Re: Whose Hills are these? Will the real hill rambler please stand up (please stand up)?

From: ian_hammond_cooper <ian_hammond_cooper_at_...>
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 10:31:21 -0000

>Matthew wrote:
> > I think Ian's reference to the 'influence of the ocean' speaks to
the issue of the lochs. I'm no geologist but it seems to me that all that water, in the air above, has affected the land. I expect that's what Ian means.<<

Not precisely. While the wetness of Scotlands climate is attributable to is proximity to the ocean, the point I was making more was about the moderating effects of the ocean on temperature. Places away from the ocean get warmer summers and colder winters. IMG Scottish Winters do not fit with the coldness of a Dragon Pass winter, but the Quivini Mts are further from the ocean.

Wulf Corbett wrote:
> So far as I can see, Sartar might not have an ocean nor plentiful
Lochs, but it is positively jumping with Storm Gods! Now, maybe they all just blow over with little clouds and rain only on alternate Tuesdays, but I doubt it. Sartar is going to be WET.<

Wolf's influence of the Storm Gods is certainly IMO one of the significant Glorantha facots. In addition I also think that the vision of a wet Sartar is reinforced by the fact that we have fertile Dragon Pass divided by mountains from dry Prax, suggesting that Prax is in the rain shadow of the Stormwalk and Quivin Mountains, whereas Sartar is too windward.

See:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tg/wrnshdw/wrnshdw.htm

for an easy graphic.

>Sartar lacks the ice-gouged glens to form lochs.

The shape of te Scottish mountains, being so worn away is due to their age, compared to say the alps. This might not be a simple a factor in Glorantha where the erosion of mountains over eons may be less factor than their origin in determining their shape.

The Scottish lochs are also related to geology being the interaction of glaciation and north-soouth fault lines, which is why not all glacial areas are as full of lochs as Scotland. Its not a simple result of Scottish rainfall. The boggy soils of the valleys are. But I'm rapidly getting out of my depth and might leave further comment, if wanted to the geologists.

However I think that the key point made on analogues was this: you need to pick one that works for your players - that is the point of them to act as a shorthand, so you can get on with telling a story. So a Calafornian groups Quivini Mountains probably should look different to an English one.

Ian Cooper