Re: Forests and wildlands in Heortland, Sartar, Tarsh

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_TGb8zaMHlguFuPTfABdjdkGJYRVvwzpRgs8X2NahqUhdk3wbqL4nYqvUnMTviky1X3t>
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:44:52 +1200


Dan

>But I would have thought that Gloranthan forest ecology had enough
>in common with our
>world ecology, for the aldryami to regard fire as a vital part of
>the cycle of life and death.

Plague, Floods and Famine are all part of the average gloranthan's cycle of life and death.
Do they love it or even like it? No. Elves have even less freedom to love fires than we
do.

>Without intermittent small and medium forest fires there won't be
>any glades, and no
>saplings, and almost no vertebrate animals, in fact nothing but
>decrepit old spruce, and
>eventually you get either disasterous bug-infestations or really
>huge forest-fires (which
>incinerates everything in the ground for much greater depth, and
>actually damages
>biodiversity) or first bugs, and then huge fire.

You can have clearance without fire. In the good old days there were large animals
around to do the clearing but humans have hunted most of them down. In any event,
the gloranthan forests have got elves who are more than capable of finding fresh
spots for trees to grow, eating up the fallen lumber (although they would have to
treat it first) and keeping a check on the undergrowth. This doesn't mean they are immune to forest fires but such occurences would be similar to a flood or fire here.

>It occurs to me that if Pamaltela has functioning forest ecosystems
>without aldryami,
>thanks to the harmony and mastery of Pamalt (ie agimori
>magical/cultural practices) then
>the sacred groves of Madagascar might be a neat our-world template.

Forests are associated with Aldrya and are recognized by Pamalt worshippers as good for burning. There's a reason why Aldrya and Pamalt don't like each other.

--Peter Metcalfe            

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