Elves, Dwarves and Reduced Consumption

[scc]

OK, Elves are frequently depicted as living in (untouched, virgin) forests and Dwarves living under hills and mountains, both of which are rather low production in terms of agricultural out put.

Now Elves may know the Bless Plants spell on a racial level, and if Dwarves have surface farms like in Banestorm it possible they have more advanced equipment (combines and the like), both could also trade for supplies, likely Dwarves more then Elves, but still I can only draw one conculsion if they exist in large numbers (How less common then humans are they in most universes?): They have Reduced Consumption at the racial level.

Now Space92 says that Reduced Consumption 1 increases population by 1.5, Reduced Consumption 2 by 3, and any higher level by a factor of 10.

So does anyone agree with me, or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

[Refplace]

In most settings they do have much lower populations than the humans.
However with magicI dont see either needing Reduced Consumption.
Elves certainly can grow stuff and they typically hunt as well.

Dwarves could have large lit caverns for farming. Or small hydroponics farms and of course fungus and such. I expect them to trade more for the variety than actual need.

[scc]

Originally Posted by Refplace

In most settings they do have much lower populations than the humans.
However with magicI dont see either needing Reduced Consumption.
Elves certainly can grow stuff and they typically hunt as well.

Not as lower as their lifestyle would suggest, they are either hunter-gathers or live off very small farms, either of which should leave them with a population similar to such groups IRL, that is marginalized.

And magic only gets you so far, Bless Plants merely doubles yield

Originally Posted by Refplace

Dwarves could have large lit caverns for farming. Or small hydroponics farms and of course fungus and such. I expect them to trade more for the variety than actual need.

Two questions:
How are these cavern lit?
And that level of agriculture would mean the same percentage of Dwarves would be farmers as the surrounding humans, not the miners they're frequently depicted as

[Flyndaran]

Elves eat shrubbery rather than our super easy to digest but harder to mass grow grass-grains.
Also, they do rarely amass the sardine crowd populations of even a sparsely populated pseudo-medieval humanity.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by scc

...
Two questions:
How are these cavern lit?
And that level of agriculture would mean the same percentage of Dwarves would be farmers as the surrounding humans, not the miners they're frequently depicted as

You can't really have an entire population of anything but either farmers, herders, hungter-gatherers, or maybe robot builders.
As dwarf mining seems very mercantile, I can't help but imagine a slave caste toiling away at the less glamorous food production side of life.

As to light, why not have mana-eating fungi? Even better if they produce weak glow as a side effect like plants and oxygen.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Dwarves could have large lit caverns for farming. Or small hydroponics farms and of course fungus and such. I expect them to trade more for the variety than actual need.

Hydroponic farms fit really well with the myths and legends of dwarves too.

[mikeejimbo]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

You can't really have an entire population of anything but either farmers, herders, hungter-gatherers, or maybe robot builders.
As dwarf mining seems very mercantile, I can't help but imagine a slave caste toiling away at the less glamorous food production side of life.

Yeah, the mercantilism of mining leads to the assumption that they might trade for their food. But at the same time dwarves are depicted as very xenophobic.

Alternatively, I recall in the old text adventure game "Cave Adventure", it was stated that dwarves eat rocks.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by mikeejimbo

Yeah, the mercantilism of mining leads to the assumption that they might trade for their food. But at the same time dwarves are depicted as very xenophobic.

Ehn? News to me. Not fond of elves, sure, that's typical but that's a ninja/pirate thing, not xenophobia in general.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by scc

Not as lower as their lifestyle would suggest, they are either hunter-gathers or live off very small farms, either of which should leave them with a population similar to such groups IRL, that is marginalized.

And magic only gets you so far, Bless Plants merely doubles yield


Two questions:
How are these cavern lit?
And that level of agriculture would mean the same percentage of Dwarves would be farmers as the surrounding humans, not the miners they're frequently depicted as

Dwarves
Woman Dwarves need something to do right?
But more seriously it stands to reason that outsiders know about the mining more than the farming. Farming caverns (Magic as sunlight spells) would provide little trade value and while near a town would not be someplace adventures typically have much interest in.
Bio-luminescence works too but is less plausible than magic light sources.

Elves
Setting varies but most with elves have few if any major cities, instead were talking villages. Besides Bless Plants there is also Cook Food which works very well with shrubbery and non grain plants.
Elves dont need to rely on grain crops.

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Dwarves
Woman Dwarves need something to do right?

I don't think they sit around all day braiding their beards, polishing their armor, and hoping some Dwarf men sweeps them off their feet to be unpaid homemakers ;3