Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> Sent by: dragaera-bounces at dragaera.info 06/15/06 10:57 PM To Dragaera List <dragaera at dragaera.info> cc Subject Re: Multi-jointed fingers (and houses) On Thu, 15 Jun 2006, Jon Lincicum wrote: >I'd guesstimate all Easterners in Adrilankha would now be citizens if 1% >of the first generation bought titles and were able to pass on their >citizenship, assuming no influx of non-citizens from the East and no >competitive advantage of a link to the Orb. Let's throw in a factor of >ten down for the influx and a factor of two up for the link (at low >densities, a link might provide large competitive advantages, at high >densities the psionic network alone would be very valuable - one might >seek a citizen mate for that alone). Let's then guess that <1:10k >Easterners in A. are citizens - I get, uhh, 1:200k citizens early. >And really it should be much less since obviously people in subsequent >generations joined the Jhereg. Pretty bad business model if so. 1) I would say 1% of the Easterner population is too high a figure. 2) The influx of Easterners into the Empire in general, and Adrilankha in particular is ongoing. Right after the Interregnum ended their numbers were likely much lower than at Vlad's time. There may have only been a few dozen Easterners in Adrilankha right at the end of the Interregnum, and the number by Vlad's time is likely between 10,000-20,000. 3) In order for the difference in reproduction rates to matter, it is important that all the Easterners have more than 2 children apiece. If not, then the numbers simply stay the same. (Or even decline.) 4) Joining the Jhereg is *expensive*. Vlad's Father ran a sucessful restaurant in a good part of town, and catered to nobility. Even then, it took him 20-30 years of working to scrape enough together *just* to afford the title. Basically, he dedicated his entire life to this one end (which ended up killing him, since he couldn't afford even basic sorcerous medical attention after he blew his wad). How many Easterners are really going to have his his means to earn money, and his dedication to that single goal? I would say not more than 2-3 every seventeen years. This is hardly going to matter in a population of Easterners numbering in the thousands. Not for a while, anyway. >Maybe there are Dragaerans who hunt down Easterners with links and >suppress the infection rate. But of course we would likely have heard >about that if it were common. This might happen if the trends continue. Lynchings, a Dragaeran KKK of some kind (likely populated by Orca, I would say), "citizenship tests" where the person taking the test fails if they're under six foot six. >I can see complicated arguments about wealth in such a competitive >environment reflecting good genes or skills that could be taught to >one's children, leading to a greater transmission rate - or the opposite. >Perhaps someone with the proper expertise could do an evolutionary >model and produce more sensible limits. Really, the best method for combating the problem you describe would simply to limit inheritance of the title to the eldest child of the title purchaser. The number of titles would thereby stay completely constant, no matter how plentiful the Easterners become. Majikjon