Silvercat Moonpaw
Adventurer
Include "food production and transportation" as yet another sign that Forgotten Realms was designed by modern Americans with little other knowledge of history.
For what it's worth, waaay back when they published Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue, Aurora said that she transported things around the world via teleportation. The Realms are so high-magic that Greenfields may actually have a permanent teleportation circle that links to their main buyer in Waterdeep.Greenfields supplying Waterdeep is questionable at best. Most of Greenfields is landlocked (>100 miles from the coast or a river) and trasporting grain over long distances is extremely inefficient. The nothern part can get to a river which leads to Baldurs Gate which would be a very good place to sell.
And from the grain that reaches the cost and is not sold in Baldurs Gate much would probably go to the closer Athkatla.
If you really play that high level it would work. Although you still need to get all the grain to the place with the circle (the area is huge on maps). But when you already have teleportation circles, why not also have airships for collecting it...For what it's worth, waaay back when they published Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue, Aurora said that she transported things around the world via teleportation. The Realms are so high-magic that Greenfields may actually have a permanent teleportation circle that links to their main buyer in Waterdeep.
I would imagine that a major town in the center of Greenfields would have the circle, and it would only take at most a couple of days for outlying villages and farms to get their grain to that town. And I would also imagine that whoever controls the circle would charge quite a bit of money for adventurers to use it.If you really play that high level it would work. Although you still need to get all the grain to the place with the circle (the area is huge on maps). But when you already have teleportation circles, why not also have airships for collecting it...
Of course when everything is linked it would also allow PCs to easily and cheaply teleport around the FR.
Goldenfields is the one that pays a big role in Storm King's Thunder. And it is a >20 square mile large farm-temple of Chauntea located close to the rivers closest to Waterdeep. It is a safe bet that the area is as fertile as the goddess of farming and fertility can make it.Greenfields is an area north of Amn, different from Goldenfields.
iirc Greenfields is magically super fertile so grows an abundance of crops which they export.
I agree making it the only source of food for Waterdeep is silly, but Waterdeep is a huge metropolis and an obvious market for excess produce
I do not think that is fair to say that they knew no history. I suspect that they knew quite a bit but that it was mostly the history of politics and battles. That is the way history has been taught. Not enough attention to the underlying stuff that drives the politics and battles.Include "food production and transportation" as yet another sign that Forgotten Realms was designed by modern Americans with little other knowledge of history.
My bad: I couldn't figure out how to express what they didn't know.I do not think that is fair to say that they knew no history. I suspect that they knew quite a bit but that it was mostly the history of politics and battles. That is the way history has been taught. Not enough attention to the underlying stuff that drives the politics and battles.
According to medieval census data one square mile could feed 180 to 200 people (that includes the farmers). So even with a lot of blessings 20 square miles are awfully small to supply even the core city of Waterdeep (200k) let alone the region with its ludicrous 2 million.Goldenfields is the one that pays a big role in Storm King's Thunder. And it is a >20 square mile large farm-temple of Chauntea located close to the rivers closest to Waterdeep. It is a safe bet that the area is as fertile as the goddess of farming and fertility can make it.
Unfortunately there is a statement in the adventure that the food is brought to Waterdeep by caravan...
No problem, it is just the habit of reducing the teaching of history to a simple narrative and collection of dry fact that can be passed be regurgitated out in an exam with out any consideration of why this outcome occurred over the possible alternatives is a bit of a thing with me.My bad: I couldn't figure out how to express what they didn't know.
The Forgotten Realms was created by an 8 year old American boy. At least that is when Ed wrote his first stories of it. He created the D&D setting at age 16 in 1975.Include "food production and transportation" as yet another sign that Forgotten Realms was designed by modern Americans with little other knowledge of history.