Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clavis" data-source="post: 4332683" data-attributes="member: 31898">There is a problem with increasing crop yields by magic: who is going to harvest all the extra crops?The crop yield of historical pre-industrial farms is enough to keep the farmers working from dawn to dusk from spring to autumn. In winter, there is animal slaughtering and meat curing to be done. Agriculture without machinery is hard work, and pretty much a miserable life. Magically-enhanced, high-yield crops wouldn't actually increase the amount of food available, unless the crops harvest and process themselves. Even if you use slaves, the slaves have to eat, increasing to total need for food. Of course, since we are talking about societies with real magic, perhaps the crops are harvested by enslaved demons or zombies created from the corpses of criminals... In which case the people who control the demons and zombies should rule the society absolutely. Then some heroes can come along, free the people from the oppression of their tyrranical overlords, and inadvertently condemn everyone to starvation when the demons and zombies stop working the fields.</blockquote>