Random Questions for a Sunday Afternoon

[gothwalk]

These are some questions tied into my current research for game world development. If anyone can answer them, fantastic. If not, some speculation is welcome. It doesn't have to be logical, or even meaningful.

1) What governed the conduct of warfare in the Enlightment era (18th century)? There were plenty of them, and there seem to have been accepted ways to fight them, but obviously they weren't governed by, say, the Geneva Convention, and chivalry, if it ever existed in that context, was if not dead then well forgotten.

2) What is the major (historical, pre-trains) barrier to overland trade from Europe to China? Is it down to the terrain between here and there, the people along the way, or just the fact that it's a bloody long way?

3) Are there credible, or even semi-credible alternatives to the Westphalian nation-state system in the modern era?

I'm going to do the dishes, and I expect some entertaining answers by the time I get back. Sunny weather is no excuse.

EDIT: Woah, answers! Thank you all. Individual replies to follow...

Comments

[m-nivalis.livejournal.com]

2) the rivers run mostly in the wrong direction (i.e. N-S rather than E-W), mountains and deserts makes certain routes very difficult to cross, there's relatively little population north of the Himalayas so there would likely be little incentive to set out on that route (no profit until several months later, if you and your goods arrive (going on a route with lots of population means trading at trading centres, so you could technically sell off all your stuff along the way and turn back before coming near China)).

3) well, you either have to go larger, as other posters have mentioned, or smaller. You might want to have a look at Christiania in Copenhagen. In short, small hippie commune occupies abandoned military area and sets up a free state with own government. Still there today, semi accepted by the local council. It's not 100% separate, as there is not enough population to have their own schools etc. The idea would go back to the citystate, I guess, if you want to use that for your games.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Bridges! I forget how important they are, and I really shouldn't. There was that bridge collapse in Leenane in Galway last year, which meant people had to do a long (eighty mile?) trip to get to the other side of the village until they got a temporary structure in place.

I've been looking at various intentional communities, but they all seem to suffer from scaling problems, particularly once they get past Dunbar's Number. I've used the city-state a lot in other games, but I'm looking (for the current set of game world development) at a high population across an area larger than the size of the US, so coast-to-coast city-states (probably?) wouldn't hold up. Although I'll think more about it.

[m-nivalis.livejournal.com]

Also, related to your bridge problem, in countries with lots of snow, winter trading is very common, as you just can take the goods on your sledge and cross the rivers that way.