Re: Analogue Error

From: Trotsky <TTrotsky_at_blueyonder.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 12:43:51 +0000


Greg:
>> I think Trotsky said that Fronela was the Canada equivalent in
>> Glorantha
>
> Trotsky's method of classification of regions to his excellent work on the
> beasts is not to be used as a hard and fast comparison.

Exactly so - although I do find it a very useful tool in thinking about what might be found where, there are a *lot* of exceptions, as I pointed out in my post on the subject.

Its much easier to envisage Seshnela, say, as European woodland, because that's something many of us have seen first hand (or at least on TV), than it would be to attempt to envisage a completely new ecosystem that somebody else has invented from the ground up. IMO, this gives Glorantha a definite advantage over more genuinely weird settings such as Tekumel. But it doesn't mean that Seshnela *is* Europe ecologically speaking, just that it looks pretty much the same to the casual observer. We know roughly what we're going to find, and the GM with familiarity of European fauna and flora can easily decide what's likely to be there, while still keeping it distinct from, say, Peloria. But you'll still find the odd surprise.

For an example, look at the top of page 21 of Anaxial's Roster (bottom of p.20 in the French edition). There's a list here of Genertelan songbirds: buntings, nightingales and so on. Thus, there are birds in Genertela that look and act like, for instance, RW buntings. Of course, they aren't really RW buntings, because those evolved genetically, rather than having been hatched from Avarnia's eggs, but you'd never know the difference if you saw one. Many of them will look like buntings we know about - there may be reed buntings in Seshnelan marshes, or snow buntings in upland Ralios (or at least animals that look indistinguishable from them). There are probably also many Gloranthan birds that look just like buntings, but not like any specific species we could put a name too.

And you'll also notice on p.21, in amongst the other songbirds, mention of 'madrigalbirds'. Now, in the real world, there is no such thing as a madrigalbird, but there's nothing special about them in Glorantha. They aren't magical beasts or associated with unique and unusual myths (any more than anything else, anyway); they're just birds. If we saw one, we'd say it was a songbird; its about the right size (a finch, roughly), it has similar habits, it eats perfectly normal flying insects, it flies south for the winter, and so on. And, of course, it sings - FWIW, relatively complex songs, just *vaguely* reminiscent of a nightingale. But we wouldn't be able to place it any more accurately than that. And there's lots of different types of madrigalbird on Glorantha; just one more thing that without being as odd or obvious as a walktapus or a griffin, reminds us we ain't in Kansas any more.

> I note someone commented they were irritated that I had a habit of placing North American
> beasts everywhere (forgive my inadequate paraphrase).

If that was me, I don't think I said I was irritated, but rather that your habit was 'understandable'. We write about what we know. If I were to write, say, Avarnia's Field Guide to the Birds of Genertela, you can bet most of the identifiable RW ones would be European! ;-)

-- 
Trotsky
Gamer and Skeptic

MXLPs: 3 (Cap'n Q, Harvey Mills, Tim Hall)
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Trotsky's RPG website: http://www.ttrotsky.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

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