Re: Re: Mountains in Dragon Pass

From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 05:57:41 -0700 (PDT)


Rob:
> > When thinking of Gloranthan mountains I get away from the notion of 'real world' geological forces and activities.

Amen.
Stew:
> Call me an arrogant cock (and I am), but if I--with a First in Geology and a PhD in volcanology,
> products of years of interest and study--don't give a toss about any of this guff,
> I find it hard to humour why anybody else might.

Because some of us (probably most of us) like Glorantha to be similar enough to the Real World to be recognisable, and close enough that we can know how things work without having to think "hang on, that's different" at every corner. So, grass is green, water is wet, rain falls downwards, fish don't talk, and mountains are also "normal": all except in the few, very few, cases where they're different.

Most of us know what a "normal" mountain looks like, we just have problems putting that into words without getting into technical stuff that we wouldn't normally use. If the range is only ten miles across, we know the thing isn't as high as Everest, no matter whether what we personally live next door to is the Himalayas or a molehill. How high is it, and how high and rugged and scenic can we get without getting unrealistic? Dunno. About all we can say is "well, I know I've seen one that's X big, over there, and it looked pretty rugged to me". This is where we need Experts. So, if you are one (and those qualifications sound like it), want to give us the answer?       

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