Café de Nuit

I am trying to work out some basic facts about the Musarde River with an eye to perhaps putting a netbook together. Unfortunately, I am currently thousands of kilometres away from the relevant source books. My question is what domains in the western Core experience genuine winter, i.e., 'enjoy' snow accumulation? I ask since I am trying to gauge the degree to which the water volume of the Musarde surges in the spring.

From memory, I am certain only of Lamordia.
Evidently, the peaks of Barovia too, but the rest of that land?
And what of south eastern Darkon, Falkovnia, Dementilieu, Mordant, Richemulot, Borca, Verbrek, Sithicus, and Kartakass?

Equally, do we know much or anything about rainfall patterns? Mordant seems to be foggy and wet. But what of Dementilieu and Lamordia? Do the wheat fields of Falkovnia suggest a significantly dryer interior? Is Sithicus notably wetter, and Invidia significantly drier, than the other forested southern lands?

cure wrote:I am trying to work out some basic facts about the Musarde River with an eye to perhaps putting a netbook together. Unfortunately, I am currently thousands of kilometres away from the relevant source books. My question is what domains in the western Core experience genuine winter, i.e., 'enjoy' snow accumulation? I ask since I am trying to gauge the degree to which the water volume of the Musarde surges in the spring.

From memory, I am certain only of Lamordia.
Evidently, the peaks of Barovia too, but the rest of that land?
And what of south eastern Darkon, Falkovnia, Dementilieu, Mordant, Richemulot, Borca, Verbrek, Sithicus, and Kartakass?

Equally, do we know much or anything about rainfall patterns? Mordant seems to be foggy and wet. But what of Dementilieu and Lamordia? Do the wheat fields of Falkovnia suggest a significantly dryer interior? Is Sithicus notably wetter, and Invidia significantly drier, than the other forested southern lands?

I'm guessing completely in these, but for example, in Barovia, lake Krezk does not freeze: people do not fish because the waters become tainted. On the other hand, I think I remember reading that another lake (Zarovich, perhaps) froze. If the lakes freeze, I'd say the lands around them have snow accumulation.

I can imagine Verbrek with snow accumulation for wolves can live in snow, but I'd prefer not to. I think it would contrast with the primal rage and bestial wildness of the land.... there is a concept that I can't find the word for, but I guess I can say that nature in Verbrek is too alive to have to remain dormant below the snow.

That said, I only associate heavy snow accumulatio to highly forest areas and so you could have it in Invidia and Kartakass (guess this fits extremely well with Kartakass, by the way) and perhaps Sithicus.

It seems to me that snow accumulation isn't that rare. Larry Elmore, for example, has lots of pictures about Krynn with snow and it isn't always in the mountains or in the Icereach.

Ail

The "default" climate of the mainland Core seems to be temperate, which means that snowy winters are to be expected for most domains. There'd be less snow (and more rain) in the lowlands, and progressively-nastier snowfalls in the Balinoks and lesser mountain ranges. The worst winters would strike Lamordia (obviously) and Barovia, but Valachan gets a lot of snow too, according to S. Enormous spring thunderstorms are typical of Verbrek and Sithicus, which would tend to exacerbate snowmelt-related flooding. Borca is riddled with geothermal springs, which presumably rise from near-surface aquifers filled by the Balinoks' runoff. Most of eastern Darkon is either marshy or forested with lots of lakes, suggesting ample rainfall; S calls Darkonian winters "slushy", implying snows don't build up much and runoff wouldn't be concentrated according to season. Falkovnia is humid in summer and has dreary, snowbound winters. While none of the following are noted for extreme winters, Richemulot is drier and mild, Dementlieu is warm but rainy, Mordent is absolutely soggy, and Kartakass is just plain wet.

Ail wrote:I can imagine Verbrek with snow accumulation for wolves can live in snow, but I'd prefer not to. I think it would contrast with the primal rage and bestial wildness of the land.... there is a concept that I can't find the word for, but I guess I can say that nature in Verbrek is too alive to have to remain dormant below the snow.

Depends what view of Nature's hostility you're going for. If you're using mostly animal-attacks and so forth to illustrate nature's intolerance of a human presence in Verbrek, limiting winter's span is fair. OTOH, having incredibly harsh winters -- blizzards that kill travelers and livestock; ice storms that knock down trees and homesteads' walls; prolonged months of hardship that break the spirits of men who dare to think of "taming" the wilderness -- this could give the impression that the very elements are firmly opposed to any human advances in this trackless region.

Rotipher wrote:

Ail wrote:I can imagine Verbrek with snow accumulation for wolves can live in snow, but I'd prefer not to. I think it would contrast with the primal rage and bestial wildness of the land.... there is a concept that I can't find the word for, but I guess I can say that nature in Verbrek is too alive to have to remain dormant below the snow.

Depends what view of Nature's hostility you're going for. If you're using mostly animal-attacks and so forth to illustrate nature's intolerance of a human presence in Verbrek, limiting winter's span is fair. OTOH, having incredibly harsh winters -- blizzards that kill travelers and livestock; ice storms that knock down trees and homesteads' walls; prolonged months of hardship that break the spirits of men who dare to think of "taming" the wilderness -- this could give the impression that the very elements are firmly opposed to any human advances in this trackless region.

And then you'd be in Vorostokov

I prefer to have Verbrek always with the forest being the main danger... the forest and the wolves. I take it a lot from those old forests of fairy tales or even the more classic tales of vampires and werewolves (wow, what a surprise!) where you can freely walk and run in the forest, and still feel trapped. It's not the snow that causes you the problems, it's its watchfulness and the wolves that prowl it constantly....
Wolves, I said?
My bad... wise travellers know better, of course.

Ail