[Mkguild] Metamor Population, Arable Land, and Valley Size

[Michael Bard]

Don't worry, this is an easy one...

The Metamor Valley is roughly 10 miles wide.  Population is roughly 15,000.
A square mile of basic medieval farmland can support about 30 people.  This
is good land, probably a bit better than around Metamor, but doesn't include
magic, so lets keep it as a ball park figure.  That means there needs to be
about 500 square miles of half decent farmland.  I would assume that this
would exist only south of the Keep.  North has too much war going on to be
dependently arrable.

Assuming 10 mile width, that means that SOUTH of the keep, the valley has to
be about 50 miles long.  It also assumes that every square foot south of the
keep is extensively cultivated.  I'd tend to go for 60 or 70 miles south to
allow some areas of non-cultivation.

This gives us an idea of how long the valley needs to be.

Oh, and as a side effect, caravans can go something like 15 miles a day on
half decent roads (as I recall -- this is from memory so take it with a
grain of salt).  Assuming 60 miles, that means 4 days to get from the
entrance to the keep.  Curse requires 14 days.  4 days in, 4 days out,
leaves 6 days to sell stuff, assuming no delays.  :)

Ain't math FUN?

Michael Bard

P.S. Checking the Wiki by just listing the pages to find any notes on valley
size, I found that the army size is given at 1500 with 5000 reserves -- 
remarkable close to my ballpark figures from my earlier post.  :)