On Sunday, June 23, 2002, at 04:20 PM, Michael S. Schiffer wrote: > At 04:03 PM 6/23/2002 -0400, Rick Castello wrote: >> >... >> If you think about it, it would only make sense- if they >> don't die as quickly, high birth rates would quickly lead to >> overcrowding and poor conditions. I haven't yet seen any spot >> in the books where Dragaerans live in squalor- even Teckla. >> >> It's only the short-lived Easterners who live like that. >> >> Methinks this is just another way that SB has put excellent >> thought into the society and balance of Dragaera at large, >> without having to hit us over the head with it. :) > > > They also have good contraceptive sorcery (munged by Vlad into thinking > that Dragaerans can only conceive voluntarily). Access to reliable > contraceptives tends to be correlated with a lower birth rate, > increased greater gender equality, etc. > > Hmm... you'd think Vlad would have figured out about the whole > contraceptive sorcery thing during his marriage to Cawti. (Before > that, he was mostly dealing with Dragaeran prostitutes, IIRC, and > they're not interfertile with Easterners anyway.) Unless they weren't > using it, or Cawti was handling that end of things (at least for a > while) and Vlad was just being sort of clueless. > > Mike > > Yes, Grandfather referred to Dragaerans as "elfs" and in fantasy lore, elves have long life spans and very small families (look at the elves of Tolkein to see what I mean). Also, as a society matures, the birth rate starts to decline, for instance agricultural/primitive societies have high birth rates so moe children can work in the field, shorter lifespans, etc. but post industrial societies, like the US's have long life spans and fewer amounts of children born. > ------ Chris Turkel Guru, Dragaera Readalong List http://dragaera.info