How Rabbit Hat Got Its Name

By Gary R Switzer

“Rabbit Hat Farm” is one of the scenarios in Sun County.  Trevor Ackerly and I wrote it, but we can’t remember where we got the name from – if it’s one of our usual bad puns or RW references, ie. “Pent Ridge”, “South Fork”, it must be so obscure even we’ve forgotten the joke!  In general, I’ve got no problems with these sorts of names, as long as they are they are not too obvious, and have a clear, convincing explanation of why the place would be so-called in Glorantha.  With this in mind, I recently asked the Digest if anyone had ideas where the name “Rabbit Hat Farm” came from: Gary Switzer came up with this, which I’m happy to accept as the truth.   MOB

MOB asked, so I looked at my copy of Sun County and came up with a number of clues to build a story around:

The original name of the fief is “Golden Ears”, referring to the hoped-for bountiful harvests of barley and corn.

The first holder of the fief (or some notable later one) had a helmet like the one worn by the figure on the left of Roger Raupp’s wonderful cover painting (a “Corinthian” style with side plumes and a crest) that he wore on ceremonial occasions and was passed down to later fief holders as a symbol of their rightful possession.  Just as office-holders in the Sun Dome are often known simply by their title – Light Keeper, Librarian, Guardian, etc. – fief holders are known by the name of their fief  (“Lords Wyoh and Golden Ears to see you, Cellarer, it’s about their taxes.”)

Human nature being what it is, there was undoubtedly a less than notable lord somewhere along the line and, one day while bustling along he came upon a group of farmers sneaking a quick hazia break and one wag says “Here comes Old Rabbit Hat, look busy!” and the name eventually stuck.  Chances are good that even before the place was wiped out by Bison Riders the locals would have given you a blank look if you’d asked them why it was called “Rabbit Hat Farm”.

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