>>I doubt this. Their culture is strongly dependant on the gathering >>of acorns. Tastolar is tundra/taiga and unsuitable for them and >>to the south are the settled cities, all of which strongly discourage >>hunter/gatherer inhabiting their turf (the closest european parallel >>would be gypsies).
> Interesting, as many thousands of gypsies were still nomadic just last
> century in Europe. I don't think that is a good paralell. I had
> considered acorns less important if other food sources, such as
> rivers, reindeer (I remember there are whole groups of reindeer
> without accompanying humans) or
In my opinion and experience, it's either acorns and deer, or pine cones
and reindeer. You don't get oak forest anywhere near the regions where
you get reindeer, unless you have a sheltered valley and a high
elevation with tundra above. (Which was the case for medieval Trondheim
IIRC.)
> even pine kernels, if the feedinh habits of brown bears are a guide.
Plus berries (lots of them), small rodents, and ants.
I am still astonished that Winterwood is considered to be an elf forest that close to the Glacier. From my experience, next to glaciers the "forest" tends to have an average tree distance of about the trees' height, i.e. about 3 metres, unless the trees predate the presence of the Glacier. Even in a reasonable distance from the glacier average distance between the trees would allow fairly easy going for a city-bred human like me.
How and where do the elves hide from Borklak's trolls for their ambushes?
IMG I allow for about three days' travel between the Glacier and the elf-dominated parts of the forest, a battleground for the elder races and a highway for the reindeer herds heading for the salty meadows on the Neliomi Sea. IMO the reindeer survive because the elves tend to use them as decoy for shooting trolls.
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