Re: Are brontosaurs taboo?

From: Stewart Stansfield <stu_stansfield_at_dCTxRDh_bg96Kzl-GlHNYDTSj1QCyFWJWDIsjQXiMrmT7NpVHnv2MUlr8X0oQ>
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:15:24 -0000


Complete tangent (as always):

Brotards aren't native to Caladraland (though Stegosaurs are: volcanic heat + dermal plates = fun), but every few years or so herds of Bearded Brontosaurs (Apatosaurus barbatus, marked by a shaggy clump of hair hanging down from their chin), wander down from Dragon Pass, causing much destruction in parts of Porthomeka.

They come to munch the "not tobacco" crop grown in parts of southern Porthomeka and northern Caladraland, for some reason known only unto themselves. They chew the leaves, swallow, regurgitate and chew again, repeating the process several times and frequently gobbing several gallons of bubbling brown brontospittle (with any further alliterative adjectives you might prefer) in 'random' directions.

This is naturally quite an imposition on the locals, who attempt to drive the beasts off. Nevertheless, the great puddles of spittle produced have important magico-pharmacological and -material properties (though can remain toxic for quite some time). Also, it is widely believed that the partly digested leaves cut from one of the stomachs (I forget which one) of a brotard are rendered all the better for use by this 'curing' process. They are dried a touch on hot rocks or above lava-tube skylights, and then cut with obsidian blades into a rough shag.

Stew.            

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