>Alison:
> Their own officers would be telling them that
>their enemies' magic was kaput. That the weather was
>abnormal, don't know. But I'd think that they'd put
>two and two together as time went on. Firstly, it
>took years to take out Whitewall. So the veterans
>would know what to expect come winter. Soldiers
>aren't stupid. Moreover, there'd be plenty of
>Tarshites there who know damn well that this isn't
>normal. Word would spread.
That depends on troop rotation and where the troops went after the fall of Whitewall. I don't think there'll be a modern style of troop rotation with units returning to base every four to six months but nor will units be there for the entire siege. Especially given the casualty figures that have been mentioned some units are going to have to be sent home to rebuild their strength. OiD says the build up starts in Sea Season 1621 and Whitewall falls in Dark Season. So a high proportion of units will have just seen a single year unless they have been in Sartar previously. I suspect a lot of those troops were pulled in from the Holy Country. Now we know that Tatius gathers a lot of troops together at the Temple of the Reaching Moon in 1625 but where were they in between? My guess is that a fair number moved south shortly after the fall of Whitewall simply to reduce the amount of supplies that were needed to be moved for Dark and Storm Seasons.
There can also be wide variations in weather from year to year. After all there was the year when the Snake Pass across the Pennines was blocked by snow in June. Given that any snowfall is unusual in Northern England after March both Sartarites and Tarshites are going to be used to considerable variations.
>Alison:
> Bet there was plenty of gossip about
>it at the Eternal Party, though.
"Why are you spoiling *our* party with ugly rumours about the weather in the provinces?"
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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