> BTW, how did Prax fare during the second flooding? The first flooding
> marked the arrival of Seolinthur and his tribe/utaries, a beneficial
> event.
It was far from beneficial.
It was a war. There's a reason those Serpents are called "wicked writhers" ...
Seolinthur was killed by Vadrus during the Gods War ; but, because S was an elder water entity, S returned. Seolinthur was almost completely destroyed by the Devil. Meanwhile, S made had peace with Genert. Water. Typical.
> While raging sea mostly stayed south of Prax and Genert's Garden,
> there is an early Storm Age mythical map showing Dragon Pass as an Island.
Prax is very high, and probably escaped most of the Flood. The current ZF valley and also central Genert's Garden would IMO have been the most affected areas.
> > I don't think this is true. Prax was a forest. I
> > forget which source says so, but this is canon.
>
> I don't think I really disagree with Chris.
Prax included a forest, but it wasn't one.
> >> What we know about the Tada-Shi is that they were
> >> - earth worshippers,
>
> > I don't _know_ this.
Chris is basically correct here IMO.
I think we can safely assume that Eiritha is the current manifestation of the tada-Shi Great Mother Spirit, who is certainly linked to the Earth ; and we know that their most important Great Spirit was Genert, THE Earth Spirit ... according the the GLs that is ...
;-)
for starters : was he an Earth or a Land spirit ?
there's a HUGE difference ... ;-)
> > I'd say that it is more likely that they
> > worshipped a complete pantheon led by Genert that had
> > its own sun god, river god, etc.
.. spirit, ... spirit, ...
<sorry>
> > I suspect that the Oases are the remnant of larger
> > entities.
Some of them. Others were small entities to start with.
MoLaD provides a good basic pattern for this sort of thing.
> > They were once most likely creeks, streams,
> > and small rivers.
Or fields, or orchards, woods, magic buildings, clan places, magic items, et cetera et cetera ...
You're being a little too reductionist here IMO
> > Prax in particular stands between
> > mountains on two sides, a sea on the third, and a
> > river on the fourth. Seems strange that there are not
> > more tributaries to the Zola Fel.
That's because most of them were destroyed by the Devil. Others were merely killed, and might return one day ...
> > Joerg:
> >>The Golden Age folk of Prax (the Tada-shi) did have
> >>agriculture or horticulture, and therefore the need for
> >>appropriate spirits.
>
> Daniel Fahey:
> > Why would they have these when everything grew in plenty without any
> > effort?
Because things grew without effort in the Green Age ; not the Golden Age. The mythic confusion between these two Ages isn't your fault, but actual Praxian mythology.
> Julian Lord :
> > I'm sure the Praxians have magic places where they grow
> > special (or ordinary) plants.
>
> They certainly have places where they harvest special harvests, like
> skullbush, and they might use magic to accelerate this harvest before the
> herds move on. However, I don't see any Beast Riders planting these plants
> as a crop. A sacrifice of part of the bounty to the spirit of the place
> might be a means of sowing plants, but there would be no tending.
You would be mistaken IMO.
A tiny minority of Beast Riders actually ends up living basically sedentary lives (at the Paps and other places) IMO (shamans, smiths, storm bulls, whatever), and this would inevitably lead to horticulture and agriculture for economic reasons, not to mention magic. Eiritha would also require that certain plants/crops in certain places needed religious care ...
> > Some oases are AFAIK controlled by Praxians,
> > not Oasis People, for starters ...
>
> All oasis communities (except Pavis and the Paps, and nowadays Moonbroth)
> are controlled by Beast Riders. The exact group in control may change, but
> the fact of control won't.
Chris will heartily agree with this, no doubt ; but I was being unclear IMO.
When I say that some Oases are "controlled by Praxians", I mean that some Oases are empty of Oasis folk, and are entirely maintained and tended by Praxians.
Julian Lord
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