From: Alex Ferguson (alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Thu 10 Nov 1994 - 22:47:16 EET
Michael Hitchens predicts:
> I know I have propably been Gregged all over the place, but at least they
> are something.
> Balmyr
> Population: 3,500
> Number of Clans: 3
Thou art hereby Gregged: <g> KoS, p202 gives them as having ten clans. Mind you, that was 300 years ago.
> I don't think the population of Clearwine (~1500) as given in KoS and the
> population of Sartar in the Genertela book (180,000) can both be correct.
That's a bit of a leap, to say the least. That Clearwine has 1500 residents hardly means all stockades do; after all, by your own figures, the Colymar are one of the largest tribes, and the town also adjoins Balmyr territory. Nor is it an insuperable problem that this could make it bigger than some of the "cities", since this status may have more to do with their founding by Sartar, their fortification, amenities, socioeconomic importance and/or political status, rather than mere population.
I'm skeptical whether the populations of Boldhome and Alda-Chur are as high as are quoted here (8000 and 4000), since this would have them accounting for 2/3 of the urban population, which seems a tad steep.
Nick Eden:
> I'm not very convinced by clans that are 1500 people big either. Surely
> with 1500 people about you don't need to worry too much about inbreeding?
Probably not much, no. (Depending on _who_ they marry, obviously.) But clans are social constructs, not minimaxed breeding programmes, so customs will persist even as clans get larger. (Note that Volsaxi clans seem to be even larger, and perhaps Hendriki, too, though for them clans are less important, I think.)
Alex.
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