> > - Most of the men will be very busy around the farm in planting and
> > harvesting time, as well as just before and after those times as they
> > prepare/recover. In between is mostly fire season, when you don't
> > want to be too far from the stead. The rest of the year the weather
> > tends to be miserable. Late Storm season might not be too bad, but
> > then you need to be careful not to kill mothers of most species.
The stead calendar in Questlines 1 has hunting seasons for major game species. Roe deer (roo) and boar hunting is good in Storm Season. Bears start awakening toward the end.
While the mountain man analogy has undoubtedly proved its worth in some areas, I still have reservations about 'commercial' trapping, at least on any large scale, and certainly by Odaylans. It represents a view of wilderness that is destructive and short-term - the very world-view that gave me reservations about the mountain man analogy in the first place.
One reason is the small-scale/barter nature of most clans (money is for traders) and the fact that Odaylans generally represent a further extreme of this - the almost complete rejection of civilisation.
Another is that most trapping animals will have totemic status for certain clans (and for certain Odaylans!), so you can't casually go round the Boldhome markets wearing a mink without risking a beating or worse from the Black Oaks who hold it ancestral and sacred. A trader could get around this of course, but you'd wear such furs only on among your own tribe, where you'd know which animals were totemic.
Thirdly, such trapping is clearly unsustainable - it survived only a few generations in the US, which is as large as *all* of Genertela, and considerable less in Australia (koala pelts etc.) which is just as large. It also goes against the hunting ethic and the decrees of the Lady of the Wild - kill what you need to survive, and no more. Never kill indiscriminately etc. - over to Mr Kipling. It goes against the idea of an Odaylan as Protector and Conserver of the wilderness, the one who constantly fights with Barntar because of clearing.
In my Far Point campaign, where the Beast tribes are coordinated and partially sentient, such flagrant violation of the Decrees of the Lady would bring the Tearing Claw down upon you in no time at all. Remember, an Odaylan is supposed to take his prey's last breath into himself. The wilderness is their temple. For me, there's a gigantic clash of worldviews implicit in commercial trapping. What wilderness worshipper would kill indiscriminately to give pelts to non-kin strangers who have no respect for the animal? Ritual trapping - yes, as previously discussed. Trapping for clothing for you and your kin - yes. But indiscriminate trapping for commercial gain? That's hardly thinking like a mountain.
In the battle between the despoilers and the conservers of wilderness, I suspect Odaylans have more in common with the Amerindians whose lands were destroyed than the mountain men who despoiled them. The Lunar invasion may have created a market for furs, and some Heortlings may be venturing into the wilderness seeking furs. Odaylans would be the one seeing them off again, destroying the trap lines and driving out the destroyers.
John
For every thing that lives is holy, life delights in life; Because the soul of sweet delight can never be defil'd.
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