> Orlanthi don't seem to be strictly individualists.
> They hold property in common, social relations seem to
> be the order of organisation, they have a pack leader
> and they do seem to run in packs. Greater kinship with
> dogs I would say.
Well, they are still human, after all. They are, anyway, more catlike and carefree than the Dara Happans, Westerners, or Easterners. They are not individulists in some modern day senses of the word, no.
The issue was more why the Orlanthi (or perhaps just the Heortlanders) like their shadow cats more than they like dogs, and not so much if they are more like cats than dogs.
But this brings me to another, related, question. One of the reasons dogs make
good hunting animals is, exactly, that they normally hunt in packs. Cooperating
with humans instead of dogs is easy (personally I find the reverse easier, but
I'm not a dog).
How do the Odaylans do? What use is their shadow cats, beside looking cool, in
the hunt? I don't really see the cats herding the prey, or fetching the the fowl
(I was going to say Duck, but repented) out of the water. Or for that matter
running after the fox 'til it drops dead.
A lynx can bag a reindeer, but what use is the human? Standard method, on its
own, seems to be: Sneak, sneak, pounce! With a human, wouldn't it be: Sneak,
sneak, the damned human scared it away again!
Brigth ideas, anyone?
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Henrix
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