Wait - did you say they'd fill up the Steppe in like 130 years? Even with that 75% rate that seems awfully quick - its like 5 or 6 generations right? I didn't do the math, so maybe that would be right - but if so - well hell...let me do some research and some math before I just question everything...I'll be back...
...ok, so I know there is no real world example to draw on of an organized mass migration of sentient hominids to a fertile, vast and largely unoccupied terrain - so RL facts are only vaguely useful - that said, in the "high middle ages" (according to Wikipedia) from 1000-1250 or so the population of Europe exploded from say 30 million to maybe 100 million as warming temps and the vast expansion of agriculture to formerly forested areas in central Europe and (not mentioned by wiki - my own addition) the beginning foundations of nationalism and nations-states leading to more social stability allow for the rapid reproduction of humans to go wild. But that was like 250 years and population tripled under pretty favorable circumstances, and that comes on the back of established civilizations - these transplanted Celts will need to start over from scratch...
BUT, even if you are right and the numbers escalate that fast, we can always limit growth. For one thing, there are a few carnivorous predators that might really enjoy the taste of Celt...and some of these predators are magical in nature...whole villages and towns could be destroyed by 1 small dragon...the area is also sort of chilly, unless we are creating a warmer period in the past (which given the timeframe is absolutely logical and indeed certainly wold have happened assuming RL geophysics apply at some point...) If its warm thats ok, if not, a short growing season could be a limiting factor - not sure what the Treveri are used to for climate, but I'm guessing the Helvetii homelands were warmer than the GW Steppes.
Yep, it's slightly less than a geometric progression per generation in population growth. We actually do have a real world example of a similar migration to a new continent- European expansion into the Americas- only here we get greater number of initial settlers and they are all, at least at first, working together instead of competing against each other for the best territories. The northern reaches of the steppes are cold, tundra cold, I had it pretty closely modeled on the Eurasian steppes when I made the Civ II map, so it had a tundra, taiga, steppe progression. Occasional forested areas, small lakes, rivers, and swampy areas broke the monotony. The Boga-Treveri and most of the other Celts are going to be accustomed to a forested reasonably mild western European climate, the Helvetii an alpine climate, the earth was warmer then than it is now though, oranges still grew in southern Britain; so the steppes in general are going to be quite a bit colder than they are used to, the Helvetii will be amongst the best prepared in that regard.
ReplyDeletere the European migration the North America: In that case smallpox all but eliminated the native population, leaving behind plenty of cleared fields and settlement locations, a big head start that the Celtic migration to Garnia wouldn't have. The Garnia environment is harsher too, both in climate generally and in dealing with fantastic monster predators...
ReplyDelete(And I know we've basically solved this issue in much later posts, but I wanted to address this comment I somehow must have missed before...)