Where are my lizards?

What happened to all of the dangerous predators in the Repubic? Surely all of the church's army's that have been disbanded by CHaris must have been chewed on! How was the Dohlarian army retreating after the destruction of the army of justice not worried about the natural predators that must roam freely in the waste land of the south march?

They went into the pot.

Stormeagle wrote:What happened to all of the dangerous predators in the Repubic? Surely all of the church's army's that have been disbanded by CHaris must have been chewed on! How was the Dohlarian army retreating after the destruction of the army of justice not worried about the natural predators that must roam freely in the waste land of the south march?

When your hungry enough you'll eat anything. During the siege of Leningrad and Stalingrad rats cats dogs even the animals in the zoos.

Stormeagle wrote:What happened to all of the dangerous predators in the Repubic? Surely all of the church's army's that have been disbanded by CHaris must have been chewed on! How was the Dohlarian army retreating after the destruction of the army of justice not worried about the natural predators that must roam freely in the waste land of the south march?

I', pretty sure that the entire continent has been "Sanctified" (aka terraformed) and there aren't many, if any, dangerous predators or any un-domesticated native animals.

saber964 wrote: During the siege of Leningrad and Stalingrad rats cats dogs even the animals in the zoos.

Actually, the Leningrad Zoo was preserved, by great self-self-sacrifice of its staff. That's why it is still Leningrad Zoo, while the city is now St. Petersburg; the current staff wanted to preserve the memory and honor of their predecessors.

Sorry for the digression.

Weird Harold wrote:

Stormeagle wrote:What happened to all of the dangerous predators in the Repubic? Surely all of the church's army's that have been disbanded by CHaris must have been chewed on! How was the Dohlarian army retreating after the destruction of the army of justice not worried about the natural predators that must roam freely in the waste land of the south march?

I', pretty sure that the entire continent has been "Sanctified" (aka terraformed) and there aren't many, if any, dangerous predators or any un-domesticated native animals.

Merlin introduces himself to Caleb in OAR after a hunt for a slash lizard. OK, this is in Charis and not on the mainland, but I would be surprised not to find similar predators on the mainland. For one thing, in the long run, they are needed to keep the herbivores healthy.

I always wondered what other predators there were in the north of Howard besides snow dragons. In a cold climate, the way the square-cube law affects heat loss favours larger indigent animals.
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Peter2 wrote:Merlin introduces himself to Caleb in OAR after a hunt for a slash lizard. OK, this is in Charis and not on the mainland, but I would be surprised not to find similar predators on the mainland. For one thing, in the long run, they are needed to keep the herbivores healthy.

Charis -- and most of the rest of the planet is "unsactified" while the continent of Haven has been settled and "Sanctified" longer than any other place on the planet. There are very few native lifeforms around for predators to keep in check on Haven. Charis and other places where there is still large areas of "unsanctified" native habitat will still have native lifeforms and native habitat.

The continent is far from entirely sanctified. In fact, the AoG is probably getting rather nervous about marching into unsanctified forest, given what keeps on happening to them in there

More specifically, 'sanctification' doesn't remove all native lifeforms from the territory. It modifies the ecosystem to support human life by introducing enough Terran biology and modified Safehold lifeforms to provide the necessities. The big local wildlife probably finds it only moderately harder to live there than their native territory. And, in any case, the process has only been underway in the South March for a couple of generations, which is why it's so sparsely settled.

Weird Harold wrote:

Peter2 wrote:Merlin introduces himself to Caleb in OAR after a hunt for a slash lizard. OK, this is in Charis and not on the mainland, but I would be surprised not to find similar predators on the mainland. For one thing, in the long run, they are needed to keep the herbivores healthy.

Charis -- and most of the rest of the planet is "unsactified" while the continent of Haven has been settled and "Sanctified" longer than any other place on the planet. There are very few native lifeforms around for predators to keep in check on Haven. Charis and other places where there is still large areas of "unsanctified" native habitat will still have native lifeforms and native habitat.

6L6 wrote:They went into the pot.

Literally. All those starving peasants and what not needed to eat SOMETHING. After that first winter, it's likely the only large predators left in Siddarmark are recent immigrants from neighboring lands.

Lotta laughs here. We haven't heard much about dragon ranching and the dragonboys who keep them safe fron slash lizards. Based on some of the "different" instrumental combinations I'm having a difficult time imagining how a dragonboy song might sound. Can you imagine a rodeo with dragon bull riding and calf roping? Also, just how do you tie a six-legged animal up for branding. Maybe one of the early snippets will give us some more information on dragonboys. A lot to think about here...