On Thu, Nov 10, 2005 at 03:33:16PM +0100, Martin Wohlert wrote: > Steve Simmons <scs at di.org> wrote: > >IMHO this is an area where Dragaeran textev just doesn't hold up. Given > >the apparent small family size, relative rarity of marriage, and amazingly > >high number of people getting killed, textev inevitably leads one to the > >conclusion that Dragaerans are in a steep population implosion. > > Yes, a high number of people being killed _among those we meet in the > books_, but who are they? > They're soldiers and criminals and for both of these occupations that's > part of the job description. I assume that Chreotha tailors don't get > killed left and right, unless they fall foul of an easterner with a > moustach. ;) IMHO it's worth a deeper look at that sorting by house, not by class. Dragons and Dzur kill at the drop of a hat. Nearly all we've met of either group are unmarried or married without children. Given the death rate we see, it's completely unsupportable. Either there are lots of Dragon and Dzur marriages/births/divorces happening offstage, or they're in a severe population decline. Off the top of my head, I couldn't name a single Dragon who has more than two children. Given the Dragon death rate in war, etc, they probably should be averaging 8 or 10. And the Dzur should be even higher. The Teckla supposedly have larger families, and we get to see a fair amount of typical Teckla life in Aythra (er, the one with Savn). If memory serves, it's still all very small families - especially since Teckla are often cannon fodder for their lords.. Now mind you, I'm not sitting up nights worrying about this. The suspension of disbelief isn't hard, and I'm fine with that. of suspec -- Realize that life is a situation comedy that will never be canceled. A laugh track has been provided, and the reason why we are put in the material world is to get more material. From "Swami Beyondananda's Guidelines for Enlightenment"