David Dunham:
> Not being North American, Peter may not be aware that wild rice is=20
> not in fact a rice at all (and is not the ancestor of normal rice).
>=20
The particular genus has very little to do with whether something is or can be domesticated: "wild rice" is commenerially cultivated in N. A., using much the same technology as "white" rice. Off the top of my head, I can't think of why this might not be the crop the Dara Happans are so maniacal about. (Though I've never tasted it, so I have no conception of whether this ruins my Lamb Redlands Masala image...)
Oliver Bernuetz:
> This is a story told by the northernmost Balazarings who harvest wild =
rice
> from the shores of the Elf Sea. This story was collected by a Irripi =
Ontor
> scholar who studied the area which accounts for the annotations.
I like the story, though I sense this is definitely adding grist to the "rice confusion" mill. Hrm, milling, now there's another topic...
Tadaaki Kakegawa:
> There are two types of rice in RW if broadly speaking : Indica rice =
and
> Japanica rice. Indica is grown largely throughout South East Asia
> (Thailand, India) to Europa and USA (Italy?, Calfolnia), and Japanica =
is
> grown mostly in East Asia (South China, Korea, Japan).=20
>=20
> Thus I suspect Everina is Goddess of Indica Rice, and on the other =
hand Rice
> Mother (Miyo?) in Kralorela is Goddess of Japanica Rice.
Which doesn't really tell us whether these are significantly different or not, in origins or in myth. (Indica and Japonica are different cultivars of the same rice species: the (true) rice family has OTOH dozens of different species.)
I pause to note that no-one would think of importing terrestrial physics into Glorantha directly, but that few ever pause to do so with RW biological comparisons...
Isn't the question here basically whether there are recognisably and mythically different "types" of rice in a) K. and DH., and b) that are gathered from the wild, and are deliberately cultivated? Does Dara Happa have both wild "wild rice", and cultivated white rice? Is this white rice essentially the same in origin as Kralori rice (leaving aside who nicked it from whom).
It seems to me somewhat likely that the Dara Happan rice and Kralori rice are actually different "species" (if you'll pardon my making the same abuse of terminology I was complaining about earlier). The two cultures seem to each cultivate rice since so long ago that actual import of one from the other seems unlikely, given how far apart they are (and the bunch of maniacs in between -- Glorantha seems to have "India"(/Egypt), "Central Asia", and "China" in "the wrong order", obvious-analogy-wise). But neither do they seem to go back so long that they have an actual common origin before there was a discernable distinction between the two.
Thus wouldn't it be logical for Peloria to have wild "wild rice" in Balazar, Darjiin, etc, and cultivated "wild rice" in Dara Happa dating back to the golden age or storm age? And Kra Lor to have cultivated white rice, much in the way of rice gathering having died out by now. I would not be surprised if Sheng had (further!) confused the issue by importing white rice to Dara Happa, though.
I trust I make myself obscure?
Sl=E1n,
Alex.
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