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<blockquote data-quote="GuardianLurker" data-source="post: 745585" data-attributes="member: 786">OK, first stepHistorically, medieval (european) society supported a roughly 9:1 ratio of farmers/commoners/rural inhabitants to everyone else.I don't have the numbers for any other pre-industrial societies, like Chin dynasty China, Japan's Shogunate, or the Enlightenment in Western Europe. Those would all be very handy. Anyone know the answers, or where to find them?Modern day farmers/commoners support a ratio of 1:100 (or even better). Of course, it may not be valid to assume that all commoners are farmers anymore.However, that's probably immaterial, unless we can assume that magic can directly (and as widely) replace technology, since most of that support comes from using advanced fertilizers, insecticides, and advanced machinery.I think, for these purposes, it's reasonable to assume that our magical society can generally equal (or even exceed a little) the best pre-industrial farming productivity/population ratios.My gut feel says that a range of 50-95% of the population as commoners is not unreasonable. Which would mean a spread of ( (2d5*5)+45) percent, with lower values representing richer societies.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GuardianLurker, post: 745585, member: 786"] OK, first step Historically, medieval (european) society supported a roughly 9:1 ratio of farmers/commoners/rural inhabitants to everyone else. I don't have the numbers for any other pre-industrial societies, like Chin dynasty China, Japan's Shogunate, or the Enlightenment in Western Europe. Those would all be very handy. Anyone know the answers, or where to find them? Modern day farmers/commoners support a ratio of 1:100 (or even better). Of course, it may not be valid to assume that all commoners are farmers anymore. However, that's probably immaterial, unless we can assume that magic can directly (and as widely) replace technology, since most of that support comes from using advanced fertilizers, insecticides, and advanced machinery. I think, for these purposes, it's reasonable to assume that our magical society can generally equal (or even exceed a little) the best pre-industrial farming productivity/population ratios. My gut feel says that a range of 50-95% of the population as commoners is not unreasonable. Which would mean a spread of ( (2d5*5)+45) percent, with lower values representing richer societies. [/QUOTE]

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