Chris:
> One thing to consider is that the swamp may have moved.
Good point! I had looked at this briefly at the start - also with the idea of the Stream moving. (If you look at William Church's map in RQ2, there is an apparently Stream-side Duck Point several miles east of the confluence, for example.)
I hadn't given too much though to the Marsh receding, perhaps because I was unsure as to a mechanism - and was habituated to the idea of it slowly and perilously expanding on the ducks, inch by inch.
However...
> The swamp may have receded (in fact, that could be a side effect of
> the road's magic)
That's a really interesting idea! Brilliant - I hadn't thought of that.
I like to play on the opposition of Movement and Stability re: Sartar and his descendents' roads. There's the occasional counterpoint of enduring dwarf-built artifice and the magic of movement and change, for example.
But mostly it's silly stories of duck bandits loading themselves up with Stability runes in a bid to overcome the roads' magic, and then struggling to make a quick getaway.
I also like to play on the issue of Stagnation with regard to the Marsh, and match allusions to this (Bad Stability!) against Kero Fin (Good Stability!) in some duckish folk-tales.
But I hadn't thought of putting two and two together and setting the Movement of the roads against the Stagnation of the Marsh! That's cool. Indeed, if you take a pair of compasses (always have them to hand!) and draw a northern arc about Stone Nest (and thus the terminus of the road on some maps), it rather fits, no?
Intriguing!
Joerg:
> I think that while Sartar was aware of the necessities for trading,
> he did not take into account the durulz standards of housing.
Good stuff! Sadly, the only image I've drawn of a duck abode is a landlocked fort built high(ish!) above the ground. I really must draw a squidgy dwelling. (I also really must finish the fort. I think I promised it to Rory two and a half years ago!)
Joerg:
> There will certainly be some canals so that the reed boats can be
> brought next to the storage houses for transshipping, but that's not
> enough comfort for most durulz. Duck Point within the walls is a
> place for the human transshippers, not for the durulz boaters. These
> come to transfer their cargo, use the magical facilities provided by
> Sartar, then leave for their family homes in the marshes.
When I sent the initial formulation of this investigation privately, I did ponder if there was some 'bizarre, duckish Athens/Piraeus thing' going on with Stone Nest and Duck Point. After all, if Sartar and Jarolar both built walls... (Just kidding!)
Joerg:
> Why should anyone? Durulz are a marshial race.
Boom! Boom!
When I was trawling through dozens of early-18th-century English courts-martial (which can make unintentionally amusing reading), I was desperate to transfer the process to the ducks and try and make a pun like that -- i.e. Court-Marsh---- -- work.
Sadly I couldn't quite get it to my satisfaction. I could resurrect the idea and try that!
Stew.
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