The Plaines of the Karoo

From: D. Pearton <pearton_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 00:48:24 -0800 (PST)

> From: Bruce Ferrie <bruce_at_ellechino.demon.co.uk>
> Subject: Rainfall in Prax
>
> Hi All,
>
> Having a brief de-lurk.
>
> According to Borderlands, the season with the highest rainfall is Storm
> Season, which gets (16 inches) of rain over 56 days. Storm season is a
> little less than this (14 inches). There's more rainfall in either of these
> seasons than there is for the rest of the year put together.
>
> The remaining seasons have negligible rainfall. This all works out to a
> similar picture to South Africa, which I visited last year. Very dusty and
> dry through most of the year, with a month or two that makes up for all the
> rest. Not what I'd call a rainy climate. But then I'm from the UK... :)

You've obviously not watched the news recently...

Actually this does bring up something. I've always considered Prax, or at least the wastelands, to be like the Karoo. This is a very dry area, but is covered in thorn bushes with the occasional acacia. It is hot, dusty and _everything_ has nasty thorns, but it is surprisingly full of life - mainly Ostriches and Impala (which is why I origionally thought of it). It also has dry riverbeds that can spring miraculously to life like the mighty serpents of Prax. It is quite amazing to see what was a sandy stretch of desert an hour before turn into a huge river before your eyes - it really does looks as though some mythic event has taken place, espcially when the sun is shining without a trace of clouds around.

One of the important events in the Wastelands in my Glorantha is the brief reflowering of Genert's Garden after the first heavy rains of the year. A brilliant carpet of flowers springs up in the wake of the rains offering a fleeting glimpse of the beauties of the golden age garden but, all to soon, in mere hours or days, they fade back into dust... This is a good time to contact the Spirits of Golden Age Prax such as Ronance and the Redwood forest.

This is inspired by the truley remarkable flowering of many deserts, such as Namaqualand and some of the creosote deserts in the SW USA, after heavy rains.

Other good analogy is the "great, grey, greasy Limpopo River, all bedecked with fever trees" for the border between the Wastes and Teshnos.

Cheers,
Yak
- --
Dave Pearton
pearton_at_u.washington.edu

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      "Its habit of getting up late you'll agree
         That it carries too far, when I say
       That it frequently breakfasts at five-o'clock tea,
         And dines on the following day.

The Hunting of the Snark, Lewis Carroll

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