Gontha Herding

Gontha herding was essential to the early sky tribes of the Vale of Shadew and involved the use of early skycraft and seasonal nomadic pastoralism. Unlike other kinds of herding, gontha herding required special early skycraft technology. The sails used in gontha herding were provided by the beasts themselves. Thus gontha herding was dependent upon the animal itself.

The pattern of gontha herding worked in this manner. The gontha spend the winter grazing on Tosplint leaves on the woods around the Shadew River. In mid spring, the gontha are shorn of their wool. The wool from yearlings is woven by the women into sails to make skysails. The men use the wood of the Cembar Tree to create the frames of the skycraft. Then the gontha are herded by skycraft from the Shadew River to the high Valleys on the eastern slopes of the Jaggudorns where the pastures are green now that winter has passed. Here they graze until late summer, then they are herded back to the Shadew River where they feed on Tosplint Trees through the winter.

With the passage of time, the skycraft technology developed into larger and more specialized craft. Craft for heavier cargos and warfare emerged and the sky tribes carried their culture and technology beyond the southeastern Jaggudorns and the Vale of Shadew to other lands across the Pallathantic.

See Also

• Skycraft