It's amazing when I consider the number of settings I've seen -- not just fantasy or historical adventure, but modern as well -- where children are never seen or even mentioned. Makes me wonder just how the population replenishes itself in those worlds.
While do not kill off young children in my stories, I do make having families a priority for my characters. All important ones have two or more children - when they get well into their adulthood. Even the evil wizard has multiple children and many grandchildren - with which he uses to advance his diabolical plans.
On that note, how about the demographics of Middle Earth? Always seemed a little weird to me that population growth was so slow, even negative, in all the years the Ring was lost. Sure, Sauron was still making trouble, but enough to have that impact?
Of course everybody has too few kids in that world anyway. After all they went through to be together, Beren and Luthien only had one child?
Elves had few kids. Tolkien at one point observed that Feanor, with seven, had the most any elf ever had.
But the time between the wars with Sauron had epidemics and wars, including civil wars, to keep the population down. The actual medieval times likewise had only slow growth.
One of my favorit gripes: who does the farming. 85% of a medieval society was in food production. Crop yields were miserably low. Starvation was always two steps away. One long winter and you might not make it to Spring. Yet, most of this is ignored.
You wann be a hero, kid? Get enough grain for your people to survive until harvest.
True. I've often looked at the logical consequences of DnD spells. Rather like the consequences of the phaser in Star Trek...if you had those, set for 'stun,' you'd have people stunning each other silly over the slightest provocation. Neighbor's dog barking? ...stun him AND the doggo. Drive by stunnings at the mall would be a constant problem. Road rage stunnings at an all time high... Logical consequences.
Logically, they would have to be restricted for the world to work. Then, we don't see much of either civilian life or the technical requirements of a stunner, so it could be feasible. Perhaps their powersources are expensive and used up frequently.
Take it as read straight from Star Trek: it works, but only so long as it serves the plot.
Plot Powered. Unreliable, but potentially infinite. The art of using Plot Powered devices successfully depends on a character’s meta-awareness of the plot and his/her place in it.
It's amazing when I consider the number of settings I've seen -- not just fantasy or historical adventure, but modern as well -- where children are never seen or even mentioned. Makes me wonder just how the population replenishes itself in those worlds.
Oh, that's something for the riffraff to do. Off-stage. And there will always be enough riffraff willing to do it.
Which is something the entire human race, or at least the sane part, can be thankful for.
The thing is that we can't, because it isn't true. Not even in real life.
While do not kill off young children in my stories, I do make having families a priority for my characters. All important ones have two or more children - when they get well into their adulthood. Even the evil wizard has multiple children and many grandchildren - with which he uses to advance his diabolical plans.
I've got mothers and fathers as the main characters in stories, but they tend to be young and so have only one or two children.
OTOH, sometimes I can indicate in the epilogue or otherwise that more were/will be born.
On that note, how about the demographics of Middle Earth? Always seemed a little weird to me that population growth was so slow, even negative, in all the years the Ring was lost. Sure, Sauron was still making trouble, but enough to have that impact?
Of course everybody has too few kids in that world anyway. After all they went through to be together, Beren and Luthien only had one child?
Elves had few kids. Tolkien at one point observed that Feanor, with seven, had the most any elf ever had.
But the time between the wars with Sauron had epidemics and wars, including civil wars, to keep the population down. The actual medieval times likewise had only slow growth.
One of my favorit gripes: who does the farming. 85% of a medieval society was in food production. Crop yields were miserably low. Starvation was always two steps away. One long winter and you might not make it to Spring. Yet, most of this is ignored.
You wann be a hero, kid? Get enough grain for your people to survive until harvest.
D&D, whatever it claims, must have widespread magic because all the problems it elides.
Elide. Good word.
True. I've often looked at the logical consequences of DnD spells. Rather like the consequences of the phaser in Star Trek...if you had those, set for 'stun,' you'd have people stunning each other silly over the slightest provocation. Neighbor's dog barking? ...stun him AND the doggo. Drive by stunnings at the mall would be a constant problem. Road rage stunnings at an all time high... Logical consequences.
Logically, they would have to be restricted for the world to work. Then, we don't see much of either civilian life or the technical requirements of a stunner, so it could be feasible. Perhaps their powersources are expensive and used up frequently.
Take it as read straight from Star Trek: it works, but only so long as it serves the plot.
Plot Powered. Unreliable, but potentially infinite. The art of using Plot Powered devices successfully depends on a character’s meta-awareness of the plot and his/her place in it.
Potential story-material, but only if the characters are aware they are in a story. Us workers in other genres have to work to disguise it.
Honestly, I don't miss excess children in fiction (meant for adults), because more often than not they are just annoying.
It's still a hole in the world-building.