Demography

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 98 12:47 MET DST


Peter Metcalfe disagrees with me:
>>Imagine survivors of the ice age with access to late Bronze age
>>technology, traditions of irrigation farming, and a degree of medical
>>care comparable to that of the Caliphate of Cordoba in the 10th century
>>(thanks to the magic).

>I don't think the medical care available to the average Orlanthi
>is all that great.

Compare it to the medical care available to the average mediaeval farmer, then. The availability of magic removes some of the threat of tetanus, at least.

>And Barntar plows are by no means 'irrigation farming'.

True. I have been wondering about Esrolian plowing for some time, though...

>>Dawn Genertelan population may have been in the order of a half a
>>million west of the Shan Shan mountains.

>Again this is far too low IMO. The Heortlings are not Neolithic
>farmers and so it is not reasonable to assume neolithic population
>distributions for them.

I was taking into account that harvests were "not so good" during the Grey Age. Farming seems to have been fairly abandoned during the Greater Darkness - - the youth of Heort the Swift doesn't exactly sound like much farming to me. I suppose that - not counting destruction by chaos and other influences - - population has experienced a steady decline throughout the Greater Darkness, and didn't really get a boost after I Fought We Won.

>>The Theyalan missionaries brought about a population expansion of an
>>enormous degree with their teachings of Lightbringer magics and customs
>>- - including healing (CA), agriculture (Orlanth&Ernalda, aldryami
>>support!), knowledge about technology (LM, dwarf contacts) and trade
>>(Issaries). They also brought back valuable knowledge from the people
>>they encountered.

>The Lightbringer secrets would only make their magics more
>powerful and not grant any of the other benefits that you
>mention.

There would have been a transfer of ideas as soon as contact was established. The recipients I had in mind were e.g. the Entruli tribes of Maniria, like the Ditali.

>In particular, Chalana Arroy would not have much impact on
>overall population. Healers are very rare then as now and
>would contribute buggerall to the welfare of the common
>farmer.

There wouldn't be many full healers, but there surely would be an increase in lay healers after her missionaries spread lightbringer worship, wouldn't there?

>The Barntar cult and cattle are good things to have, but they
>are not unique to the Heortlings AFAIK.

"This is how Bless Crops works!" should make a difference...

>The Aldryami support
>is minimal as their magics are suited to growing trees and wild
>forms of vegetation. They are unsuited for adaption to human
>cultivation.

They cooperated. To mediaeval as Gloranthan farmers, keeping out the wild weeds was a major trouble. Now, if the Aldryami cooperated, this part of th ework wasn't necessary.

>The Lhankor Mhy Sages would still be illiterate bumpkins dressed
>in sheepskins and strongly devoted to reciting lineages.

And devoted to resolving law-suits, avoiding mutual slaughter.

>I strongly
>doubt that any technology the dwarves have can improve the plight
>of the average farmer to any meaningful degree.

Need I say Alchemical Transformer?

>>Assuming a constant growth rate of 3%, you can start out with 20000
>>people in Kethaela and Kerofinela at the Dawn and arrive at 10 millions
>>around 200 ST, or 0.64 millions around 115 ST (when the peace of the
>>Theyalans began to fall apart, and growth rate is reduced).

>I seriously doubt that such a population explosion would have
>occured.

So the Dawn Orlanthi were less fertile than the modern Pakistani?

>You have the population increasing sixteenfold in less
>than a hundred years. This would create a huge strain on all
>aspects of Orlanthi society.

More of a strain than the really bad conditions prior to the Dawn?

I doubt people would have noticed...


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