Re: Magic to aid farming in space

>From: Richard Myers <REMyers001@???.com>
>Reply-To: Discussion list for the Spelljammer campaign setting
><SPELLJAMMER-L@??????.???????.com>
>To: SPELLJAMMER-L@??????.???????.com
>Subject: Re: [SPELLJAMMER] Magic to aid farming in space
>Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 11:33:33 EDT
>
><I haven't been able to find a real number directly related to renaissance
>farming productivity, but found these things.>
>
>Here are some figures dating c. 1480...
>
>On one north European manor, there were approximately 180 acres, of which
>over half were given over to pasture or lying fallow.  30 workers farmed
>the land
>from 11 families.  There was nearly 100 livestock (pigs predominant).  Over
>500 bushels of food was grown in one year (mostly barley) and some flax and
>beans.  11 families can consume nearly the whole of the 500 bushels
>(depending on
>the size of those families, of course), so there is very little surplus.
>Seemingly, any excess agriculture comes from labor owed by the peasants to
>the
>landlords, who themselves sell any excess for their profit.  I have more
>precise
>numbers if anyone needs them.
>
>As far as crafts go, this same farm would spend some of its nights cleaning
>and processing flax and wool, and spinning it into yarn.  Every 8 such
>families
>could keep one town-based weaver busy making cloth.  Most crafts follow
>this
>sort of cottage industry....except of course, mining and all the smithing
>that
>goes with it.  The iron industry was always heavily regulated, mostly
>because
>the crown or state was the major consumer of that industry (armor, weapons,
>cannon, construction material, etc.).
>
>And let's not think that technology stood still during this time.  New
>foods
>were constantly being improved that could grow in a more northern climate,
>or
>new breeds introduced to produce more wool or dairy products.  These were
>very
>real advances, if not spectacular on the pages of history.
>
>I'm saying there are problems with most RPG population models, I guess.
>Cities seem too large for their rural agriculture base.  This is really not
>a
>problem, because many historical cities existed in this fashion....they
>just
>require regular imports of food...which is why I originally suggested there
>was
>more spelljamer traffic than some people seem to believe....there is a
>necessity
>for many spelljamming vessels to carry food imports to any space city.


The affects of magic need to be taken into account, too.  Maybe not major
magic like making whole work forces of undead, but still minor spells like
dweomers that improve the speed that wool is spun at, or that help the
barley grow better, would improve productivity.  The degree and influence of
the improvements would depend on how much magical interferance is allowed
and accounted for by each DM.  Where we have technology, the D&D world uses
magic, to improve things.  So though on the surface the appearance is that
they live like we did in the medieval times, their actual production and the
standard of living in some places would have to be centuries more advanced.

In the end it all depends on how much you allow magic to modify your world.
In a spelljammer setting magic is everywhere.  In my campaign there are
entire civilizations from the past that build massive force field domes
around their cities, and colonized worlds that were still molten magma.
They got thier food mainly through magic, by creating it or sending minions
out to hunt for them on other planes of existence.  You can't really compare
that to anything in the real world.

- Cotyote

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