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air beast always with wings?


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maybe a ridiculous question but...

 

I know that storm bulls and wind children have wing

but there are other species

i found cloud lion, of course sheeps, etc..

I always thought sheeps were able to fly without  wing (at least  the sheaps able to fly, not the other)

But in fact... not sure. And I have no idea about cloud lion or any other flying mammal.

Is there any "ecological rule" about that ? or the name ? (cloud = no wing, wind/storm =  wing for example)

 

Another associated question... Is there fish or insect in the air ?

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9 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

Is there any "ecological rule" about that ? or the name ? (cloud = no wing, wind/storm =  wing for example)

I don't think so. Some have wings and some don't. 

10 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

Another associated question... Is there fish or insect in the air ?

Insects certainly, both normal-sized and giant.

I am not sure about fish, but Glorantha should have flying fish.

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3 hours ago, Leingod said:

Didn't Sartar create flying, air-breathing fish?

Yes, he did.

"His second miracle was when he caused some small, silver fish from a stream to grow wings and other parts and live in the air. From more than a foot away they appeared to be insects, and they served as familiars to Sartar." (KoS).

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5 hours ago, David Scott said:

Cloud sheep are clouds and clouds don't have wings...

But they are also sheep, aren't they? In a heroquest-y fashion.

I wonder if cirrostratus clouds (cloudhawks) have "wings" on the Otherside or during holy days.

Edited by Sir_Godspeed
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17 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

do you think that is the same for cloud lion ? (except the horns 😉 )

In These Woman need help, I actually changed Cloud Lions to Cloud Alynxes as lions made no sense to me. I just treated them the same, imagining them as a kind of untamed, wild alynx cloud type.

So in answer to your question, Yes. Like a grey Canada Lynx as it matched the description "Their variable and changing gray and white fur makes them difficult to spot in a cloudy sky."

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1 hour ago, David Scott said:

In These Woman need help, I actually changed Cloud Lions to Cloud Alynxes as lions made no sense to me.

yes exactly there. I have no issue with lion in Sartar sine I saw recentily that there were lions in greece, and not only with herakles, but irl. And after all, there are tigers too

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1 hour ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

yes exactly there. I have no issue with lion in Sartar sine I saw recentily that there were lions in greece, and not only with herakles, but irl. And after all, there are tigers too

Lions were really widespread in ancient times, including related subspecies which apparently ranged way into the Pontic and Eurasian steppes. (Apprently the jury is out on whether modern lions lived in Western Europe, but there's evidence for it, iirc.) They appear to have been really adaptable.
 

Going with the Anatolia/Rocky Mountains/Caucasus comparison with Dragon Pass, seems like lions would fit in quite well.

/sidenote

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20 minutes ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Lions were really widespread in ancient times

Given the mythology of the Air in Glorantha, I'm not sure there are Cloud Lions, although normal lions are widespread in Glorantha.

from Barbarian Adventures, Sartar Rising, volume 1:

Quote

Cloud Lions

Ages: Storm, Historical (rare).

Distribution: Ralios, Fronela, Peloria, Maniria. Habitat: Middle Air, Storm Realm (God World).

Cloud lions are predators that once stalked cloud rams and other airy prey. Their variable and changing gray and white fur makes them difficult to spot in a cloudy sky. They still hunt among the clouds (and occasionally harass land-bound targets), but are rare in the Inner World.

 

Edited by David Scott
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4 hours ago, Sir_Godspeed said:

Lions were really widespread in ancient times, including related subspecies which apparently ranged way into the Pontic and Eurasian steppes. (Apprently the jury is out on whether modern lions lived in Western Europe, but there's evidence for it, iirc.) They appear to have been really adaptable.
 

Going with the Anatolia/Rocky Mountains/Caucasus comparison with Dragon Pass, seems like lions would fit in quite well.

/sidenote

Once there were lion Hsunchen passing through Dragon Pass into Prax, but Tada slew and skinned their god, and only the bipedal ones survived in the chaparral. If there were any lions left in Dragon Pass, don't you think that the Basmoli Berserks would have replenished their companions from that source?

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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3 hours ago, Joerg said:

Once there were lion Hsunchen passing through Dragon Pass into Prax, but Tada slew and skinned their god, and only the bipedal ones survived in the chaparral. If there were any lions left in Dragon Pass, don't you think that the Basmoli Berserks would have replenished their companions from that source?

Woah, chill dude.

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Concept: there could have been lions in Dragon Pass (and perhaps there were once, before Tada killed Basmol), but their ecological niche as apex predators is occupied by sakkar sabretooths. There's enough large prey animals living in the area (cattle, dinosaurs, are there mastodons this far south?) that they don't go extinct like in real life. Thus, the sakkar could have the same sort of symbolic significance as lions do in historical cultures.

This brings up an question tho: if there's still lions in Maniria and Peloria, why don't the Praxian Basmoli migrate there and reconnect with their leonine kin? That could make a neat plot hook, honestly.

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9 hours ago, Joerg said:

Once there were lion Hsunchen passing through Dragon Pass into Prax, but Tada slew and skinned their god, and only the bipedal ones survived in the chaparral. If there were any lions left in Dragon Pass, don't you think that the Basmoli Berserks would have replenished their companions from that source?

they would have to seduce air beast (or raid them; but without fly it is hard). Maybe pamaltea lion's odor is unpleasant for cloud lion's smell 😛

maybe they just have no time, just passing quickly, trying to avoid very very strange people in dragon pass

or be chased by them.

 

1 hour ago, Ladygolem said:

Concept: there could have been lions in Dragon Pass (and perhaps there were once, before Tada killed Basmol), but their ecological niche as apex predators is occupied by sakkar sabretooths.

not exactly the same ecological niche: sakkars for the ground, lions for the air

it is clear I would prefer to read in the book cloud sabretooth however

but maybe we can mate them, a kind of cloud sabretooth liger

 

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13 hours ago, Joerg said:

Once there were lion Hsunchen passing through Dragon Pass into Prax, but Tada slew and skinned their god, and only the bipedal ones survived in the chaparral. If there were any lions left in Dragon Pass, don't you think that the Basmoli Berserks would have replenished their companions from that source?

Lions are rare outside the Western Reaches and Tanisor (RQG Bestiary page 150).

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On 3/7/2021 at 6:03 AM, French Desperate WindChild said:

maybe a ridiculous question but...

 

I know that storm bulls and wind children have wing

but there are other species

i found cloud lion, of course sheep, etc..

I always thought sheep were able to fly without  wing (at least  the sheep able to fly, not the other)

But in fact... not sure. And I have no idea about cloud lion or any other flying mammal.

Is there any "ecological rule" about that ? or the name ? (cloud = no wing, wind/storm =  wing for example)

 

Another associated question... Is there fish or insect in the air ?

 In truth I though that wings were the purview of Solar Pantheon linked fliers more than Storm Pantheon linked fliers.  But then neither sylphs nor salamanders have wings.

I think there is likely always some very specific mythological back-story as to why some creatures have wings and other fliers do not.  We know how Hippogriff became Horse for example.

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3 hours ago, Darius West said:

In truth I though that wings were the purview of Solar Pantheon linked fliers more than Storm Pantheon linked fliers.  But then neither sylphs nor salamanders have wings.

Yes I m also in this kind of way, but we have exception (or not) in bestiary

windchildren (except french), skybull, thunder brothers...

 

maybe wings are for "old" air beings  from the sky (those fallen angels who followed morningstar oups Umath)

and no wings for  "new" air beings  from the water (those vaporous who followed Heler)

 

maybe elementals are from another process, only (or very very) based on their primary rune, so no space to have a complex form, with arms, head, legs and... wing

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Cloud beasts (sheep, rams, leopards) forego any wings. And Orlanthi flyers let their breaths carry them.

Most feathered beings are sky creatures rather than storm creatures, like e.g. horses or the extinct Dara Happan gazzam (dinosaurs).

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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On 3/7/2021 at 6:15 PM, David Scott said:

I was thinking of Heather Bruton's illustration for Storm Tribe (Issaries 2000)

 1482020627_Cloudsheep.jpg.923e5aa049f9b26da1e9c8e63342c6e9.jpg

And from Anaxial's Roster: "Urothtrorol are large, magical rams with shaggy wool and gleaming horns. They have no wings, but run on the wind as if it were earth."

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