I have been pondering this; my personal workaround for this is that
slash and burn and normal real world ecological progress is replaced
in Glorantha by the forces of magic, creation and deity. The more I
think about it I can't see elves burning down part of a forest, its
like setting fire to your relatives! Yikes! I mean, sometimes we all
feel like it but christmas only comes once a year eh?
Regards
Rob
- In WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com, Peter Metcalfe
<metcalph_at_...> wrote:
>
> David Dunham wrote:
>
> >I do think that the widespread and destructive God Learner burning
> >has skewed the population somewhat in the favor of elves associated
> >with trees that propagate better with fire.
>
> Looking at the sources, I see that only the woods of Vralos were
> burned and that the woods of Enkloso continued to exist throughout
> much of the age.
>
> >To me, these aren't really deviant elves. Unless the fact that they
> >are raising a crop of pet humans makes them deviant.
>
> Since I was the person that originally called them deviant, it
> would be much more constructive to acknowledge that I
> was criticizing their supposed tolerance for having their
> forests regularly burned down rather than contrive a
> fictitious excuse that they are deviant for having pet
> humans.
>
> >IMO the Vralos
> >elves are willing to let their pet humans practice a lifestyle that
> >doesn't encroach upon the aldryami woods, since they are useful
tools
> >against Fonrit.
>
> How is burning down woods a useful tool against Fonrit?
> The Fonritans would be all to happy to have the humans
> burn down trees on the grounds that it reduces cover
> for troops that might oppose them. Looking at the history
> of the Season Wars, I see it was the Fonritans that
> was doing the burning while the Orlanthi were busy
> using winter powers.
>
> >They need enough pet humans to be able to raise
> >armies, so they need to tolerate agriculture.
>
> Except that the idea that the Elves would not tolerate
> agriculture is a strange one since they themselves
> practice agriculture of a sort. All that the Elves need
> humans to do would be to cast food song before they
> cut down a plant.
>
> >Slash & burn is
> >probably more forest-friendly than plowing, so they can allow this,
> >within limits.
>
> And here we come to the nub of the debate. David assumes
> that the choice is between slash-and-burn and plowing and
> so on "probable" grounds which he never specifies, the elves
> should tolerate slash-and-burning.
>
> That the Umathelan Orlanthi do not use the plow is a reasonable
> one in light of the sources describing them as "primitive". It
> does not mean that they have to use slash-and-burn or even
> hunting-and-gathering. There is in fact a third alternative, which
> I have mentioned to David before, namely horticulture as
> practiced by the Highlanders of Papua New Guinea which
> sustained a population of about three quarters of a million in
> a mountain range before they were contacted in the 1930s.
>
> Given that Umathela sustains less than twice that number
> of Orlanthi over a vastly larger area and given that the main
> crop of Umathela is peas, the idea that the Orlanthi would
> be horticulturists is to me to be a no-brainer.
>
> >And Pamalt drove the forests out of the south, which is clearly
> >different as well -- destructive burning as opposed to renewing
> >burning.
>
> There's no difference IMO and the Fonritans right next
> door exterminated the Kovano Elves through burning when
> they conquered the land.
>
> --Peter Metcalfe
>