wrote:
>
> Things like this make me wonder how anyone with normal eyesight
ever gets lost in the
> open in Glorantha. There are several things to take bearings off of
that are really obvious:
>
> Other features are also excellent landmarks:Valind's Glacier, the
various mountains
> mentioned, and so on.
And don't forget the skyfall! I'm not quite sure how high that
starts up, but I get the impression it is also very high.
But as to getting lost...I can see a couple of factors:
- as mentioned by others you can't always see landmarks. Fog, low
cloud, and probably more frequently: intervening objects, such as
hills or trees. Even in the plains of prax there is probably a
slight roll, which may well obscure the block if you aren't within a
few dozen miles.
- This is a bit like saying "How could you ever get lost if you have
a compass?" Or even "How could you ever get lost at night if you can
see the pole star?" Sure, you can head in a particular direction,
but that doesn't tell you if the stead is just over the ridge to your
right, or a couple of more ridges over, or the other way entirely.
For that matter someone mentioned how you couldn't get lost on the
Rockwood mountains....true to a point, you always know which way is
down. But still no guarantee that you can find that one narrow safe
way down if you lost track of where it was.
Still, I agree that it does help. Makes walking around in circles
somewhat less likely. And I'm sure rural and wilderness survival
skills incorporate using those landmarks in useful ways.
-Bryan