From my reading of Yggsburgh added to other information from a {fnord} I've decided to make a huge change in my ever in development Dragon Earth setting. For one thing, the Goths (who never divided into Visigoth and Ostrogoth) wound up settling in and conquering Wales, Scotland, and Ireland for the Romans. They later formed the core of the armies that brought order and stability to Britain and France after Rome withdrew from those areas to defend Italia and the Balkans.
Where Rome is concerned, the empire did not fall when it did historically. While Rome ceased to be the capital, it and Italia as a whole remained in Roman hands until the empire actually fell in the 17th century to the Othman Turks. At which point Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, founded in 1643 with the purpose of restoring the empire.
Where medieval Dragon Earth is considered; while western Europe had its troubles, thanks to magic, gods, and able leadership it never got really bad. Public baths were a common feature in large communities, while bathing in nearby pools or streams remained popular. Magical measures against pests and parasites along with healing magic served to keep disease in check. Add in crop and herd animal magics aimed at increasing yield, and the health of that yield, and you've got a better fed and healthier populace than you had historically. And healthier people have a greater resistance to disease overall.
Then you had indoor plumbing, sewer systems, drainage systems, public health clinics, and (at the very least) local elections. (Don't underestimate control over one's life where health is concerned.) Indeed, the right to vote a noble or even a king out of office when such proved ineffectual spread from the Gothic tribes to near all of Europe by the 14th century. Though rule remained authoritarian even then, true democracy would not appear for centuries more.
By and large people stayed clean, had more to eat and a better variety in what there was to eat, and were much more prosperous. The discovery of Europe in the 14th century by descendents of the Huns who settled North America around the 5th century AD brought to Europe new foods, new diseases, and new magics. With the exception of the ailments all in all it was a good thing.
And there you have one example of a world where magic proved beneficial to the population.
). This is one of the better written and objective articles there- which should tell one something, but is also a statement on the general quality of this piece(pretty pictures... yoinked for games).
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
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