountains as per DP/NG rules - the horn tips, >and a crest running along the shoulder

        These parts are probably high enough to be "real" mountains, though not as high as the Rockwoods. I suspect that the horn ridges rise steadily from the "head" to the points, and then there is an abrupt end to the range.

>Come on - even in generally flat country you cannot see 50 miles around
all the time (horizon problems nonwithstanding).

        In Utah's desert you can see 50 miles on a regular basis. You can certainly see mountains or hills 50 miles away, which is the important thing for navigating. And I don't even use Farsee. In Prax, with several very obvious landmarks, seeing things a long way off would be quite important. Landmarks of note: the Block, Horn Gate, Tada's Tumulus, Dead Place (huge white expanse), Devil's Marsh (huge green expanse), etc.

re: Winter Fertile Ground
>I'm not familiar with steppe or savannah climate from first hand, but
doesn't the lush greenery in wet season imply that the >rootwork remains even if the parts above ground wither and welt away?

        Prax is a bit more deserty than savannah, but this is still correct. Actually, the part aboveground remains present even in the dry season, it's just all brown and crispy. Add water and the soil blossoms.

>But still, the advantage for using magic is very high... if every
farmer has Plowsharp, then iron plows are not as necessary.

        Good thing, because iron plows are more scarce than hen's teeth in Glorantha.

Jeff J Erwin
>I haven't seen real evidence for a world where malign power is that
pronounced

        Come now, Jeff. In Glorantha, malign magic power is a MAJOR factor in the destruction of civilization, culture, and individuals. Taking _only_ Sartar as an example, we have the following potential devastating magic effects:

  1. The Crimson Bat: destroys entire villages, body & soul. It's visited Sartar more than once.
  2. Trolls of Dagori Inkarth: every winter they come raiding and eating your horses and cows and children and casting evil spells to make the winter last longer and get colder. On Earth, the weather's random. In Glorantha, it's partly controlled by magic, and not for the better.
  3. Undead of the Upland Marsh, including an entire cult of vampire-worshipers. Vampires put a real dent in the ol' family network.
  4. Cult of Orlanth: to ensure enough good rainfall for their crops, you are _forced_ to worship in a manner that also can produce wildly destructive storms at times. Sartar has more bad storms than would be natural because of this.
  5. Snakepipe Hollow: one dedicated Malia-worshiping disease spreader can cancel out the work of a dozen dedicated healers. And don't think broos don't know it. They take great delight in pissing into water supplies, rubbing their smegma & mucus on door handles, etc. etc.
  6. Dragons. When one wakes up, it ruins your whole day. No dragons have awakened for a while, but a few hundred years ago the entire human population of Dragon Pass was wiped out by them! That kind of dampening effect can't really be canceled out by a few castings of fertility magic or a friendly household spirit.
  7. Giants.

> just how is Glorantha devestated? Are the green and pleasant hills of
Sartar brown and weedy?

        Look at Prax. It used to be one of the most fertile places in the world. Now it's all been stamped down by the feet of squabbling gods and is full of problematic leftovers.

        Look at Sartar: humans live and farm in less than a third of the possible area. Much of the potential land is taken up by tusk rider forest, troll possessions, marsh, beast-men, chaos, quirky horse riders, dragonewts, etc.

        Take another look at Sartar -- look at all the ruins! Almost every one of those ruins used to be a city, filled with thousands of people. What happened to them? In nearly every case, it was a magic disaster.

        Magic, in Glorantha, has been an extremely harmful thing.


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