Khorvaire:Two Problems

[William Ronald]

... or dictate the weather, if you have the Mark of Storms. Yes, certainly for port cities, Lyrandar elemental galleons are the most efficient combination of speed & cost.

Another fact of life that could help sustain populations in Eberron are any spells or magical abilities pertaining to crops. Plant growth and other spells to ward off insects and disease could help improve farm yields. Artificial devices could help with gathering the crop. The Romans at least experimented with a primitive mechanical reaper around modern Marseilles. Add in a skilled artificer, and the Eberron setting could have the equivalent of the Cyrus McCormick reaper from the 1800s. Or you could always use Warforged with scythes.

 

[buzz]

It's called Kingdoms of Kalamar.

But what if you like settings that are actually fun?

:ducks:

 

[buzz]

Stupid tangent

The first major civilization on Eberron (besides dragons, I guess) were the giants of Xen'Drik. Maybe Eberron is so dang big because, well, it was designed for *them*. The fall of the giants has left Eberron to the "little" races, and they simply don't take up as much space.

 

[La Bete]

Now, one thought that I have which might work for some Eberron DM's is that they might want to give a sense that the various societies are holding together ... just barely. This would probably be a very tense period to run a campaign in, as civilization seems to contract. (This would probably be a feeling for any campaign set just at the conclusion of the Last War.) Historically, societies have gone through shifts in population levels and in levels of civilization. (See Western Europe during the fall of the Western Roman Empire as an example.)

Quoted for truth. This was my thought as well, when I saw the comments about the pop levels. If I recall correctly, the column on the wizards site discussed the scars from the last war, both physical and psychological. It doesnt seem that much of a jump to translate the psycholgical effects of the isolation caused by low pop levels on people.

I.e. treat the percieved problem as a mystery or as 'scene-setting' rather than a problem to be 'fixed'.

 

[mythusmage]

You cut it from the excerpt you quoted. Here it is, "the prices are appropriate for the economy of Khorvaire"...

Do you have trouble thinking about things. Or is blind reaction more your style?
In either case, PLONK!

 

[mythusmage]

Yes, I got ticked. If you must dismiss an analogy of mine show me why. Declaring something irrelevant does not make it so.

As for Eberron demographics.

1. Multiply all national and regional population figures by 10. This gives an average of 17 people per square mile. Still rather low overall, but much more workable than 1.7 per square mile.

2. Remember that the lands of Eberron are far more complex than shown in the setting book.

 

[William Ronald]

Quoted for truth. This was my thought as well, when I saw the comments about the pop levels. If I recall correctly, the column on the wizards site discussed the scars from the last war, both physical and psychological. It doesnt seem that much of a jump to translate the psycholgical effects of the isolation caused by low pop levels on people.

I.e. treat the percieved problem as a mystery or as 'scene-setting' rather than a problem to be 'fixed'.

This might be a good idea, otherwise you might have a few jokes about characters doing their part to replenish the population of Khorvaire. At the risk of being risque, someone may want to be the father of his own country

On a more serious note, if population levels are somewhat low (using the official numbers or modified numbers), would there be an interest in immigration or invasion from other continents or planes. (Some people might view the weakened conditioned of the nations of Khorvaire as an opportunity to strike a blow for their cause. Others might just want a little more elbow room.)

 

[mythusmage]

This might be a good idea, otherwise you might have a few jokes about characters doing their part to replenish the population of Khorvaire. At the risk of being risque, someone may want to be the father of his own country

On a more serious note, if population levels are somewhat low (using the official numbers or modified numbers), would there be an interest in immigration or invasion from other continents or planes. (Some people might view the weakened conditioned of the nations of Khorvaire as an opportunity to strike a blow for their cause. Others might just want a little more elbow room.)

Citizen of Sharn: I know Breland needs people, but drow?

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Yes, the population's too low.*

*Incidentally, while I think it is low, it probably need not be as high as medieval Europe. It's too low because there's simply not enough there for the division of labor that would be required to sustain the level of technology and consumption implied in the setting. It's not way too low because, as of yet in my reading, I have not found anything suggesting price controls, something that consistently caused problems for medieval Europe. I could be wrong about that last point, though, and I'll know when I finish reading the setting.

That's an intriguing last point Don, and I'd be interested in seeing your argument parsed out.

Wouldn't the level of diversification and consumption depend more on the percentage of people necessary to work the ground to feed the population as a whole than on the true size of the population and the thickness with which it lay to the ground?

In terms of consumption, well, have we any statistics on raw tonnage? There does seem to be a pretty high level of individual consumption at the upper levels and in the cities, but I don't know that was any less true during the far less populated portions of the middle ages.

Though I have often thought that dwarves and gnomes must be absolute fetishists/hoarders to do the amount of efficient mining that they do and not run into huge problems of transportation and oversupply.

Though on another note you might then envision dragon raids as an important redistribution mechanic.

On a totally tangential note, price controls, eh? There's an argument to be made either way there for the real period. But Eberron's financial systems seem sophisticated enough, and basic supplies pentiful enough, so that I agree that it seems a non-issue in the setting.

When you have enough squirells that anyone can get locally produced fur at the local market price control is much less of an issue. And boy howdy, let me tell you, squirrel fur is the salt of the medieval economy.

Price controls are yet another feature of the more populated than Eberron and totally unlike it later middle ages.

 

[mythusmage]

...Though I have often thought that dwarves and gnomes must be absolute fetishists/hoarders to do the amount of efficient mining that they do and not run into huge problems of transportation and oversupply.

Though on another note you might then envision dragon raids as an important redistribution mechanic..

"Boss, we're running out of space to store the gems again."

"Damn, and we just had a sale to get rid of the last surplus. Tell you what, spread rumors in the human town that the dwarfs are sending a gem caravan to another location. I'll put together said caravan using Charmed and Polymorphed goblins to carry the excess. If that don't draw dragons down dragons are getting inbred."