> > In any case, the
> > Wastes are not balanced.
>
> I disagree. I get the sense that they are balanced.
> If not balanced, then the biotic communities would
> be changing rapidly.
I'd say that this is accurate. What grows where changes remarkably from year to year, except in the grasslands.
> The gist I get from the literature is that the
> nomads thought the place to be crappy grazelands
> long before the Dorasings or anyone else showed
> up. And now they still consider them to be the
> worst of the worst. Seems like things are
> staying pretty consistent out there.
No, I'd say that they are the crappiest, but are radically different in many other respects from year to year. To a Bison nomad, it matters little if the geckos and cacti do well this year.
> > From precipitation, you have to assume that
> > most areas of the waste experience 90%
> > run-off, so really get 4 inches of useful
> > precipitation. (This may be a huge source of
> > difference compared to the real world. The
> > Serpents that form in the run-off are jealous
> > -- they do not soak into the ground.)
>
> I guess thats my problem with accepting this.
> I can't think of a real-world example that
> sheds 90% of its precipitation. Thunderstorms
> in hard-packed deserts do, but then you are
> talking about the entire 3" annual rainfall
> dropping in a single event. My training as a
> biologist/ecologistis causing me trouble seeing
> the better part of 4' of water flowing off the
> landscape.
The Serpents are probably critical here. They don't let water go. They suck it down into Dead Bottom.
> I don't see the areas beyond the river valley
> recieving that much rain without supporting
> some large ephemeral streams well into Fire
> Season. If that's the case, they would be
> major landmarks on the map, and Prax
> wouldn't be such a harsh landscape.
Seasonal stream are marked on some maps, but it depends on what area you are talking about. In Prax proper, there is little because there are so many areas that soak up water in dofferent ways: the good grazing areas are large, the swamp soaks up a lot, and the Dead Place kills water spirits just like other spirits.
> > All of it falls within a few weeks during
> > the winter.
>
> River of Cradles has the rain falling in every
> season except Fire.
I don't see that being true, though I probably should not have said "all". Does it distinguish between Praxian Winter, Winter Fertile, and Summer? My Glorantha may vary here.
> The real world needs less than 5" of rain to
> support sage brush communities.
And that's what most of the Wastes gets, once you take out runoff. Remember that Prax is considered more lush. I suspect that a main difference is in less runoff, since there are no major serpents in Prax proper.
> 10" to 40" to support grass prairies. The lower
> end being shortgrass prairies, and the higher
> end being tall grass prairies. One would assume
> that the Wastes/Vulture County being crappy
> grazing would have short grass prairies at best.
Well, Vultures Country is all rock. It has almost nothing growing on it at all. Herds cannot survive there. Most of the water runs off east and west.
The rest of the Wastes is a mix. In the southern grasslands, there is little runoff -- the ground soaks most of it up, so you have enough to support prairie. In other areas, I suspect there are other reasons for what you see. The Rain Man winds probably don't reach the Cactus Forest, for example, because Storm Bull is in the way. In the north, you don't get the Rain Man winds because they are blocked by mountains, but winter stoms seem to come south (otherwise, there would be no "snowline").
> At the risk of literature thumping, River of
> Cradles states "The soil is rich.." referring
> to the lands bordering the Zola Fel. This makes
> sense to me. You have a fairly major river
> depositing alluvium over the course of about 2
> millenia. Granted it usually takes 5-10k to
> develop deep soils in the real world. In any
> case, flood plain alluvium is generally
> considered to be the best arable land. Secondly,
> from an ecological standpoint, the
> establishment of savannah/grasslands tends to
> indicate the presence of deep soils.
Well, perhaps. We know that there is a lot of silt because of the descriptions of areas further downstream. I see a lot more erosion throughout the valley due to the annual flood that sweeps down off of Vulture's Country; I can't see the silt from Vulture's Country as being highly fertile. I see the VC run-off pushing the existing soil (east of the river) towards the river in the winter and the spring snowmelt flood sweeping it downstream.
In any case, I took "rich" to be a comparative statement -- i.e., rich enough for farming. My Glorantha may vary. I don't see this being a Nile or Euphrates.
> Wrapping it up: I had imagined the Zola Fel as
> a fertile crescent parallel: an arid, harsh
> environment, with a large, reliable, and
> fertile river flowing through the middle.
> Naturally, cultures gather about the river,
> the lifeblood of the region. The Wastes are
> a Utah desert-esque landscape with scrub
> communities and the occasional short grass
> savannah. Prax I had imagined more like
> a low desert, Sonora or Chihuahua desert
> parallel, but I can accept scratchy short
> grass prairie.
We're pretty close together on the picture. The Wastes, though, are more sharply divided: some areas are fine grasslands; others are unpleasant scrub. The fertility is patchy for purely magical reasons.
Prax is generally both more consistent and better quality, leaving the Dead Place aside. Look at the names of the regions -- the Sacred Ground, the Good Place, the Better Place are all excellent grazing. The Sacred Grounds are lush prairie.
> All of these plant communities require very
> smallamounts of rain to persist, and not
> usable rainfall after runoff, but actual
> water falling from the sky. Thus, Pavis
> County/Zola Fel seemed like it was habitable
> and lush (i.e. tall grass prairie)
> because of the river's local influence.
This seems about right. Your prior descriptions made me picture mixed woodlands, continual streams, etc. I'd agree with good prairie bordered by marginal scrub. I still think this is the hardest life a Heortling farmer experiences: lack of wood, metal being very expensive, horses being risky at best. Sod breaking is tough work, especially if they have to use oxen.
> Because this entire region is relatively small
> (compared to western US landscapes), It didn't
> seem likely that Pavis County somehow recieves
> considerably more rain than areas directly
> adjacent.
There is about the same amount of rain in Prax, less in the wastes, especially as you progress eastwards.
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