Re: [HeroQuest-RPG] Re: "normal tribal life in Sartar"

donald_at_KJrJzlxCFTPsfVbCQZ4nxsXy4fi5dOFrU-gdOAYVa6HG_agt1_Z806I16TCi5Rlipg9906IpSDLIMVkZpnMv.yahoo.invalid wrote:
> A cow per person per year sounds rather high. Easy enough for a thane
> but tough for a carl and pretty near impossible for a cottar. I would
> think an amount equal to half a cow per adult is going to be closer
> although since the tax collectors won't be counting people it'll
> vary based on how they assess the tribe or clan and it'll be up to
> the chief who pays the tax within the clan.

Cows of an ancient time have calves about 40% of the time, and cattle have about 7 years of useful breeding in them before they're too old. (Numbers came out of "Cattle Lords and Clansmen" by Nerys Patterson - thanks to John Hughes for the heads up)

If we assume the above numbers for Dragon Pass (and for the moment that none of them get stolen or die of disease or misadventure) then a clan of 1000 people needs to have around 16000 cows to be able to deliver 1 cow per person in tax sustainably.
(16000 cows ~6400 calves per year (half male). 1/7 die of old age = 2285 cows die
= 915 cows increase per year.) (and 5400 dead beasts to devour over the year)

If some die or get stolen it's even worse.

My players clan (about 500 people) has slightly more than 800 cattle who have ~320 calves (half of whom are male) and lose about 115 to old age, leaving a net increase of ~45 per year (and ~275 dead beasts to eat over a year).
Subtract from that losses to predators, cattle raiding and gifts to neighbours and it's more like a zero-sum game.

The clan also has about 9 oxen per Carl family (8 Ox in a team, plus one in training) and there'll be a bull or three floating around the clan somewhere. The Oxen will be taken from the males, but at a replacement rate, so it won't really affect the number of dead beasts. I'm figuring around 150 oxen in my players clan.

Most of the beef that people eat will be either old cows or young males.

Requiring a half a cow per person would make the clan non-sustainable. I think that something like 2 cows per stead (about 1 per 25 people in my game) would be tough, but almost sustainable.

If it includes payment in kind, throwing in sheep, swine and manufactured goods, you could probably double that payment and still not be absolutely broke, but if you have a bad year, things will be very tough.

Stephen

-- 
Stephen Rennell 	steve_at_b3lvVIRhT-FD1VD3YwDxy0l00vD-07MOrNJvgTWko2SKchuLOx_MFwOB5Yl92TkAPRn6oPI.yahoo.invalid
Wellington, New Zealand
GPG fingerprint -
CD0F 78C6 1AAE 8726 803A F1D0 F123 8486 062F 0317