Re: Forests and wildlands in Heortland, Sartar, Tarsh

From: Mike Dawson <mdawson_at_0O30mR6IxjQKzZYreGuyFL5W_FQJtWr-DLvNoike3Yp8Si-SnZaSPuqdJ1T2U-1L3i2k>
Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:23:33 -0000

> > This would
> > seriously creep out the other aldryami. (Especially the sprites and
> > pixies--since, I'd assume, "the trees need fire to reproduce" means
> > something like "after a wildfire, the seeds sprout in the ground
> > that's been fertilized by all the burnt undergrowth". That is,
> > redwood dryads feed their babies with the corpses of pixies.)
>
> I'm not convinced that fire would be particularly awful to these
> short-lived things.
>
> > Further speculation: When a fire breaks out in a mixed forest, the
> > non-fire-associated Aldryami get suspicious of the fire-linked ones.
> > Perhaps pogroms have ocurred? (There may be forests that were mixed
> > once, but aren't any more.)
>
> When I read this I found myself disagreeing, and upon thought, find that
> I don't think elves/aldryami would be suspicious.

I've often wondered about how the Aldryami manage to maintain both some kind of identification with "their" breed of tree (white oak, yellow pine, redwood, bristlecone) and a species-level dedication to the understanding of the welfare of the forest as a whole.

Because in much of the real world, pines forge new forest at the edges, encroaching rapidly on any ground that isn't disturbed by browsing, cutting, burning or tilling. Then once the pines are established, the hardwoods encroach on them, ultimately shading them out and killing them. Real world walnut trees are no more the friend of a lodgepole pine than a lumberjack is.

This is the easier part to imagine--how in the world do Aldryami societies deal with the presence of Strangler Fig Elves, for example? Or Bittersweet Vine Runners? Both are ultimately deadly to their tree-hosts.

Perhaps finding a way to break this magical community is one of the ways to fight the Reforestation. Could it be that the Bristlecone Elves are much much less than enthusiastic about the White Pine Elves' aggressive forest expansion plans?

Mike Dawson