Kilts and stuff

From: Richard, Jeff <Jeff.Richard_at_METROKC.GOV>
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 13:21:37 -0700


I am entering the digest after a year-long hiatus thanks to the Orlanthi clothing argument between David Dunham and Alex Ferguson.

ALEX:>So the climatic model for Sartar -- just spitting distance away from the
>balmy Manirian coast, and several hundred miles _south_ of the
>middle of the continent where the serial toga wearers all hang out --
>is now _Iceland_? Curiouser and curiouser. Previous guesses,
>such as central France, seemed much more on the money, for me.

DAVID: >I have to admit that I thought the endless succession of bitterly
>cold winters was a bit much. However, Dragon Pass is pretty much the
>highest point on the continent, and altitude does count for
>something. You'd also have to look at the wind patterns (do they get
>that arctic air sweeping in from Canada, like central USA? I can't
>remember this for Sartar).

Being the culprit behind Dragon Pass' "bitterly cold winters", I reckon that I should pipe in. When I ran the original "farmer's campaign" some years back, I wanted Dragon Pass to be a region with dramatic seasonal variation in climate. Hot summers, with frequent thunderstorms, gentle autumns, a two-part winter - first, an extremely cold but relatively dry period (Dark Season), second, a less cold but very wet period (Storm Season), and finally, a warm but rainy spring. This is, after all, the epicenter of Orlanth worship in Glorantha.

It used to drive Dunham batty that every winter was bitterly cold - but then again, I was trying to emphasize the dramatic change from the Hendriki plateau (which I suspect has a much milder version of the Dragon pass seasons). As for the "serial toga" wearers, the Pelorian lowlands used to have terribly cold winters until the advent of the Kallikos Icebreaker cult.

I'm sure that we could come up with a good scientific rationale for such weather, such as Dragon Pass' elevation, the presence of Kero Fin, cold air coming south from Peloria, convergence zones, etc. The fact of the matter, such rationale is, and should be, ex post facto. I wanted the home of the storm gods to have weather that is, well, stormy. Just like Dara Happa should have hot, dry summers and freezing winters - not because I envision it as Kansas, but because that aesthetically makes sense.


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