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THE TAHARI By Hersius INTRODUCTION This Geography Department discusses the Gorean landscape in terms of latitudes, longitudes, and tectonic plates as a way of coming to terms with the immensity of the virtual landmass of the Gorean supercontinent. Those perspectives provide a basis for locating the various cultural geographic areas that serve as background for the sagas that span the series. Norman defines areas in terms of their landforms, climate, and underlying geologic structures, and he shows the effects of human habitation on these areas. This and subsequent articles will identify an area and then showcase it by describing what it looks like and giving background information. A call for contributors for future collaboration on other areas will conclude each article. The purpose of the articles is simply to highlight the genius of John Norman in creating this world, to show where the various places are on Gor, and to show why each place is a special place to be. All quotes are from Book 10 unless noted otherwise. THE TAHARI In previous articles, I placed the southern border of the great Tahari desert at around 18 degrees north latitude and the northern border around 32 degrees, with the western area around the prime meridian and the eastern area probably two or more time zones away at 18 degrees of longitude per time zone. The Tahari has two growing seasons. Pages 37, 46. With the sharp angle of the planetary axis, those latitudes are not unreasonable. The Tahari is described as being a trapezoid. Page 32. The Tahari is bounded on the north by the Barrens and on the west by the northern plains. What borders the Tahari to the east and to the south is not specified yet is known, at least to some degree. The bordering lands are hospitable compared to the dune country that comprises most of the Tahari. Turia maintains Turmas, which is a fort and trading station, at the southeastern corner of the Tahari. Caravans occasionally travel from Tor or from Kasra, in the northwest corner, to Turmas, in the southeast corner, but they do not cross the Tahari to do so. Instead, they skirt the desert, either by traversing first the northern border heading east and then the eastern border heading south, or by traversing first the western border heading south and then the southern border heading east. Page 179. The perimeter of the Tahari is arguably better known than its interior. The northwestern corner of the Tahari is the stopping place for the Voltai Mountains, as the Voltai proper ends slightly north of the city of Tor. South of the Tahari, a range of smaller peaks descending into the middle latitudes of the southern prairies defines the eastern limit of the vast southern prairies. Book 4, Page 2. This southern section is considered to be the southern foothills of the Voltai, and so at least in popular opinion is classified as a continuation of the Voltai. The Tahari is therefore an interruption in the Voltai chain. The Tahari is said to be hundreds of pasangs deep and thousands long. Page 33. It is said to be almost a continent in size. Page 36. This means that most of its immensity has to be accounted for by its length from east to west. This explains why those who live in the Tahari hope for wind that blows from the north, which would be from the Barrens, or from the northwest, which would be down from the Voltai, as these winds would be much cooler than winds blowing from the east or the west. Easterly and westerly winds are feared in the Tahari. Page 71. This also explains two phrases used by Tarl Cabot in thought to say that the entire Tahari could become engulfed in war. The picture of the tribes from one end of the desert to the other being at war was conveyed by Cabot observing that the Tahari would, from east to west, flame with war. Page 47. Cabot later had the thought that desert men would be outraged from Tor to Turmas. Page 153. Terrain in the Tahari varies between areas of rocky hills, which comprise most of the region and lie mostly in the western portion, and areas of seemingly endless sand dunes, with oases and salt pits periodically dotting its forbidding surface. Page 38. Scrub brush and patches of verr grass eke out an existence in the rocky hill country amid the rocks, gravel, and dust. Page 71. The Tahari has seasons, each with varying temperatures and wind directions. By the late spring, daytime air temperatures in the Tahari shade can reach 120 degrees F. and can reach 150 degrees F. in the open the surface, with surface temperatures in the salt districts, which are in the dune country, reaching 160 degrees and air temperatures reaching 140 degrees. Pages 33, 208, 220, 231. The wind blows almost continually, coming usually from the north or northwest, but during the spring the wind often shifts and blows from the west toward the east, and in the fall it often shifts and blows from the east toward the west. Dry sandstorms are a danger. Pages 70, 71, 271, 272, 285. West of the Tahari proper, the fertile Teehra District to the southwest and the Fayeen River system areas to the northwest are commercially related to the Tahari. The distinctive purple Veminium is grown somewhere at the edge of the Tahari. Pages 44, 50, 51. Tor, at the northwest edge of the Tahari, is the only major gateway city to the desert. Tor itself is a city built around an oasis just inside the Tahari. Book 8, Page 43. Oasis communities tend to be hundreds of pasangs apart in the rocky areas, and closer to two hundred pasangs apart in the dune areas. If one enters the dune region from the Battle of Red Rock oasis, the nearest community will be some two thousand pasangs away to the east. The salt mine of Klima has no neighboring oasis community for a thousand pasangs in any direction. Pages 36, 37, 125, 179. To be of the Tahari is to love the magnificence of Tahari nights. One can sit beside a crackling scrub brush fire and watch orange and yellow sparks dance wildly upward to be scattered against the blackness. The sky is solid black on moonless nights, a deep black, a majestic limitless black showing off its stars like glittering jewels. The stars blaze in the coldness of the night, stretching from one end of the horizon to the other, brilliantly showing the directions to all who gaze upon them. To be of the Tahari is to find comfort in the communication between the land and the sky and the people. To be of the Tahari is to draw strength from solitude. To be of the Tahari is to be awed daily and nightly by ceaseless beauty. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Some online confusion has apparently existed as to whether the Tahari is north or south of the rainforests, primarily due to an underappreciation of the size of the rainforests. Book 13 locates the equator within the rainforests. The discussion concerning kaiila on Pages 70, 71 clearly places the Tahari in the northern hemisphere. Some online confusion also exists regarding the placement of the Tahari with respect to the Voltai range. The Voltai range bulges westward in its middle. If you leave Ar and follow the Voltai going southeastward, the only possible destination if you maintain that course is the Tahari. Page 18. That route holds to the Voltai and crosses that range to the south of the Voltai, which shows that the Voltai range is interrupted at that point, and then one can continue eastward into the Tahari and soon be east of the Voltai and its eastern foothills. Page 27. The Upper and Lower Fayeen Rivers are west of the Tahari and appear to be fed by the western side of the Voltai. The Tahari oases, on the other hand, are fed by the eastern side of the Voltai via underground seepage. Pages 32, 33. Clearly, the entirety of the Tahari is south and east of the Voltai, with the western border portions being the only exceptions. An early map, which has been reproduced popularly on the internet, shows a highly compact Tahari nestling in a supposed eastward crook of the Voltai Mountains. That image has no basis within the content of the Books. The mountain chain north and south of the Tahari is likely part of the same geologic upheaval and is further evidence of tectonic plate activity. The Voltai is similar to the Urals and the Himalayas in that it marks the collision of two plates, in this case, the Eastern and Western Plates. The Eastern Plate consists of the Barrens, the Tahari, and the lands south of the Tahari and east of the southern part of the Voltai range. Like the Urals, the Voltai becomes a long backbone across the surface of a planet. Like the Himalayas, it reaches truly magnificent altitudes. The crashing plates not only resulted in the Voltai but also created uplifts radiating both westward and eastward from that range. These uplifts give the Western Plate its westward drainage from the subequatorial Cartius River system in the southern plains, to the Ven Highlands and the Ua River and the Shaba, Ngao, and Ushindi lake drainage systems in the rainforests, to the Vosk River Basin and its Upper and Lower Fayeen, Thassa Cartius, Issus, Verl, and Olni tributary systems, and the Laurius River system in the northern latitudes. The Barrens has its own eastern uplifts which give the Kaiila and Snake River systems a southern and southwestern flow, yet significantly, the rivers in the Barrens are turned southward by the Voltai uplifts and do not reach those mountains. The Voltai uplifts make possible the slow underground southeastward seepage that provides the water in the oases in the western part of the Tahari. The water from the Voltai flows slowly, but the enormous quantity of water and the fact that the process is ongoing make the flows into underground rivers. Page 33. The salt districts, which appear as one travels eastward within the Tahari, provide the final clues to the geologic past of the Tahari. In discussing the salt districts, Norman makes specific mention of the tectonic plate history of Gor. He affirms continental drift and associated earthquake activity. It is not known whether or not the Tahari was once an arm of Thassa, and in this case, one would think as easily of Thassa as being the eastern ocean of the supercontinent as well as being the western ocean. The Tahari might have been an inland sea or the remains of several inland seas. The source of the underground water in the salt districts is not the Voltai. Instead, the underground rivers in the salt districts are remnants of oceans that long ago characterized the planet. Water in these districts is found in both fresh and salty form, depending on the geologic strata containing it. Pages 238, 239, 240. The image of the Tahari as the remains of a vast inland sea leads to envisioning it as an enormous bowl or depression with its higher elevations being at its boundaries. The relatively lower elevation of its interior speaks to its extreme temperatures in a way reminiscent of Death Valley, yet on a far grander scale. Having its western boundary being at the same elevation as the Western Pate relates as well to the effects of the plate collision. One area of disagreement in interpretation of the description of the Tahari remains. The sides of the trapezoidal shape slope to the east, but whether \_____\ is meant or /_____/ is meant is not made clear. CALL FOR WRITERS AND RESEARCHERS Future articles will highlight other areas. People who wish to work with me to provide Book research, heartfelt descriptions, and important background information relating to the area are encouraged to contact me at hersiusofthentis@yahoo.com. I wish to call attention to the following website. |
