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Area of a medieval town?
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<blockquote data-quote="gizmo33" data-source="post: 4788505" data-attributes="member: 30001"><p>I disagree with this generalization. I think people freak out as much about stuff that has no chance of happening (think about the genre-appropriate example of the witch hysteria) as they do ignore other things. People go to great lengths to protect themselves from threats that are entirely imaginary, as well as those that are very unlikely. I think the correlation here is what people believe, more than actual likelihood, and also how much control they feel that they have over a situation.</p><p> </p><p>So why don't I think the flood example is a good match here? Because a castle (and to some extent a walled town) can be seen as symbols of control and defense. If people can get it in their minds that such things are easily destroyed, that's going to undermine the authority of the local rulers. Knocking down buildings that have an important social function can *really* upset people. If wandering bands of strangers (ie. adventurers) can burn down towns and collapse castle walls with impunity, this threatens the stability of the area. IMO a ruler has the resources/information necessary to understand the problem and strong motivation to act on it. </p><p> </p><p>This doesn't mean that there aren't individuals who are willing to build their villages on flood plains or next to ogre lairs (especially if there's money to be made and insurance to collect). And those sorts of people are probably full of all kinds of rationalizations. But the security minded individuals in a society aren't going to sit around and wait for something bad to happen. Witches are going to be burnt, ogres are going to be pre-emptively chased out of the woods, and metal detectors are going to be installed at the entrances of castles - regardless of the actual chances of anything happening. If for no other reason that to make people feel secure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gizmo33, post: 4788505, member: 30001"] I disagree with this generalization. I think people freak out as much about stuff that has no chance of happening (think about the genre-appropriate example of the witch hysteria) as they do ignore other things. People go to great lengths to protect themselves from threats that are entirely imaginary, as well as those that are very unlikely. I think the correlation here is what people believe, more than actual likelihood, and also how much control they feel that they have over a situation. So why don't I think the flood example is a good match here? Because a castle (and to some extent a walled town) can be seen as symbols of control and defense. If people can get it in their minds that such things are easily destroyed, that's going to undermine the authority of the local rulers. Knocking down buildings that have an important social function can *really* upset people. If wandering bands of strangers (ie. adventurers) can burn down towns and collapse castle walls with impunity, this threatens the stability of the area. IMO a ruler has the resources/information necessary to understand the problem and strong motivation to act on it. This doesn't mean that there aren't individuals who are willing to build their villages on flood plains or next to ogre lairs (especially if there's money to be made and insurance to collect). And those sorts of people are probably full of all kinds of rationalizations. But the security minded individuals in a society aren't going to sit around and wait for something bad to happen. Witches are going to be burnt, ogres are going to be pre-emptively chased out of the woods, and metal detectors are going to be installed at the entrances of castles - regardless of the actual chances of anything happening. If for no other reason that to make people feel secure. [/QUOTE]
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