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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 2446267" data-attributes="member: 3051">I was reading a short story the other day that got me thinking on the food supply issue.  ("The Royal Road", part of the Interstellar Patrol series)The Dwarves arrive in Corsai first.  They have wealth, and a decent supply of food.  They'll buy some essentials they didn't realize they needed (like water), but for the most part they won't do a huge amount of damage.  Plus, they'll likely sell some of their things to the Aeosians, especially if they need to make room in their carts for the water supply.  So, they've got a good amount of wealth to use along the way, and the town hasn't been substantially affected.  If they use the Teleport Circle idea, then it's pretty much resolved at that point, so let's assume they don't.If they stick together in one giant convoy, I don't think it's workable.  No single area in this sort of civilization can possibly feed a mass of 200,000, and everyone knows it.  (Historically, armies were almost never larger than a few tens of thousands, simply for this reason.)  So, let's assume they split into a dozen or so smaller groups.  Some are wagon trains going overland, some take the river, and so on.  Ten thousand dwarves is still a sizeable convoy, but it's now within the realm of possibility.Each group would still need to eat.  For most, hunting/foraging simply wouldn't be worth the time; they're better off going as fast as possible, and buying as much food as they can find as they go.Farmers aren't stupid.  They'll keep enough food to feed their own families, selling whatever extra food they have.  The townsfolk, on the other hand... while the average peasant might be smart about this, sooner or later you'll find a town run by a corrupt noble.  He'll take the Dwarves' money, and give them needed food out of the community stores.  It's not like he's the one that'd starve, after all.Here's the catch: in a normal year in an agrarian society, there are always some areas with a surplus of food, and some with a shortage.  Bad weather does that.  Over time, it balances out, with the total food production matching closely to the local population levels (with a small buffer for safety).  So, the areas that sell food to the Dwarves believe they can make up the difference if needed; they charge exorbitant prices to the Dwarves, then buy back the needed difference from their neighbors at a net profit.  But the problem is that they don't know how many wagon trains there are.  With dozens of them all taking different paths, this year there won't be ANY areas with a surplus.  All those that had a surplus would have sold their excess, and some areas would have even sold food they needed.  Money can't be eaten; the total food supply of the region is finite, and the normal "safety buffer" was overwhelmed by the sheer number of Dwarves added to the area.So, what are you left with?  A whole swath of towns near Corsai with plenty of wealth, but who haven't realized yet that they will starve in a month or two.  Once they figure that out (which probably won't happen until they actually try to purchase food from their neighbors), some will blame the Mithral Dwarves, but by then they'll be long gone (and that's a key point).  Many of those will then blame Dwarves in general.  Some will blame Corsai (as the only town that wasn't affected).  A few will blame the Defenders.  Food prices will start skyrocketing well before starvation kicks in.  Crime will go up, especially food raids on local farms.So what happens?  In a nonmagical society you'd see a lot of starvation and riots before grain-carrying transports could arrive.  But here?  Imagine the Ioun and the church of Aeos sending dozens of spellcasters to summon food for the peasants, many of which would have to stay in those towns through the winter.  Magic items that create food would become extremely valuable.  Towns who lost their food supply due to corrupt nobles would lynch them, and might want to switch allegiance.  Depending on how they handle it, the end result of this could be a whole series of towns joining the Empire or wanting to be protectorates of Corsai.</blockquote>

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