Newts and other things that do their business in the water

From: Gary R Switzer <gswitzer_at_loop.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 15:38:09 -0800

First off I am going to change the word "any" to "much" in my statement about cannibalism among newtling tadpoles, children being what they are. I do wonder if, being intelligent, newtling females give birth/lay eggs in the quantities that RW amphibians do? In any case, I'd think there would be plenty of non-sibling threats to the tadpoles to worry about from snapping turtles and raccoons to herons and other amphibians.

Ash makes a sweeping statement:

>Anyway, there's no difference between biological and social behaviour.<
>Mythic behaviour is just the veneer that gets slapped over the top to explain
things.<

Woah, my view of Glorantha is almost exactly the opposite. =) I think loads of Digest space gets filled trying to slap a RW-context veneer over Gloranthan behavior that happens solely for mythic reasons. I do it as much as anyone with my Yelm-dials and "Local Apparent Noon" theories, but I usually try to make the explanation fit the myth, rather than the other way round. Newtlings bachelors wander about learning stuff. Maybe Grandad Newt tells them to. Heck, maybe the God Learners inoculated the newtlings with incurable curiosity as part of their insidious plan to Learn Everything.

On the amount of, er, filth in the Zola Fel, Ash thinks it's pretty thick:

>Anyway, as for no polution, I think living in the Zola Fel is not the most
pleasent experience: [Messy details removed.]<

Given the choice between taking a dip in a) the Zola Fel downstream of Pavis in 1620 b) the Nile downstream of Luxor during the New Kingdom or c) London in 1620 AD (or 620 AD for that matter) which would you choose? I think most Gloranthan rivers and bodies of water are self-cleaning because the God or Spirit that lives in them like a tidy home. Any water that is noisome is that way for a good mythic reason, like Waha forcing Zola Fel's sister to clean up after the Devil. I bet some of the Storm/Air Gods keep the air clean for much the same reason. (Wonders if Alkoth is one of the few places with smog?)

Finally, Ash is thinking about:

>1. There are no intelligent fish in the River of Cradles. What the
fishermen and the local Zola Fel Piscati call intelligent fish are in fact river dolphins of some description.<

I'm all for intelligent freshwater dolphins in the Zola Fel (especially if they have Hindi accents) but those are clearly catfish helping the newtlings herd fish on the cover of "River of Cradles" and so is Brighteyes, the Zola Fel Priest on pg 117 (who, in my Glorantha, speaks with a Cajun accent). :)<

    "The fisherfolk of the Zola Fel do not care for flour and grind their grain very coarse. They call this rough meal 'fritt' after the Mostali word for the partly fused mixture of sand and fluxes of which glass is made and use it to make a batter that they dip small pieces of fish or other tasty morsels in before frying them in oil. These 'fritters' fairly melt in the mouth, when made properly, but one must be careful not to offer them to the Yemalions or eat them in their presence for the inhabitants of Sun Country loath the riverdwellers for being indolent and shameless. In fact to suggest to a Templar that they are 'frittering' their time away will be considered a deep insult and cause for a duel."

Gary R. Switzer
Aero Hobbies

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