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Tolkien put potato references in Lord of the Rings, which probably makes them acceptable fantasy-realm crops.
I mean, we're talking about Golarion, a world with dinosaurs - this is hardly a major anachronism. Especially when there are people who can just teleport potatoes across any given ocean.
I thought the main idea here was that golarion wasn't Europe.
Dead babies aren't doing it for her anymore, is that it.
It isn't. Except it sort of is. Well, Avistan is.
It's definitely an analogue, much like Garund is an Africa-analogue and Arcadia is the Americas.The problem I'd say is that analogue-Europes tend to get all the European stuff, plus a bunch of American stuff that Europe absorbed after contact without much thought put into it.
Inspired by, yes. But because it isn't actually a Eurasia/Africa analog, it's perfectly fine to deviate - particularly something as inconsequential to the game world narrative as foods that break the history of the pre-Columbian Exchange.
Amazonian Elder Things From Outer Space.
Wow. All I have is Amazon Prime.
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Inspired by, yes. But because it isn't actually a Eurasia/Africa analog, it's perfectly fine to deviate - particularly something as inconsequential to the game world narrative as foods that break the history of the pre-Columbian Exchange.It isn't. Except it sort of is. Well, Avistan is.
It's definitely an analogue, much like Garund is an Africa-analogue and Arcadia is the Americas.The problem I'd say is that analogue-Europes tend to get all the European stuff, plus a bunch of American stuff that Europe absorbed after contact without much thought put into it.
But... but... if the tubers break full world immersion, the game is RUINED! I have only one option...
My fiancé teases me when I grumble about corn and potatoes appearing in a "medieval fantasy" setting because they are a "new world" crop.You grumble about corn and potatoes but not about how kaiju, dragons and dire elite advanced giant fiendish T-rexes function as apex predators? ;-)
To be fair, my friend was complaining when the characters in an episode of Merlin had tomatoes on their plates.
To be fair, my friend was complaining when the characters in an episode of Merlin had tomatoes on their plates.
The thing is - the show's producers could actually research a historically appropriate meal (assuming some particular point in history for the Arthurian tales to occur - but considering the show doesn't really give a rat's hiney about continuity with the legends, history is probably right out the window). How exactly does one do historical research on crop development and food anthropology in Golarion?
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What we understand as a "potato" is actually a super-intelligent, hyper-dimensional entity that exists simultaneously across more dimensions than we can sense, thus we only perceive the "potato" in our laughably pathetic 4 dimensions.
This is sort of like the blind man feeling the elephant. He can't touch it all at once, so he can only get a sense of what he can touch, and thus compares it to other things he is familiar with (like touching the trunk and saying an elephant must be like a snake).
This leads to the question: what other things (tubers, possibly) do we see that are actually a part of the same beings, connected to the potato through other dimensions we have no concept of?
It's probably kale.
-Skeld
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What we understand as a "potato" is actually a super-intelligent, hyper-dimensional entity that exists simultaneously across more dimensions than we can sense, thus we only perceive the "potato" in our laughably pathetic 4 dimensions.
This is sort of like the blind man feeling the elephant. He can't touch it all at once, so he can only get a sense of what he can touch, and thus compares it to other things he is familiar with (like touching the trunk and saying an elephant must be like a snake).
This leads to the question: what other things (tubers, possibly) do we see that are actually a part of the same beings, connected to the potato through other dimensions we have no concept of?
It's probably kale.
-Skeld
Heh, you've done for potatoes what I did for pesh!
Cool!
I thought the main idea here was that golarion wasn't Europe.It isn't. Except it sort of is. Well, Avistan is.
It's definitely an analogue, much like Garund is an Africa-analogue and Arcadia is the Americas.The problem I'd say is that analogue-Europes tend to get all the European stuff, plus a bunch of American stuff that Europe absorbed after contact without much thought put into it.
Exactly. It's Europe, plus the technology the Europeans never actually managed to develop. It's a bit appropriate-y.
Oh, I have a better one: Baba Yaga brought them from Earth because she just couldn't go on without her beloved кныши. The ones made via magic just didn't have that flavour she loves so much.
Oh good, someone pointed this out before I got here. I was worried no one else remembered that golarion's Baba Yaga is also earth's Baba Yaga, or that she is totally into sharing knowledge with people.
Wait, that last part doesn't sound quite right...
But seriously, i think potatoes come from a desire to not create a bunch of made up fantasy terms for crops that are the functtional equivalent of earth crops when there are perfectly acceptable food names available. Would you have really preferred them to say, "Inner Sea farmers grow many crops, with spluds being a common one. Spluds are small brown tubers that taste like potatoes"? Start down that slope, and soon we have to question where dogs, wolves, chickens, grass, and humans come from. And who wants to start down that path.
Alternate explanations could include being told how to grow them by one of the multiple deities or other divine entities, or just blaming it on wizards. It was a good enough explanation for owlbears, so it should be good enough to explain potatoes, corn, and other crops. And with better justification, too, since crops could have been a commission from a ruler.
Oh, I have a better one: Baba Yaga brought them from Earth because she just couldn't go on without her beloved кныши. The ones made via magic just didn't have that flavour she loves so much.Oh good, someone pointed this out before I got here. I was worried no one else remembered that golarion's Baba Yaga is also earth's Baba Yaga, or that she is totally into sharing knowledge with people.
Wait, that last part doesn't sound quite right...
Every time someone mentions Baba Yaga, I can't help thinking now of Keanu. (Possible mild spoiler to 2014 movie)
But seriously, i think potatoes come from a desire to not create a bunch of made up fantasy terms for crops that are the functtional equivalent of earth crops when there are perfectly acceptable food names available. Would you have really preferred them to say, "Inner Sea farmers grow many crops, with spluds being a common one. Spluds are small brown tubers that taste like potatoes"? Start down that slope, and soon we have to question where dogs, wolves, chickens, grass, and humans come from. And who wants to start down that path.
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Oh, I have a better one: Baba Yaga brought them from Earth because she just couldn't go on without her beloved кныши. The ones made via magic just didn't have that flavour she loves so much.Oh good, someone pointed this out before I got here. I was worried no one else remembered that golarion's Baba Yaga is also earth's Baba Yaga, or that she is totally into sharing knowledge with people.
Wait, that last part doesn't sound quite right...
Every time someone mentions Baba Yaga, I can't help thinking now of Keanu. (Possible mild spoiler to 2014 movie)
But seriously, i think potatoes come from a desire to not create a bunch of made up fantasy terms for crops that are the functtional equivalent of earth crops when there are perfectly acceptable food names available. Would you have really preferred them to say, "Inner Sea farmers grow many crops, with spluds being a common one. Spluds are small brown tubers that taste like potatoes"? Start down that slope, and soon we have to question where dogs, wolves, chickens, grass, and humans come from. And who wants to start down that path.Obligatory xkcd.
Hey! Smeerp is a perfectly cromulent word!
Oh thank Cos'! I searched and searched TV Tropes for that exact page, but couldn't find it because I couldn't remember the name.
Ha! That's hilarious!
That's "Attack of the Dread Potatoes (of Aucturn)!" Subtitled "Spud-Eyed Monsters from the Dark Tapestry."