>Infant mortality isn't the only way to keep the population level
>down. Remember that the Orlanthi have a good deal of internecine
>warfare with all those feuds and cattle raids.
Good point. However, I suspect that those clashes are not as deadly as they would be in the real world. Certainly, in KoDP (representing a somewhat more deadly Dragon Pass (clans aren't so "settled in")), you have to be pretty bloodyminded and warlike to manage sustained negative population growth. Even assuming that infant mortality and deaths from battle increase mortality rates (in comparison to modern civilized life), families of 6 children or so ought to see 2-3 kids survive to reproduce themselves. Beats the hell out of a prenancy a year for twenty years or death. It occurs to me that this would have a marked effect on Heortling economy -- less time allotted to childbearing and raising gives more work-hours to each stead. Or is this balanced by the non-producing women (Vinga, the various Gors, etc.)?
Peter Larsen
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