> The introduction of the super-crops ensured that the population could grow to Esrolian density and still give a huge number of people time off pursuing draconic meditation or simply becoming couch potatoes.
If the super-crops gave Esrolian desnity, I would expect to see a lot
more cities. As it is, the number of cities is largely unchanged in the
four centuries between the Gbaji Wars to the EWF.
Secondly applying Esrolia's population density to Dragon Pass leads to scary numbers. Currently Dragon Pass's (human) population is 650,000 in an area of 40,000 square miles. Esrolia has a population of 1.8 million in an area of 10,000 square miles, meaning Dragon Pass would have a proposed total population of 7.2 million at the EWF's height (and doing significantly better than Kralorela which has used Dragon Magic for far longer). The short time frame of the EWF also requires a sustained growth rate greater than the first century of the Dawn Age.
Now I could accept an assertion that Dragon Pass sustained a human population, say 20% greater than what it is now at the height of the EWF but that's still a long way from Esrolian (or even Heortland) population densities.
> The Switch built on the experiences of introducing grain goddess support to agricultures formerly relying on sorcerous methods.
I don't see why theistic worship of the grain goddess should be manifestly superior to sorcerous agricultural methods in terms of grain production. In any event the God Learners were unlikely to adopt theistic worship throughout most of their empire. They actively sought understanding of the Gods (cf the Xeotam fragments for example) to increase their magical power but they still worked their magics through spells.
--Peter Metcalfe
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