Gonn Orta

[Erol of Backford]

8 hours ago, Darius West said:

I covered it with perspex to stop it being destroyed

I took mine to the printer and had it bound via spiral. it opens easy enough and doesn't come unglued...

[jajagappa]

On 11/9/2023 at 6:36 PM, Erol of Backford said:

I was reading in the KOS that in 1636 Orta and Argrath shared a bottle of wine and they became good friends.

I think this is one of the KoS tricks of conflating events. Argrath had already achieved the Drinking Giant's Cauldron and befriended Gonn Orta. He obviously aided the subsequent Cradle.

Now Argrath is in trouble and he calls upon Gonn Orta to return the favor.

[Erol of Backford]

5 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

KoS tricks of conflating events

But having shared wine, had a picnic lunch with a 300' giant needs some description.

Checkered table cloth, some fine Imtherian cheese maybe 800-1000 wheels, several 100lbs. of honey-ham from Elkoi? Where is the over for the house sized French baguettes.

(Oh, which country in Glorantha would be like France, thinking somewhere out west but maybe Carmania?)

[Darius West]

On 11/11/2023 at 9:05 AM, Erol of Backford said:

Maybe Argrath was also a trickster?

The Myth of Drinking the Giant's Cauldron also features in Norse Mythology.  Thor attempts to do it and fails, because the Cauldron contains the entire ocean, though Thor doesn't know it, because magic...  You don't have to complete the test to win.  The giants are impressed at your efforts regardless.

[Cassius]

On 11/11/2023 at 3:10 PM, Erol of Backford said:

(Oh, which country in Glorantha would be like France, thinking somewhere out west but maybe Carmania?)

Esrolia has always reminded me of southern France, as well as Italy.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Cassius

[jajagappa]

23 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

(Oh, which country in Glorantha would be like France, thinking somewhere out west but maybe Carmania?)

Northern France or southern France? 

Esrolia is very much like southern France (or Spain). Warm, dry, ...

For northern France, I think you'd need to go to Maniria or Seshnela.

[Darius West]

On 11/12/2023 at 8:49 PM, Cassius said:

Esrolia has always reminded me of southern France, as well as Italy.

I get a more Egyptian/Cretan vibe tbh.

[jajagappa]

8 hours ago, Darius West said:

I get a more Egyptian/Cretan vibe tbh

From a climate perspective, Egypt would not mesh with Esrolia - single well-watered valley amidst a desert vs. dry, but well-watered, cropland. 

[Joerg]

4 hours ago, jajagappa said:

From a climate perspective, Egypt would not mesh with Esrolia - single well-watered valley amidst a desert vs. dry, but well-watered, cropland. 

Climate-wise, the Po valley might be a better approximation, although it only has a single river. Maybe the Danube delta region, although that lacks the mountains.

For a non-European parallel, maybe the Mekong? Too much rice, not enough wheat, though. Maybe the hinterland of the Chesapeake bay or Sacramento Valley?

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

Sacramento Valley?

Yes, that would be another reasonable model for Esrolia.

[Darius West]

23 hours ago, jajagappa said:

From a climate perspective, Egypt would not mesh with Esrolia - single well-watered valley amidst a desert vs. dry, but well-watered, cropland. 

The part of Egypt that matters isn't the desert.

[Joerg]

On 11/17/2023 at 2:38 PM, jajagappa said:

From a climate perspective, Egypt would not mesh with Esrolia - single well-watered valley amidst a desert vs. dry, but well-watered, cropland. 

34 minutes ago, Darius West said:

The part of Egypt that matters isn't the desert.

Once you leave the valley and spread out into the Delta, many other factors are missing.

One thing Esrolia and the Nile Delta have in common is the insane population density, with practically none of the common "wilds" left in between the settlements (and those left mostly being wetland used by fisherfolk). Already RQ3 World Book pointed out that extremely fertile places like the Nile Delta would go without those three quarters of less cultivated land between the villages, and that reasoning is applicable to Esrolia.

Esrolia benefits greatly from the woodlands south and north of it (Caladraland and outside of Arstola proper), making up for the severe lack of forestation in its mesopotamia and surrounding soft hills. There is no mention of annual (or even twice annual) floodings bringing fertile river sediment to the fields at all - Esrolian soil is blessed differently, possibly the equivalent of Ukrainian black soil (loess, although that would imply a debt of gratitude to Storm suppressed by the Grandmothers, although implicit in the Wooing of Orlanth and Ernalda).

[Erol of Backford]

So what cheeses would the White Bull have brought to Orta for a picnic, Praxian Beast milk cheeses? That's where the what is similar to France for wine and Swiss cheese, related to what orta may eat with Argrath... whole roasted carcass by the dozens?

[jajagappa]

13 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

So what cheeses would the White Bull have brought to Orta for a picnic, Praxian Beast milk cheeses?

Remember that the lesser giants that hang out with Gonn Orta periodically travel to Imther (presumably to commune with the giants such as Giant Top, the great central mountain). So naturally Gonn Orta will be partial to Imtherian cheeses. Now, in Argrath's case, since he is coming from Prax, it would be best if he could bring Praxian Beast milk cheese (probably something aged in the Paps) along. 

Is Gonn Orta carnivorous? I suspect he's grown beyond the needs of mortal hungers (otherwise there'd be no meat to be found anywhere near him).

[Joerg]

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

Is Gonn Orta carnivorous? I suspect he's grown beyond the needs of mortal hungers (otherwise there'd be no meat to be found anywhere near him).

I would expect that Gonn Orta's last full meal was part of his wooing the giantess whose baby we meet on the 1621 Cradle. Argrath bringing the wine may have been part of that - the Agitorani needed to drink before reproduction, too.

[JRE]

I play that Giants do not need to eat per se, but they need to eat to move and specially to move fast, so getting Gonn Orta, and probably his retinue, to come to help you requires a feast to feed (and water) them, so they can actually come.

Being Argrath, I would expect a full convoy, where all is expected to be eaten, including the draft animals, the carts, some specially delicious rocks, the drivers, and other delicacies that would be inedible to others. Organized by the White Bull Society but bringing goods from all the East and Pent.

[Erol of Backford]

12 hours ago, jajagappa said:

So naturally Gonn Orta will be partial to Imtherian cheeses.

Nothing but the best for Orta...

[Darius West]

Gonn Orta is large enough to rip the wings off the Crimson Bat.

[Erol of Backford]

There is a pestilence upon this land... (Lunars)