stead populations

From: steve <styopa_at_iname.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 11:55:03 -0500

> These numbers get even worse if the clan has been involved in any =
>heavy fighting lately, like Starbrow's rebellion. In the campaign we just =
>started, my character has a house hold of 112. Of these, 54 are children, =
>12 are elders, 20 are thralls, 6 widows, 10 other women, and _10_ are =
>working age males. Nope, I am not looking forward to winter.

Alex, I think these numbers are basically accurate but you also need to note that (if we use dark age/medieval stats for this - I know this has been hashed over in the digest, but I'm assuming the benefits of magic and the horrifically more dangerous world basically even out.):

1. half the children <4 will die over the winter.
2. 50% of the elders will die over the winter
3. the 10 other women and most of the female thralls and widows are pregnant, say a total of 18 bearing women, of which roughly 1/4 will have a live baby at the end of winter. these numbers are probably way, way optimistic for a settlement with a 10:1 children to caretaker ratio.... (remember, in these societies, the 10 "other women" and female thralls are useful working bodies, not caretakers - - this would go to the infirm, elderly, and crippled)

So I don't know the age distribution of the people, but lets say conservatively that half the children are under 4 (typical for a barbarian settlement). Let's also make some unsupported assumptions about children coming of age, males getting injured, and thralls working harder than most....

At the end of the winter you will have (assuming no food shortage, epidemics, monster attacks, average winter)

32-34 "children"
12 females
10 males
5 widows
5 elders
14 thralls.

No, it won't be a good year.
In this vein I'd be interested in seeing people's comments on population age distribution in Glorantha - my feeling is that one would see a difference between the youth-heavy primitive cultures you see in RL, and Glorantha.
I think the tough environment would be disproportionately hard on the young - - they'd be the ones wandering about getting into trouble, and at a slightly older age, expected to fight all the horrible things that come at night. Conversely, magic would largely help protect the aged against the minor sicknesses that (in our world) turn serious and become fatal with great frequency. IMO of course - anyone have any other thoughts?

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