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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tonguez" data-source="post: 9534037" data-attributes="member: 1125">When it comes to sentient species there a couple of things I think people gloss over due to assuming that the fantasy worlds develop in the same way as our own, but what if they didnt?The first is that we think of populations in the millions, rather than the historic reality of much smaller populations of a few thousand in Empires and ac province having a few hundred.Which is important when we consider species distribution - fantasy worlds tend to have Humans in coastal River Valleys (where Halflings are tolerated as a type of half-sized human), Elf live in the Deep Forests, Dwarf under the Mountains, Orc/Goblin in the Borderland (where they conflict with Dwarfs) and then more specialised Swamp = Lizardfolk, Steepe = Gnolls etc.Its a truism that humans have tended to favour coastal river valleys only expanding to less favourable habitats when they needed space or resources (though still tending to avoid Swamp, High Mountains and Steepe/Tundra), but what if the blessings of druids means that humans etc dont need to expand to secure abundant food and resources?  Is there a need for the same levels of conflict?Sure goblins and orcs are still rivals on the borderlands, but dwarfs live underground and dont tend to bother humans except when they want to trade iron for potatoes, the Lizardfolk stick to the stinkin swamp and as long as you dont veer off the the path, the elfs tend to leave you alone.Maybe there are no big armies and conflicts are settled by sending in small bands of wandering mercenaries to clear out bandits and orcs raiders and occasionally Dark Lords or awakened Dragons.</blockquote>

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