Chapter Four of the Topic: Life In Landscape – Being, visions of the Far Place, the gors and the gallt, with notes various on flora and fauna, hunting, herding, agriculture, food and matters diverse.

The Fauna of the Far Place

Animals

Cultural Animals

Aldryami (rare in south) | Beast Folk (uncommon) | Broo | Dragon | Dragonewt | Durulz (rare) | Enlo (feral in south, some domesticated as stead-trollkin) | Giants (rare) | Ghost Tribe | Humans (Far Walkers, Heortling exiles from Tarsh, a few Lunar resettlement colonia) | Land Spirits (dryad, hag, naiad etc.) | Magisaur | Newtling (uncommon, bachelors only) | Runners | Scorpion Folk | Telmori (rare) | Tusk Riders (rare incursions from Stinking Forest) | Uz (rare in south) | Voralan (extremely rare, found in north only) | Wind Children (rare) | Wyrms (rare, uplands only)

Major Wilderness Fauna

Alynx (wildcat or shadowcat, many species) | Sable Antelope | Auroch (rare, legendary, probably extinct) | Badger | Black Bear | Blue Bear | Cave Bear | Tree Bear | White Dwarf Bear | Beaver | Forest Bison | Boar (Razorback!) | Blue Boar | Horned Boar | Chamois | Chipmunk | Red Deer | Roe Deer | Snow Deer | Dinosaur (very rare in uplands, mainly smaller vegetarians, including stunted pentaceratops) | Dragonsnail | Elk (including giant species) | Ferret | Red Fox | Frog | Tree Frog | Gorp | Griffin | Wild Goat | Hare | Hedgehog | Wild Horse | Ibex | Krarshtkid (rare) | Lizard | Rock Lizard | Lynx | Mammoth (rare or legendary) | Marmot | Crim Marten | Pine Marten | Otter | Pika | Polecat (ferret) | Pronghorn | Razorback | Reindeer | Rodent | Rubble Runner | Sabretooth Cat | Salamander (lizard) | Wild Sheep | Mole Shrew | Snake | Grass Snake | Squirrel | Stoat | Tusker | Vole | Wapiti | Walktapus | Wood Vole | Weasel | Wolverine | Wildcat | Wolf

Fish And Aquatic Animals

Burbot (Pricklefish) | Carp | Chub | Crab | Dace | Eel | Hell Salmon (eyeless, subterranean for most of life) | Lamprey (Lizardfish) | Rock Oyster | Perch | Pickeral | Pike | River Porpoise | Roach | Salmon | Sprat | Sturgeon | Trout | Giant Turtle | Snapping Turtle | Waterwolf (River Dragon) | Whelk and many other freshwater species

Elementals And Magical Creatures

Beast Ancestor | Demon | Gargoyle | Ghost | Oread | Salamander (rare)*| Shade | Skybull (rare) | Succubus (very rare) | Sylph | Undine | Wraith & myriad spirits of the land and wilderness

* According to the Uplanders, the mythical geography of Far Point is such that forces of fire are eternally weak. A spiritual soggyness pervades.

Animals have their own tribes, and approximately 1% of each species have a high degree of consciousness, free will and volition. They have their own immortal leaders, heroes and shamans, who may dwell both on the Other Side and on the Lozenge. These animals may appear as spirit guides and totems in dreams and visions. They have their own gods, rituals, holy places, heroquests and long term goals.

The topic of animals as symbols and omens is enormous, and largely unexplored. Why are they associated with certain events? What is their link to the world soul or web of Glorantha, the source of their folk and cultic associations?

Birds

‘As for birds… you will find geese, teal, coots, didappers, water crows and herons – more than anyone can number, especially in the Long Dark or at moulting time. I have seen a hundred taken at once, sometimes with bird-lime, sometimes in nets or snares.’

Jaxarte Whyded. The Journey Through Far Point, 1624.

(Note: Far-Pointers use the term ‘haggar‘ instead of ‘hawk’ or ‘eagle’, and ‘teal‘ to distinguish non-intelligent ducks from the durulz.)

Birds

Blackbird | Bullfinch | Buzzard | Coot | Crane | Crossbill | Curlew | Demi-Bird | Didapper (Dabchick) | Diver | Egret | Ern | Falcon | Gyre Falcon | Fuzztopper | Godwit | Goose | Goshawk | Grebe | Hazel Grouse | Wood Grouse | Haggar (Wind Hawk, Goshawk, Sparrow Hawk) | Sun Haggar (golden eagle) | Heron | Jay | Kestrel | Kingfisher (Halcyon) | Lake Wader | Lapwing | Morganseer | Nighthunter (Haggar) | Nightingale | Nightjar | Owl | Oyster-Catcher | Partridge | Pippit | Winged Plover | Red Throat | Ruff | Starling | Stead Sparrow | Stonechat | Teal | Tit | Tree-Creeper | Turnstone | Water Crow | Raven | Sandpiper | White Stork | Skylark | Little Stint | Swan | Red Vulture | Warbler | Wheat Ear | Whinchat | Witch Bird | Woodlark | Woodpecker

Insects

Horned Beetle | Dungson | Louse | Marsh Fly | Maggot | Midge | Millipede | Scorpion | Snail | Worm | Slow Worm (legless lizard) | about ten million others

Note: Insect size increases dramatically as one goes north toward Dagori Inkarth.

The Flora of the Far Place

‘These woods stretch unbroken over a vast region… dense woods, and so still… in many places all the ground is hidden for miles under a thick cushion of moss…. A holy and eternal gloom pervades the pillared aisles.’

SilverFoot the Poet (now missing in Dagori Inkarth).

(As well as Euro-Siberian flora, extensive use has been made in this section of Rodin Greenbeak’s Guide to Gloranthan Flora, available in pre-web days at the Berkley Soda FTP server. (Who was the author? – can anyone help with this?)

Darkblooms are common in Far Point: they are blue/black plants that bloom in winter, feeding on cold and dark in the same way that normal plants feed on sunlight. Humans have little use for them: they have few known herbal or medicinal properties. However, they are much used by the Uz.

Some of the following species will be known to you as domesticated garden plants. However, they represent wild ancestors, and may bear little resemblance to the carefully bred domesticated varieties we know today.

Common Plants and Fungi

All Heal | Amberplant | Apple Plum | Armour Grass | Arroin’s Lily | Athoforia (Aldryami) | Barley Wild-seed | Bastard Palm | Bellflower | Bilberry | Bird’s Nest Orchid | Bittersweet Nightshade | Blackberry | Bluebell | Blueberry | Boarweed | Bramble | Briarhell (smaller variety than Dorastor’s) | Brittle Bladder | Brown Hair Moss | Bryony | Bullrush | Buttercup | Buttercup Maiden (?) | Carnis | Calfonilla (Aldryami) | Clingvine (Aldryami) | Clothfern | Clover | Cold Orchid | Cotton Grass | Cow Bloom (Yolk of Egg) | Cranes-Bill | Dandelion | Day’s Eye (Daisy) | Darkblooms (many species) | Darkdart Bush | Darkfoil (Aldryami) | Darkslip | Dead Nettles | Devil’s Bit | Dock | Dog Mercury | Dour-root | Dragon Lily | Dreamweed (Aldryami) | Eel Grass | Elven Fighting Fungus (Aldryami) | Eurmal’s Crumbs | Eyebright | Figwort | Fleabane | Flowering Rush | Forest Candle | Foxglove | Foxtail Lily | GallowMan | Gas Mushroom | Gas Plant | Giant Anemone | Giant Tarbush | Gooseberry | Great Bladderwort | Green Moss | GreenCone | Hart’s Tongue | Hawkbit | Hazia | Healbeet | Henbit | Herder’s Purse | Hobham Root | Iris | Jewelflor (Aldryami) | King’s Spear (Asphodelus or Daffodil) | Knotweed | Kokolonni | Kraken Weed | Lady Slipper Orchid | Larkspur | Leechbush | Leopard’s Bane | Lilac | Lily | Ling | Linseed | Lynxtooth | Mad Dog Mushroom | Masterwort | Meadow Thistle | Mee Vorala (Fungi) | Mistle Root | Monkshood | Moonwort | Moss | Mostal’s Salad | Mustard | Ne’er Forget | Ne’er Forgive | NeverDie | Night Poppy | Nightshade | Nymph Eye | Orlanth’s Sceptre | Peacherry | Plantain | Poison Hemlock | Pricklymelon | Primrose | Princess Plant (Aldryami) | Ragwort | Rainbowvine (Aldryami) | Ramson (Wild Garlic) | Red Clover | Red Thistle Men | Ribwood | Rosebay | Royal Fern | Rundown Toadstool | Runner Root | Sacred Time | Satin Flower | Saxifrage | Screamer (Aldryami) | Season-Grass | Sedge | Shield Fern | Silver Thistle | Soul Vine | Snowdrop (Nalda’s Taper) | Sow Thistle | Spirit Moss | Spleenwort | Spurge | Star Captain (Aster) | Star-of-Love | Star-of-War | Sticky-whip | Stinging Nettle | StormHood | Sweet Pyse (Sweet Pea) | Tangibar | Tanglebriar (Aldryami) | Tansic (Everbloom, Carnation) | Tansy Ragwort | Tarsh Tomato | Tears of Hope) | Thievesbane (Aldryami) | Thistle | Tulip | Twayblade | Uleria’s Crown (Rose) | Water Gourd | Water Lily | Water Soldier | Waymole | Were-Flower | Whipbush | Wild Rose | Willow Herb | Winter Gallant | Winter Grapes | Winter Wheat | Woad | Woad Warrior (Mamax) | Woodbine (Honeysuckle) | Wood Anemone | Wood Sorrel | Wormwood

Common Trees And Large Scrubs

Alder | Thorn Apple | Ash (Black, Mountain, Blue, Green, Red, White and Stone varieties) | Aspen (Poplar – Trembling, Quaking and Screaming varieties) | Balsam (includes Red Balsam and the legendary High Balsam) | Basswood (Linden) | Sweet Bay | Beech | Birch (includes Black, Canoe, Paper, River, Silver, Sweet, White and River varieties) | Bitternut (Hickory) | BrooBud | Buck Eye | Butternut (White Walnut) | Cork | Crabapple | Creeper Tree (Marshbark) | Cyprus (including Bald and SkyDome varieties) | Elder (including Box Elder) | Elm (including Dinosaur Elm) | Hawthorn | Hemlock | Holly | Horn Beam | Irontree (Pine) | Swamp Maple | Mockernut | Never-Bend | Oak (including Sartar, Black, White, Steadfast, Pine and Willow varieties) | Pine (including Dwarf, White, Grey, and Geo’s varieties) | Poplars (including Long-Tooth varieties) | Rootless Ones (Aldryami walking trees) | Shagbark | Silver Wood | Spruce | Storm Apple (rare) | Storm Cedar | Wailing Tree | Walnut | Willow (including Weeping, White and Ghost varieties) | Windberry Tree | Yelm Tree | Yew (Death Tree)

Proceed to Chapter Five: Environments …