hi
This is some stuff I wrote in a discussionof the Difest back in '94. So a littel outdated and not influenced (obviously) by later sources, but people still might find it interesting in the context of the current discussion on the cities of Sartar.
Michael
Sartar population and why the Lunars invaded Michael Hitchens (M.Hitchens_at_suBDzjeGUqTbxL95H7MddWf4QBDjQ_-gGiRSx2zKVzZpnVhag_enuD7-v6KSp9ktELY6HwYAx5qmTfzpGFRC5IRfwSWVJw.yahoo.invalid) Tue, 6 Dec 1994 16:56:30 +1100 (EST)
OK, here's a theory I'd like to throw to the savagery of public viewing:
Sartar built five sets of city walls in what became the Kingdom of Sartar. This was an odd and new fangled idea in the region, the people having nothing bigger than a town at the time. The city walls that Sartar built were large, none of the them (not even Boldhome) have been filled as of 1621.
However, some people thought that this city idea was an interesting one, and moved into the area bounded by the walls. Over the suceeding 100+ years the cities grew, until Boldhome became a major city (and one which inspired jealousy in the Red Emperor) and Jonstown housed a major university. I postulate that Wilm's Kirk faired quite well too, Swentown not so well and Duck Point quite poorly (we'll get to why later).
Now, two things should be noted immediately. This urbanisation was artificial. It arose from royal policy, and not from the natural development of the area (the central place theory referred to in RQ). The second point, which follows from the first, is that the urbanisation was not supported by the countryside. It was artificially induced, and ahead of what the countryside was ready for, economically.
The result, which I postulate as a theory, is that Sartar is relatively over urbanised and a net *importer* of food!
Why? Where does the food come from? How do they pay for it?
People may have gone to the cities because the king said it was a good thing. But it would take more than that to keep them there. They would need to earn a better living then they could by going back to the farm. What could provide that? We are always told how strategic a place Dragon Pass is. Sartar sits on the main trade routes between the Hoy Country and Peloria. With the road building activites of the Sartar royal house, this position would only have been improved. I postulate that the cities (in particular Wilm's Kirk, Boldhome, Jonston and Alda-Chur) got rich by taking tariffs from and providing services to the merhants trading north-south. This eventually (probably within one or two generations) produced an affluent class of merchants and artisans which required luxury goods on which to spend its new found wealth. This encouraged the further growth of the artisan class, who had already been selling wares to the passing merhants. Eventually the cities became rich enough to start producing enough goods to start trading them north and south, again increasing the wealth of the cities.
This wealth would have encouraged more people to leave the countryside and head to the cities, which would have led to the unbalanced population figures. A corollary of this wealth is that the Lunars did not invade Sartar solely for resaons of religion and revenge over Sartar's aid to the Tarsh rebels. Sartar had become rich and the Emperor wanted the money. Remember that jealousy is said to be the fourth of the reasons the Emperor hated the kingdom. If it wasn't money, why was he jealous? And it would take more than the produce of hill barbarians to generate enough money to make the emperor jealous. While the Sartaries where simple hill barabrians the emperor was not interested, invasion was not worthwhile. With the wealth of cities invasion became a viable proposition economically, the cities were wealthy enough to produce reasonable tax returns.
So where does the food come from to support the Sartarite cities? That's easy: the breadbasket of Esrolia. Up the Lyssos river, than via the Stream to Quackford. From there distribution is via Sartar's excellent road system. I think Quackford is a much more important settlement than Duck Point. Sartar was two or three times larger (in population) than Duck Point and that there was actually only a very small settlement at Duck Point. The map in TotRM #5 seems to back this up a least a little (maybe).
So Quackford is important and the riverine trade and the offloading would have been (before the Lunars) controlled by the ducks (so we can have Duck Issaries worshipers to go with the stereotype Duck Humakt and Lhankor Mhy worshippers). Puts another light on the proscription on Ducks after Starbrow's rebellion doesn't it? Perhaps this event was used as the opportunity to get rid of the duck control of the river trade and replace it with Etyries Priests. This would explain why the bounty was never actively persued. In 1621 there are still ~10000 ducks in Sartar. Once the Lunars had purged the duck merchants of Quackford, they did not really care. But they needed the excuse of the ducks being responsible for (should that read *financing*?) Starbrow's rebellion so that they could get rid of the Duck merchants without upsetting the populace too much. So was Gringle at the Sartar council meeting as a frontman for the Ducks? Could be - I can't see why a local merchant from a village is there otherwise.
Now the payment for the food obviously comes from the wealth generated from trade, but the last conclusion from this is that there were severe food shortages in Sartar's cities whenever the Lunars were at war with the Holy Country, as this would have disrupted the river traffic.
So Sandy, how's that for a theory? Regardless of what the population of Sartar is, I postulate that more than 10% lives in the cities and pursues urban-type occupations. The excess beyond what the ocuntryside can support is fed from outside the kingdom. And there was more to Lunar motives for both the invasion of Sartar and the proscription of Ducks then there might seem at first glance.
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