Wood in Prax

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_bigfoot.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 20:00:13 +1200


MOB: Me>>On the contrary, _vonsay_ (spearshaft) trees grow on the plains
>>of Jolar (ML p68) and there are pine forests in Taluk Mormadak.
>>Plus the Kresh always have more wood than they need.

>Sorry, I wasn't actually thinking of *Pamaltelan* Agimori; rather, their
>Praxian cousins, who share the same treeless region as the Pol Joni (who
>are, after all, the focus of this debate, aren't they?)

I was thinking of the Pamaltelan Agimori (despite Nick's smokescreen accusations). The ones in Prax I usually think of as the Men-and-a-half and it simply didn't occur to me that Keith might have been referring to them. If I had been aware, I simply wouldn not have commented as much less wood is required for their spears then it is to build a wagon.

>It is possible I suppose the Agimori brought *vonsay* seeds with them to
>Prax from their homeland long ago; if so, I suspect the vonsay trees'
>existence remains a great tribal secret, and a source of wonder to everyone
>just where the Agimori get their wood from, deep in the desert. Not a bad
>idea that, and resonant with scenario possibilities...

Unfortunately the Men-and-a-half have to have some magic of quickening the Vonsay shafts overnight so that it remains a big secret. However the only Agimori who have such magics are the Kresh and they are secret Aldrya worshippers - which I don't think the Men-and-a-half are.

>However, you argued that the Pol Joni couldn't possibly get wood from the
>surrounding forests, yet cite the pine forests of the Taluk Mormadak as a
>source for the Pamaltelan Agimori! If one lot can get it, why not the other?

Taluk Mormadak is in Jolar and the Doraddi are very mobile. They can expect to go from one end of Jolar to another without a fight. The Pol Joni can't do that in Prax and the forests outside Prax are full of neutrals and hostiles.

Nick Brooke:

>There are
>other Prax-dwellers who necessarily use wood, with worse links to the
>outside world than a formal and lasting alliance to kinsfolk in well-wooded
>neighbouring lands.

Think of the amount of wood it takes to build a spear. Contrast that with the amount of wood it takes to build a cart. Most of the Sedentary People in Prax use stone for building purposes. Hence I simply do not believe that the Pol Joni have many carts. Secondly your much-vaunted alliance has been defunct for nigh on twenty years and has little relevance to the Pol Joni today as does the Soviet Union to today's Middle East.

>And Keith has made a good
>(game-fun-related) case for some Pol Joni to use wagons.

Nick Hollingsworth, actually.

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