Kevin's Watch

no dogs in TC... why?

Because the Land is beautiful

But as far as a simple "SRD didn't need them" answer, the Land is a very dangerous place... what with massive disasters like the Ritual and the Sunbane, the only animals that could survive, I think, are the ones that are helped out by higher beings. So cows, chickens, goats, horses were preserved by humans because they were useful to them, and Foul preserved kresh because they were useful to him. The rest died out or are so rare that you probably won't stumble upon one.

Lord Zombiac wrote:no dogs in TC... why?

Ur-vile ate them...

Dogs are highly useful creatures. They can be guards, pack animals, they can pull sleds, they corral livestock.

They communicate with human beings on a higher level than other animals, even apes, who can use sign language-- dogs understand us.

I plan on writing a novella or short story in fantasy written from a dog's point of view.

I will anthropomorphize the dog as little as possible.

As far as I know, this will be a first in fantasy fiction.

All fantasy, (including my own) noticeably lacks in dogs.

No dogs? Good point, I had not noticed that. In a normal third-world village (dare we compare the Stowndowns of the the Land to one of those?) there seems to be at least as many dogs as people. Obviously dogs would not be very well suited to life in a Woodhelvin.

There are wolves in the Land, and dogs are just domesticated wolves. But what would domesticated dogs in the Land eat? Would the people of the land have killed other animals to feed dogs? I am not sure.

Dogs eat what we won't. When I took anthro in college we learned that dogs basically domesticated themselves-- for the food.

maybe the dogs got ate and killed off by habitants of the land. Too bad watch dogs would have been useful. Now that i'm thinking if missing things in the land, did people of the land have the benefit of "the wheel" ? It's been a while since I read the books I can't recall any carts or wagons.

Of course there are dogs in the Land, but they are irrelevant to the story so they aren't worth mentioning.

In my opinion, it's kind of symbolic of the people of the Land's relationship with the land..
They value the land for what it is and are content to co-exist with it.. IMHO 'domesticating' animals is a symbol of wanting to change the land and work your will upon it.

ninjaboy wrote:In my opinion, it's kind of symbolic of the people of the Land's relationship with the land..
They value the land for what it is and are content to co-exist with it.. IMHO 'domesticating' animals is a symbol of wanting to change the land and work your will upon it.

Animal rights, environmentalism (be nice to the trees). The Land is a left-wing utopia.

Lord Zombiac wrote:no dogs in TC... why?

Dogs are specifically mentioned as being among the animals that come to the aid of the Unfettered One when he battles the ur-viles at the Celebration of Spring in LFB.

duchess of malfi wrote:

Lord Zombiac wrote:no dogs in TC... why?

Dogs are specifically mentioned as being among the animals that come to the aid of the Unfettered One when he battles the ur-viles at the Celebration of Spring in LFB.

Snap - good pickup.

I'd still maintain that they would be wild, unchanged and undomesticated dogs.. Like our dingoes.

While wild dogs would be most common, "domesticating" a dog isn't really a big change. Just feed them everyday for anywhere from 4 months to a year and they will be loyal to you as long as you can provide for them. They would revert to wild dogs rather easily, but if you keep feeding them and be nice to them, they should be fine. So, I object to the arguement of "changing the way the Land works". Dogs are just naturally our best friends. We have had a good relationship with dogs since we were all a nomadic people.

No cats either.


As for dogs, doesn't the word "roynish" mean barking sounds? The Waynhim take the place of dogs.


Now put down that bayamo, whatever a bayamo is. No really, I don't know what a bayamo is.

ninjaboy wrote:In my opinion, it's kind of symbolic of the people of the Land's relationship with the land..
They value the land for what it is and are content to co-exist with it.. IMHO 'domesticating' animals is a symbol of wanting to change the land and work your will upon it.

Actually, pretty sure the land had domesticated animals. Triock was a shepherd.

Nekrimah wrote:No cats either.


As for dogs, doesn't the word "roynish" mean barking sounds? The Waynhim take the place of dogs.


Now put down that bayamo, whatever a bayamo is. No really, I don't know what a bayamo is.

Down, waynyy...good waynyy...

Spoiler

now FETCH the staff! Get it!

only def. I know of bayamo is a sudden strong storm around Caribbean/Cuba...think I ran across it in a long poem called Omeros.

As for dogs, doesn't the word "roynish" mean barking sounds? The Waynhim take the place of dogs.

No, but the ur viles do make barking sounds in The Illearth War (I think when fleshharrower makes a scepter by sacrificing an ur vile loremaster, or when they break the word of warning at doom's retreat).

Fleshharrower wore a loincloth made from dog noses. It must have been very soft.

Chapter 16 of TWL, a couple of pages before vraith is mentioned, among the list of animals is "hounds" - I presume dogs?

Iolanthe wrote:Chapter 16 of TWL, a couple of pages before vraith is mentioned, among the list of animals is "hounds" - I presume dogs?

Hey, that's a good catch [about the hounds, i mean, not my adopted handle].
That settles that, I guess, along with ninja's notice of the unfettered's helpers.