[Region 1][Map 12] [Location 01] - Finger Islands

[Sigurd]

All the population data is incomplete. Just stabs at something to build ideas on.


I'm trying to come up with a sense of whats big and whats small. 10,000 people sounds like a lot for me - I certainly don't want to go and stat them all . But I don't really know.

The Domesday Book was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time).

The Random gen I use claims to be based on the numbers from the 12c Doomsday book. I figure that's not a bad comparison to start with. It claims typical cities of 2000 and hundreds of villages between twelve and seven-hundred people. That's quite a spread!

I like the idea of lots of villages. Kalabar's strength is its people. It doesn't have a lot of opulent wealth but it also has very few trappings. They are potentially warlike almost nomadic barbarians. I'd like the region to have high population density. Sun, land and lake water deliver good food supplies but useful land is scarce. Lots of water gives them good sanitation and low disease.

So it sort of depends on the populations in the adjoining areas.

Kalabar and Groam justify the fortification of Irontown.

In its rich days Groam would have been a courted ally or dangerous threat. Now, after the plague, the wall and the chaos, she is literally divided and perhaps a target. Barbarian clan leaders may be considering campaigns in Groam (Just as one possible plot device). Groam is bigger and wealthier but her resources are stretched thin.

Perhaps Groam is cultivating ties with Irontown? Paying a water tax to Kalabar for trade and security?

Or perhaps the barbarians control a large amount of trade by merit and ability? Maybe Kalabar is the great pirate hunter of inland seas? Maybe Groam is simply buying the threat away by hiring Kalabar Clans as mercenaries to protect and control the west. I can imagine mercenary camps anywhere on the inland seas.

These are the sort of hooks I like for gaming.

Kalabar is a little like Norse Scandinavia but much closer to other settlements.


Satisfying these questions, or choosing a good story line amongst them, is a pleasant challenge.



How big are world settlements?



Sigurd