Discussion Seasonal Variation in Lustria

[Scalenex]

Okay google tells me that the Amazon Rain Forest has about six months of wet season and six months of the dry season. Most focus on the floods at the peak of the rainy season. Huts and stilts, fish reaching farther inland, trees and land and animals adapting etc but I never hear much about the dry season.

How dry is the dry season? Do animals struggle more during the dry season or the wet season?

Should Lustria and the Southlands follow the real world tropical patterns or should they be different? If different I figure Lustria would be even more extreme with wetter wet times and drier dry times. Alternatively since the Warhmamer world's swamps are deeper, deserts more arid, mountains taller the jungle should be monsoon filled all year long.

I spent a week camping off an island in the Florida Keys. Best vacation ever, but it didn't give me a great grounding for living in a tropical climate. What's it like?

Basically I'm asking about thinking from a literary standpoint. What's it like living in or near a tropical rainforest? Someone on Lustria-Online must know.

I'm interested in seasonal variation for man vs. nature plots. Both the rainy and the dry season could have their own perils. When would most animals mate? By extension when would most animals bear their young? When are the animals quietest, whatever is closest to hibernation or at least "less active."

Seasons can build character. What seasons/time of year do Lizardmen like best and why? It probably isn't the same for everyone. A city dwelling Skink scribe probably has different preferences from a jungle scout or Terradon flyer. When is the jungle least hostile to warmblood trespassers and is anyone clever enough to capitalize on it?

Seasons can set the mood. Seasons can provide a framing device if a story is long running. Anyway looking for facts on real world tropical rainforests and opinions on how to use seasons and weather to enhance storytelling on Lustria-Online.

 

[pendrake]

Do storm patterns move the direction (West? I think) that they do on Earth? Does LUSTRIA have a huge mountain range on its "Left" coast? Is it solid and contiguous like the real-world Andes?

If not expect differences; if yes the weather should be very similar. (The unmodified, non-Slann-regulated weather at least.)

But there may be a Lord Th'un'Dyr Rayn'Maquayr constantly cogitating upon the matter...

 

[pendrake]

For quarrying stone the rainy season is probably a hindrance.

For building anything out of stone (doing masonry) the rainy season might be a problem.

This is informative: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_wind_patterns

[[will add more...if I think of some]]

 

[Warden]

I have only been to a rainforest once (Belize), and unlike a desert (which I have been to the middle east) which is also very hot, the rainforest was incredibly humid. And I was there during the dry season, so I can only imagine the humidity during the rainy season. Some other pointers:



Amazon rainforest receives 6 to upwards of 12 FEET of rain a year! Almost four meters of rain! I can only imagine the amount of flooding that happens during these periods. In some parts of the rainforest kids go to school on boats instead of cars, so I can only imagine that in some parts it would be easier to get around in boats for half the year. Also in areas of heavy vegetation it gets very dark due to rainfall, so that could certainly set the mood (see pictures).



The Amazon river can rise up to 40 feet during the year, so many people live in houses adapted for flooding (aka really high stilts). I know the Mayans built canals to help with flooding or even to water crops, so that could be a way to prevent temple cities from floating away.

Flooding seems to be the main obstacle during the rainy season; washing out jungle trails, roads, houses, or anything else that gets in its way, so navigating without a boat would be difficult. When the water is really high, it brings the river level up higher into the canopy’s of the trees, so it’s easier for a canoe-traveller to spot more arboreal wildlife such as tropical birds, monkeys, fruits, or flowers. I think it’s safe to say that flooding is the main problem any would-be temple robber would have to deal with. It seems like the dry season would be the better time to mount an expedition. Good thing the Lizardmen are aquatic.

Dry season still gets heavy rain, but not as much flooding because there isn’t as much water coming down from the Andes mountains to flood the rivers. Lots of mud near the riverways, which means it’s easier to come across ground-dwelling creatures such as snakes or small lizards. Lots of migratory birds during this easer too, plus thousands of spawning fish. Also lots of mosquitos during this time though… its easier for bugs to spawn in stagnant or slow-moving water than a giant rushing river. Any troops marching through the jungle in the dryer season would have swarms of visitors to plague them instead.



Just some stuff to think about!

 

[Warden]

Also found a list of survival tips for surviving in the rainforest (paraphrased a bit of course)


Tips to survive in Lustria:

Step 1: don’t go to Lustria, or else you will die.

Step 2: if you must go to Lustria, make sure you only boil water before you drink it, or else you will catch a disease from a local stream or river and die.

Step 3: don’t eat anything unless you have cooked it well first, or else you will get food poisoning and die.

Step 4: Wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt to protect from insect bites and rashes from contact with certain plants. If you touch a poisonous plant or get bit by the wrong insect you will die.

Step 5: Wear good boots and keep your feet dry. If your feet get wet they will eventually develop an infection and then you will have to get amputated. Then when you get left behind by your comrades you will die. Also check your boots before you put them on to make sure there are no venomous creatures inside, or else you will die.

Step 6: don’t touch the wildlife. Especially the creepy crawly ones, the brightly colored ones, or the ones that hiss at you. They are probably poisonous, and if they bite you, you will turn red, swell up, and die. Or it might just eat you.

Step 7: Travel with a guide and avoid going into remote regions on your own. If you get lost you will die.

Step 8: don’t steal sacred plaques from any lost temples you come across, or else the lizardmen will come after you and take you out with a blowpipe. Or eat you.

 

[Bowser]

That is the best paraphrased list for survival I have ever read! Could be the entire plot of a short story!

 

[Otzi'mandias]

I'd think the easiest weather for a Terradon rider would be the very end of the dry season. Nothing would attack them, because a hydrated Terradon will outrun a dehydrated anything. Also, an animal mustering the effort for a pursuit would be highly unusual, Especially when theres surely some corpse somewhere that hasnt been scavenged yet.

The worst time for a Terradon would be mid-rainy season. The rain (which I assume would be torrential) would throw off any delicacy from flying, even briefly hovering would be an effort. The larger, more predatory flyers could easily sneak up and attack as hearing would be impossible. Even seeing them would be hard as the rain distorts and reflects light.

A scout would be best in the wet season. A small blue skink in torrential rain? No-one would see anything. Footprints would vanish almost as soon as they were created. Scents would vanish - or worse, be dragged away from the skink to lead would-be hunters far away from it.

The worst season for a skink? The end of dry season, when Mama Carnosaur or Mama Dread Saurian is looking for something, anything to feed their children. Scents stay put. Plants die - no cover for the skink. It would be safer staying inside the temple-city.

Warmbloods? Midway between Dry and Rainy, and whatever they do, do not let them stay in the jungle when the heavy rains come, or all the rains stop. They'll be dead in hours - drowned in mud, or water containers destroyed by insects that can smell the water that they're carrying, and want in on it.

 

[spawning of Bob]

I live in a sub tropical area (Brisbane) The remaining shreds of rainforest in my local area cling to the tops of low, ex volcanic mountain ranges - mostly because they were harder to clear for farming, so they survived long enough to get protected.

North Queensland tropical rainforest also tends to be high altitude (relatively - the highest point in my state is 1622 metres. We are almost a bad as Florida) anyhow, the areas are high rainfall, but also well draining. The streams can get dangerous to cross, and the tracks might be ankle deep during downpours but they don't flood as such. Lower altitude, flood plain and swamp land supports different habitats, but there are some tall tree habitats which you can canoe through, in season. If you like mosquitos and crocodiles.

Aside from likelihood of rain and temperature variation, I expect to see seasonal changes in the wildlife I can see in my local forests. More snakes and other reptiles finding a patch of sun in spring and summer, crazy foot long crayfish going for long hikes away from water in summer. Different flowers and fruits in their season will attract different sets of birds and tree climbing mammals, and presumably their predator species. We frequently come across the scraps of a bird or mammal feast on the track - just feathers and fur usually, but there was that picked-clean possum skull one time... And then I heard a clicking sound and saw three laser dots...

Did you know that crows make the actual Predator clicking sound from the movies? We hear it all the time when we are walking in deep forest. I assume we don't get "harvested" because Aussies don't carry guns.

Anyhow - some local habitat

• Rugged steep terrain, big rainforest trees clinging on, undergrowth you can see through, but is hard to push through ( tangle of thin vines, many with thorns) expect to bleed. And get land leeches.
• Flatter terrain, big trees, much more orderly canopy. Undergrowth can be sparse enough to just walk through, my favourite is the Bunya Mountains which have a carpet of foot high ferns. Expect to get covered in ticks.
• Rainforest edge, head high grasses you can hide a velociraptor in plus thorny vines. Bleeding gauranteed. And ticks.
• Coastal mangrove forest / swamp. Too sloppy to walk, too thick to canoe. Biting flies and mosquitos. Zero sources of fresh water.
• Paper bark swamp - too sloppy to walk, really fun to canoe when the water is up.
• Heathland. Thick, scratchy shrubs up to three metres tall. Visibility 2 metres. Forget walking in it. You will bleed and none will find your body because of the effort required to look for you.
• Remnant "dry" rainforest / vine jungle. This is what most of my area was before clearing for farming. Hard to traverse, hanging vines up to arm thickness, quite dusty and dry away from water courses. Lots of animal trails where critters up to wallaby / small kangaroo size use the same routes everyday.
• Regrowth in rainforest. When big trees come down they leave windows in the canopy. The very thickest undergrowth plants battle for the light. They are often the most aggressive as well. Giant stinging nettle (which urinate on poison ivy) and lawyer vine (wait-a-while) make these areas difficult and dangerous to traverse.
• Dry forest regrowth. Logging for commercial timber gives access to pest plant species, particularly lantana, which is a mess of slightly thorny, slightly crushable thin branches which can sit like a mat up to four metres deep and stretching for hundreds of metres. Normal traversing technique is to get a run up, jump as high as possible and scramble on top to crush a body length section down to a height that the rest of the party can step over (like laying on the barbed wire in WW1). If it isn't so thick, walk backwards using your back pack as a ram. Bleeding will happen. This stuff is everywhere. Alternative uses - a rock climbing friend and I have climbed up a small cliff and repeatedly stage dived onto the lantana mat for a soft landing. We bled.

I know this isn't what you were seeking, Scalenex, but the traversing hazards are worth noting - on a big hike, something that looks clearer to walk can turn into a sticky trap, and anything with a tough hide or the ability to drop to a quadripedal gait can move through these terrains much faster than a human. Just about the only hazard worth climbing a tree to avoid in my state are wild pigs (BIG tusks) and I have never been in a habitat with pigs where there were climbable trees (rainforest and open forest trees branch high up, heathland trees are too skinny and small.)

If you want to explore lustria, probably use the rivers as highways, but be aware that snakes hang in the branches over the edge of the water (that's what they do here). You are also vulnerable to flying predators and river monsters, but at least you can move quickly. Once you are on foot, expect to have a maximum speed of a half mile per hour, and that everything that would make a meal of you can move a lot faster than that. Your position will be constantly betrayed by the activity of birds, no matter how sneaky you are. Unless you are in deep deep open undergrowth forest.

That is where I would expect to find LM patrols with pointy sticks.

 

[Warden]

I live in a sub tropical area (Brisbane) The remaining shreds of rainforest in my local area cling to the tops of low, ex volcanic mountain ranges - mostly because they were harder to clear for farming, so they survived long enough to get protected.

North Queensland tropical rainforest also tends to be high altitude (relatively - the highest point in my state is 1622 metres. We are almost a bad as Florida) anyhow, the areas are high rainfall, but also well draining. The streams can get dangerous to cross, and the tracks might be ankle deep during downpours but they don't flood as such. Lower altitude, flood plain and swamp land supports different habitats, but there are some tall tree habitats which you can canoe through, in season. If you like mosquitos and crocodiles.

Aside from likelihood of rain and temperature variation, I expect to see seasonal changes in the wildlife I can see in my local forests. More snakes and other reptiles finding a patch of sun in spring and summer, crazy foot long crayfish going for long hikes away from water in summer. Different flowers and fruits in their season will attract different sets of birds and tree climbing mammals, and presumably their predator species. We frequently come across the scraps of a bird or mammal feast on the track - just feathers and fur usually, but there was that picked-clean possum skull one time... And then I heard a clicking sound and saw three laser dots...

Did you know that crows make the actual Predator clicking sound from the movies? We hear it all the time when we are walking in deep forest. I assume we don't get "harvested" because Aussies don't carry guns.

Anyhow - some local habitat

• Rugged steep terrain, big rainforest trees clinging on, undergrowth you can see through, but is hard to push through ( tangle of thin vines, many with thorns) expect to bleed. And get land leeches.
• Flatter terrain, big trees, much more orderly canopy. Undergrowth can be sparse enough to just walk through, my favourite is the Bunya Mountains which have a carpet of foot high ferns. Expect to get covered in ticks.
• Rainforest edge, head high grasses you can hide a velociraptor in plus thorny vines. Bleeding gauranteed. And ticks.
• Coastal mangrove forest / swamp. Too sloppy to walk, too thick to canoe. Biting flies and mosquitos. Zero sources of fresh water.
• Paper bark swamp - too sloppy to walk, really fun to canoe when the water is up.
• Heathland. Thick, scratchy shrubs up to three metres tall. Visibility 2 metres. Forget walking in it. You will bleed and none will find your body because of the effort required to look for you.
• Remnant "dry" rainforest / vine jungle. This is what most of my area was before clearing for farming. Hard to traverse, hanging vines up to arm thickness, quite dusty and dry away from water courses. Lots of animal trails where critters up to wallaby / small kangaroo size use the same routes everyday.
• Regrowth in rainforest. When big trees come down they leave windows in the canopy. The very thickest undergrowth plants battle for the light. They are often the most aggressive as well. Giant stinging nettle (which urinate on poison ivy) and lawyer vine (wait-a-while) make these areas difficult and dangerous to traverse.
• Dry forest regrowth. Logging for commercial timber gives access to pest plant species, particularly lantana, which is a mess of slightly thorny, slightly crushable thin branches which can sit like a mat up to four metres deep and stretching for hundreds of metres. Normal traversing technique is to get a run up, jump as high as possible and scramble on top to crush a body length section down to a height that the rest of the party can step over (like laying on the barbed wire in WW1). If it isn't so thick, walk backwards using your back pack as a ram. Bleeding will happen. This stuff is everywhere. Alternative uses - a rock climbing friend and I have climbed up a small cliff and repeatedly stage dived onto the lantana mat for a soft landing. We bled.

I know this isn't what you were seeking, Scalenex, but the traversing hazards are worth noting - on a big hike, something that looks clearer to walk can turn into a sticky trap, and anything with a tough hide or the ability to drop to a quadripedal gait can move through these terrains much faster than a human. Just about the only hazard worth climbing a tree to avoid in my state are wild pigs (BIG tusks) and I have never been in a habitat with pigs where there were climbable trees (rainforest and open forest trees branch high up, heathland trees are too skinny and small.)

If you want to explore lustria, probably use the rivers as highways, but be aware that snakes hang in the branches over the edge of the water (that's what they do here). You are also vulnerable to flying predators and river monsters, but at least you can move quickly. Once you are on foot, expect to have a maximum speed of a half mile per hour, and that everything that would make a meal of you can move a lot faster than that. Your position will be constantly betrayed by the activity of birds, no matter how sneaky you are. Unless you are in deep deep open undergrowth forest.

That is where I would expect to find LM patrols with pointy sticks.

Wow thanks for the descriptions! I will be using this for future reference.

Found one good tidbit about piranhas: apparently piranha attacks on humans tend to peak during the dry season, when the water is lower, food more scarce, AND there is a heavier concentration of fish in the water. Just one more thing to be wary of...



Go ahead... have a drink in that pristine jungle river. I am sure these guys aren't lurking under the surface...

 

[Otzi'mandias]

Pfft, 1 in 3 species of piranha are veggie anyway. The things to watch out for are the animals that look harmless. Because Nature is great at lying and sudden jumpscares.


*sticks head in river*
*bubbly screams*

 

[Scalenex]

Blows dust off the thread.

Based on what people said.


So rainy season has flooding issues, duh. Flying would be more dangerous because of rain and wind and visibility would be poorer so this is not a happy time for Terradon riders or Ripperdacytl riders.

Hunting would probably be harder in the rainy season. Tracks disappear. Scents are washed away. I suppose an experienced Skink or Saurus hunter would seek out areas sheltered from the rain and catch prey in their dens.

Fishing would paradoxically be easier during the dry season because the fish are in fewer places.

I guess the stagnant water is good for insects breeding. The surge in insect populations would also feed various creatures that eat the insects, and creatures that eat them. This is probably the time when hunting is most plentiful, both for Lizardmen and predatory beasts.

Because of the relative abundance of food, I'm betting most local fauna's life cycles would put late stage pregnancy and/or hatching or birthing time during the dry season. Carnsoaurs, Stegadons and Cold Ones and other land based monsters would probably be more dangerous during the dry season. Same with arboreal and flying predators like Terradons and Ripperdactyls. I'm betting most Lustrian mammals would be arboreal and they would probably want to raise their young during the dry season.

Salamanders, Razordons and other aquatic predators would be more dangerous during the wet season. They can pretty much go anywhere they want and no one can really stop them. Also, the monsoon season is probably the safest time to raise their young. Since the flood waters, scent washing rain, and general noise cover protect their vulnerable young from land and sky based predators. They would flip the script versus most of Lustria's animals. Their most abundant food is available during the rainy season, they would birth their young during the rainy season, and they would be more active and aggressive during the rainy season.

Humans, elves, ogres and greenskins would probably prefer to raid Lustria during the dry season. As bad as the insects and the predators are, marching while wet is probably going to cause higher attrition. Greenskins and ogres might actually like the fact that there are nasty predators thumping about that they can fight and eat.

Skaven and Daemons would probably prefer to raid Lustria during the wet season. The rain, cloud cover, relative lack of carrying sense, and overall noise means that Skink scouts on foot and in the air would be less effective. They'd be more likely to enjoy the element of surprise. Also, if there is underground flooding the Skaven might be forced to expand to the surface. If there goal is to bunker down and build up strength quietly, that would be easier to do during the dry season.



I'm not sure how this would impact Lizardmen metaphorical. For instance we humans use Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter as a metaphor for life. Childhood is Spring, young adulthood is Summer, middle age is Autumn, and old age is Winter.

Winter often refers to hard times and Summer often refers to good times, with Spring representing hope for the future and Autum representing time to gather up resources for the coming bad times.

I am not sure how Lizardmen would view the rainy and wet season in terms of poetic metaphors. On the whole, I don't think their life gets easier or harder in any specific season. They generally like water so they would probably like the rainy season in a spiritual way. Conversely I believe Lizardmen have an easier time hunting, fishing, and harvesting crops during the dry season so the dry season would also be associated with abundance.

If both the dry season and the rainy season are good for Lizardmen does that make them optimists...that just seems wrong when there are so many ways they can die.

 

[ASSASSIN_NR_1]

If both the dry season and the rainy season are good for Lizardmen does that make them optimists...that just seems wrong when there are so many ways they can die.

There are many ways to die in the warhammer world anyway, so they aren't worse off than other races I think.

It could still be dangerous for Dameons and Skaven to try a raid in the wet season if the Skinks use Razordons and Salamanders. The Daemons and skaven might be harder to find, but also easier to surprise, but Lustria is still hometurf for the lizards, so I bet they would have the advantage anyway, I just guess the Skinks and Kroxigor might play a bigger role in fighting in the wet season compared to the dry season.

 

[Paradoxical Pacifism]

I am not sure how Lizardmen would view the rainy and wet season in terms of poetic metaphors. On the whole, I don't think their life gets easier or harder in any specific season. They generally like water so they would probably like the rainy season in a spiritual way. Conversely I believe Lizardmen have an easier time hunting, fishing, and harvesting crops during the dry season so the dry season would also be associated with abundance.

If both the dry season and the rainy season are good for Lizardmen does that make them optimists...that just seems wrong when there are so many ways they can die.

So what if the rainy season was attributed to the Old Ones giving the lizards good-luck omens. This period would probably see most of the lizardmen's religious practices in their prime, as the first receives and obeys the gift of rain, and show off their appreciation for it. Skinks and kroxigors will probably pray the most due to how aquatic they are.

I also like to think the dry season would then be characterized by fulfilling the duties that were hard to do during the wet season, and giving back to the Old Ones through hard work...

Just a thought

 

[gb2098]

it could be that they divide the year much the same way that India used to, based on both rainfall (wet/dry) and temperature (cool/hot). now, india's system used 6 seasons for partly religious reasons, but you basically went from cool dry to hot-dry to hot-wet to cool-wet.

 

[Killer Angel]

Blows dust off the thread.

Based on what people said.


So rainy season has flooding issues, duh. Flying would be more dangerous because of rain and wind and visibility would be poorer so this is not a happy time for Terradon riders or Ripperdacytl riders.

Hunting would probably be harder in the rainy season. Tracks disappear. Scents are washed away. I suppose an experienced Skink or Saurus hunter would seek out areas sheltered from the rain and catch prey in their dens.

Fishing would paradoxically be easier during the dry season because the fish are in fewer places.

I guess the stagnant water is good for insects breeding. The surge in insect populations would also feed various creatures that eat the insects, and creatures that eat them. This is probably the time when hunting is most plentiful, both for Lizardmen and predatory beasts.

Because of the relative abundance of food, I'm betting most local fauna's life cycles would put late stage pregnancy and/or hatching or birthing time during the dry season. Carnsoaurs, Stegadons and Cold Ones and other land based monsters would probably be more dangerous during the dry season. Same with arboreal and flying predators like Terradons and Ripperdactyls. I'm betting most Lustrian mammals would be arboreal and they would probably want to raise their young during the dry season.

Salamanders, Razordons and other aquatic predators would be more dangerous during the wet season. They can pretty much go anywhere they want and no one can really stop them. Also, the monsoon season is probably the safest time to raise their young. Since the flood waters, scent washing rain, and general noise cover protect their vulnerable young from land and sky based predators. They would flip the script versus most of Lustria's animals. Their most abundant food is available during the rainy season, they would birth their young during the rainy season, and they would be more active and aggressive during the rainy season.

Humans, elves, ogres and greenskins would probably prefer to raid Lustria during the dry season. As bad as the insects and the predators are, marching while wet is probably going to cause higher attrition. Greenskins and ogres might actually like the fact that there are nasty predators thumping about that they can fight and eat.

Skaven and Daemons would probably prefer to raid Lustria during the wet season. The rain, cloud cover, relative lack of carrying sense, and overall noise means that Skink scouts on foot and in the air would be less effective. They'd be more likely to enjoy the element of surprise. Also, if there is underground flooding the Skaven might be forced to expand to the surface. If there goal is to bunker down and build up strength quietly, that would be easier to do during the dry season.



I'm not sure how this would impact Lizardmen metaphorical. For instance we humans use Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter as a metaphor for life. Childhood is Spring, young adulthood is Summer, middle age is Autumn, and old age is Winter.

Winter often refers to hard times and Summer often refers to good times, with Spring representing hope for the future and Autum representing time to gather up resources for the coming bad times.

I am not sure how Lizardmen would view the rainy and wet season in terms of poetic metaphors. On the whole, I don't think their life gets easier or harder in any specific season. They generally like water so they would probably like the rainy season in a spiritual way. Conversely I believe Lizardmen have an easier time hunting, fishing, and harvesting crops during the dry season so the dry season would also be associated with abundance.

If both the dry season and the rainy season are good for Lizardmen does that make them optimists...that just seems wrong when there are so many ways they can die.

Well, wars from other races could have an impact on them, if those races follow "our" seasons' cycle.
You mentioned Skaven and possibly the rain season that could force them to go out from their tunnels.

What about Dark Elves, coming from the North, where traditional seasons got more impact?

Or expeditionary human forces coming with ships, that cannot cross the ocean during certain times?

 

[Scalenex]

What about Dark Elves, coming from the North, where traditional seasons got more impact?

The real world Vikings who were sea born raiders from the north, might be analogous to the Dark Elves.

The Vikings did most of their raids in the long winter. They could make up for any food shortages but mostly they sailed out in the winter because the young men had to work on the farms planting and harvest time. During the winter months, they didn't have much to do.

Since the Dark Elves don't do their own farm work, this won't matter to them much. I don't know much about sailing in the northern hemisphere with Renaissance ear ships and magical floating stone towers.

My guess is that Spring would have frequent small storms (thunderstorms), Summer would have infrequent large storms (hurricanes), and snow storms in the winter. Icebergs would probably be a spring and summer problem.

Sea monsters are probably more of a problem in the winter (when their regular food is scarce) and whichever season is their mating season.

That said, I'm betting dark elves could handle whatever seasonal dangerous the seas throw at them. They are so close to Lustria, they can probably sail to either Lustria's east or west coast whenever they feel like it at which point they can base their raids on the jungle's season's rather than their own seasons.

If I had to march in the jungle, I'd prefer the driest coolest season in the jungle.


As for humans, I guess the Empire would want to avoid sending expeditions out in the winter. There only major coastline is pretty far north. That and they probably have an uptick in Chaos invasions in the winter (remember the Vikings), so they cannot spare too many ships away from guarding the coast.

Tileans and Estalians and Bretonians have warmer ports with fewer Chaos incursions, so they have more flexibility about when they leave. They probably would prefer to launch expeditions in the winter when the part time farmers have nothing else to do.

Depending on how big you say the old Warhammer world is and how competent their sailors are it took weeks or months to sail across the World Pond meaning it's highly variable when the humans actually arrive in Lustria.

 

[gb2098]

i would assume that for ships crossing the sea to and from the old world, the big factor would be the location of the trade winds and the location of currents. presumably these would be reasonably close to what we have IRL, though Ulthuan would obviously cause a few changes.
since the main trade winds lie along the equatorial regions you can be fairly certain of using them year round, though there is poorly studied changes in exact courses and strength of the wind depending on the season. since sailing and navigation would not be an exact science in the warhammer world, this probably wouldn't be too big of an issue, but it may well encourage ships crews to avoid certain seasons when planning trips. especially given some seasons are going to be more prone to bad weather even in the tropics.

 

[pendrake]

Since the Dark Elves don't do their own farm work, this won't matter to them much.

Is that why they take skaves? Snag some Bret farmers, make them grow Nagggarothian Onions??

 

[Scalenex]

Is that why they take skaves? Snag some Bret farmers, make them grow Nagggarothian Onions??

Essentially yes. According to the Dark Elf book, almost all of the rebels that followed Malekith were warriors, very few of them were farmers and craftsmen. The High Elves generally preferred death over being captured alive, so the Dark Elves started enslaving humans.

The Dark Elves began experimenting with enslaving Skaven, but the Skaven started infecting low ranking Skaven as infectious Typhoid Mary's and let the Dark Elves catch them. Thus the Dark Elves stopped taking Skaven alive.

The Dark Elves experimented with orc and goblin slaves, but a lot of them escaped. Now there are tribes of Orcs and Goblins running around Naggorath smashing and stealing things. These greenskins have no chance at actually toppling the Dark Elves major settlements or fortresses but they still cause far more damage than the Dark Elves received benefit from greenskin labor. They stopped taking greenskins alive.

There is a footnote in the Ogre book. They don't explain why, but more often than not Dark Elves choose to bribe ogres into helping them rather than force them.

As far as I know, there are no official GW fluff sources on what Dark Elves do with Lizardmen. I did write a short story for a contest about a Saurus gladiator slave. It's just my interpretation but Lizardmen are generally considered more trouble than they are worth to take alive because even if the Dark Elves can break their will, they usually freeze to death in Naggaroth in less than a year. Dark Elves mostly raid Lustria for gold, poisons, Cold Ones, magic, and the like as opposed to prisoners. Sure, if they happen to catch a few Skinks or Sauri, they will just for the novelty, but that is not the primary purpose of their raids like with the humans.

 

[pendrake]

[dark elves ] are so close to Lustria, they can probably sail to either Lustria's east or west coast whenever they feel like it at which point they can base their raids on the jungle's season's rather than their own seasons.

Do they have bases on what would be the Pacific coast? I thought the Dark Elfs were confined to the East side of the continent. Bounded off by the mountains or by Lizardmen territory.

But I don’t know the fluff that well.