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home | contents | previous | next | index Chapter 23 - Castle RedfaceFrom Castle Redface, Paarfi tells us: To the south there is the Redface itself, a drop of more than [2000] feet into the Eastern River. To the west, there is the ... gentle slope of Mount Bli'aard leading down to the nearest city, that being Troe, or what was then called Bengloarafurd. To the north the mountain rises ... leading off to Mount Kieron, and, further, to the high plateau of Pepperfield, before dropping to the Valley of Salt, beyond which lies the region of Sandyhome. To the east there are the distant peaks of the Ironwall and Whitecrown which lead to the lands of the Easterners. The Laughing River (which Paarfi repeatedly calls the Eastern River) is clearly north of Castle Redface; I asked Steve what was going on here, and he replied, Most likely either terminology confusion (when do you call this the Eastern River, and when is it just some mountain streams that will join together to FORM the Eastern River?) I drew the river that is south of the Redface flowing between hexes on my hex map from the previous chapter, curving back northwest to run into the Laughing River. TroeTo the west of Castle Redface is the town (and ford) now known as Troe: they reached the mountain called Bli'aard and city of Bengloarafurd, which was less than a day's ride from ... Redface. Just before they reach the Fordway Road, which they must take if they are to get to [Redface from Bengloarafurd]. The Bengloarafurd lay against an unusually shallow portion of the Climbing River, one of the longest, fastest, and deepest of the streams with which the Eastern Mountains in general, and Mount Bli'aard in particular, are so abundantly supplied ... The first to discover the place were ... advance scouts ... in the Fourth Cycle [who] followed the Climbing River down from the North and found a shallow spot [Bengloarafurd] ... it still stands ... but the city was renamed Troe ... it boasted a population of eleven thousands, more than twice its elevation measured in meters. First of all, I agree with Mark Mandel's suggestion that Paarfi probably meant feet, not meters, on that last passage: Bengloarafurd had "a population of eleven thousands, more than twice its elevation measured in meters" [TPG 250]. Round that down and say 5,000 meters, or 5 kilometers, or slightly over 3 miles. Castle Redface is even higher [TPG 277]. Sea-level athletes notice a real difference in Denver, "the mile-high city". Yet our heroes don't seem to notice any shortness of breath in either Bengloarafurd or Castle Redface. (Pointed out by Ben-San Arizona.) ... On the other hand, how much simpler to assume that Brust (author or translator) had the same problem here as with the file cabinets, referring to meters but using the measurement in feet. Then the elevation is just about a mile (5,280 feet), the same as Denver, which alleviates the problem to the point of insignificance.How High is Bengloarafurd? The reference to "following the Climbing River down from the North" suggests it flows in a southernly direction; I guessed that it started near the peak of Mount Bli'aard and flowed southwest into the river Paarfi mentions that flows south of Redface. I guessed that Troe was located at the point these two rivers merged. The Floating BridgeWhen Khaavren et al travel from Castle Redface to the Pepperfields via the horse-paths, they cross the Floating Bridge: into the valley between Bli'aard and Kieron, with the immensity of the Ironwall, that great vertical slab of brown rock ... looming ever above them to the East ... The Eastern River ... had dug for itself a passage in Mount Kieron until it came to a green fertile plateau which was equally accessible from the east or the west The last light of day was following the Eastern River out of the valley follow our friends across the Floating Bridge and on to Mount Kieron, and so on toward the Pepperfields. I guessed the Floating Bridge was between the peaks of Mount Bli'aard and Mount Kieron at the point the Laughing River passes between them. home | contents | previous | next | index Questions? Comments? Please contact me at dragaera [at] bryann.net. Copyright © 2020 Bryan Newell, unless otherwise noted. |