I have to voice strong disagreement to this concept. While it makes sense that Praxians are capable of abandoning infants, the harsh realities of life in Prax and the Wastes would preclude the need to do so.
Far too many children will die from infant disease, animal and plant poisons, trampling and crushing accidents, falls, famine, collateral death during raids, and several other grisly ends, to ever need to intentionally kill a healthy, well formed child. Any child that can survive past the age of 8 is a blessing for the clan because they will probably survive to adulthood and are capable of performing useful work as they grow and train. The absense of children to raise is far more likely than too many children.
>When you look at the tribes who have been forced out into the wastes,
>then I believe that infanticide becomes very common. In fact, in
>especially harsh years, a majority of the infants would be left out
>to die.
The nomads refer to the Wastes by names that suggest forge, testing, or purifying. This is an admission of the fatality level of their 'normal' life there, and the observation that those who do survive are the best of those born.
The only counter-argument I can give is a repeated experience from "King of Dragon Pass". If too many raids go against the clan, the adult population becomes too small to grow enough food to stop starvation from causing a downward population spiral. In a case like that I might see extreme measures used to reduce the child population. In the Orlanthi case, fostering or forced thralldom to other clans is more likely than exposure, and for nomads, I would expect the capture of adolescent slaves by victorious enemies to reduce, or preclude, the need to kill children. Stancliff
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