Craftsdwarf
2012-07-17, 09:00 PM
Suppose that a few hundred men and women from a low-magic traditional medieval fantasy world find themselves thrust by a sudden flash of plot into a new world: an untamed wilderness, rich in natural resources and filled with exotic plants and dangerous animals, but otherwise uninhabited. They have no way to get back to or communicate with their previous host society, and so they must build a new one. These are unwilling pioneers: they were not prepared, chosen, or equipped for this event.
We can assume that none of them just happen to have rare knowledge that would be taught only at institutions of higher learning, none can wield any kind of magic, and none are exceptionally skilled at their trades. They're regular folk: they have experience with hunting, farming, smithing, and practicing various trades. Importantly, however, all their actual experience with "the wild" is from a different wild, with different plants and animals, and they have essentially no tools.
We can further assume that these people are mostly willing to work together. However, they're not automatons, nor are they perfectly moral. Occasionally someone will exhibit antisocial behaviour, such as stealing and fighting.
What happens in the first few weeks? How does the society develop over the next ten years or so? After the next two hundred years or so, how are the descendants of the initial unwilling pioneers faring? Random questions, with things I'm particularly interested in bolded:
What advantages (skills, equipment, absence of immediate dangers) do they need to have a reasonable chance of not just all dying horribly? How many do they have to be to spawn a small colony that isn't too badly marred by inbreeding?
What skilled trades will develop, and when? How long will it take them before they can fashion metal tools? How long before they progress from foraging and hunting to agriculture? What materials will they use for tools and buildings?
How will they deal with "scarcity of customers" for the skilled trades? For instance, this page suggests (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm) that in a larger city one might expect one rope-maker per 1,900 people. A colony of two hundred that is totally isolated clearly still needs at least one, since rope is essential, but any such rope-maker will only have around 10% of their normal customer base. Similarly for barrel-makers, locksmiths, weavers, blacksmiths, butchers, and doctors, and many other trades. What happens?
What sort of antisocial behaviour is likely to occur? How will they deal with it? What moral norms will develop?
What sort of culture will develop? What will children aspire to be when they grow up? How do people entertain themselves and others?
Because there are so few people and no other intelligent group, and we have assumed that the society will survive, it seems unlikely that there will be a lot of large-scale warring. However, people will take up arms for hunting, and at least eventually, the society might need some sort of peacekeeping force (say, a sheriff). How do these hunters and small-town policemen differ from true soldiers? What weapons do they prefer, and what traditional medieval fantasy weapons do they shun?
If they could choose to have among them one particularly knowledgeable and skilled individual from the old world, such as an architect, an engineer, a chemist, a great warrior or a trained doctor, what sort of person would be most beneficial to choose? How would they put this person to use?
We can assume that none of them just happen to have rare knowledge that would be taught only at institutions of higher learning, none can wield any kind of magic, and none are exceptionally skilled at their trades. They're regular folk: they have experience with hunting, farming, smithing, and practicing various trades. Importantly, however, all their actual experience with "the wild" is from a different wild, with different plants and animals, and they have essentially no tools.
We can further assume that these people are mostly willing to work together. However, they're not automatons, nor are they perfectly moral. Occasionally someone will exhibit antisocial behaviour, such as stealing and fighting.
What happens in the first few weeks? How does the society develop over the next ten years or so? After the next two hundred years or so, how are the descendants of the initial unwilling pioneers faring? Random questions, with things I'm particularly interested in bolded:
What advantages (skills, equipment, absence of immediate dangers) do they need to have a reasonable chance of not just all dying horribly? How many do they have to be to spawn a small colony that isn't too badly marred by inbreeding?
What skilled trades will develop, and when? How long will it take them before they can fashion metal tools? How long before they progress from foraging and hunting to agriculture? What materials will they use for tools and buildings?
How will they deal with "scarcity of customers" for the skilled trades? For instance, this page suggests (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm) that in a larger city one might expect one rope-maker per 1,900 people. A colony of two hundred that is totally isolated clearly still needs at least one, since rope is essential, but any such rope-maker will only have around 10% of their normal customer base. Similarly for barrel-makers, locksmiths, weavers, blacksmiths, butchers, and doctors, and many other trades. What happens?
What sort of antisocial behaviour is likely to occur? How will they deal with it? What moral norms will develop?
What sort of culture will develop? What will children aspire to be when they grow up? How do people entertain themselves and others?
Because there are so few people and no other intelligent group, and we have assumed that the society will survive, it seems unlikely that there will be a lot of large-scale warring. However, people will take up arms for hunting, and at least eventually, the society might need some sort of peacekeeping force (say, a sheriff). How do these hunters and small-town policemen differ from true soldiers? What weapons do they prefer, and what traditional medieval fantasy weapons do they shun?
If they could choose to have among them one particularly knowledgeable and skilled individual from the old world, such as an architect, an engineer, a chemist, a great warrior or a trained doctor, what sort of person would be most beneficial to choose? How would they put this person to use?