darthauthor wrote:Love your response,
Fun and full of alternatives.
I believe if such a population of Psi-stalkers were in Texas they feeding needs and large numbers would wipe out every spell caster, demon, and vampire in the state (or be wiped out by them).
I believe feeding on "volunter" mages would psychologically scare the spell caster. Besides the wild psi-stalker does not want to be "fed" they feel the need to "hunt"
Such a large number of Psi-stalkers need the Xiticix (or equvilant) to feed on. The minion war should suffice.
My point is, either the psi-stalkers numbers would be reduced from starvation or fatalities from fighting or they would wipe out the supernatural of Texas and/or move out (Mexico, New Mexico, etc). They can't / won't stay were their is not enough to eat. They are hunters, NOT farmers.
The CS (I imagine other governments too) would sponser they migration to the Xiticix hivelands.
You may have a point, but I need to check for myself. Time to pull out the old envelop and do some maths.
Sigh, the numbers speak for themselves.
TLDR: 195K Psi-Stalkers cannot be maintained without substantial trade of PPE/ISP, 8M+ kills/year or a combination of both. The pool of available PPE and ISP that can be traded or hunted (without killing) is large enough to cover all psi-stalker needs without a) resorting to killing the victim or b) ISP donation between psi-stalkers. Therefore, killing the hunt victim is a cultural aspect, not an economic necessity. Without incorporating a substantially large trade in PPE/ISP equivalent to 2/3 of all tradeable PPE/ISP from humans,
GMs should greatly reduce the psi-stalker population. Otherwise, the Pecos Empire would have no life (mortal or supernatural) in less than a few months.
Interesting side note, based on numbers in WB 23:Assume 300-500K psi-stalkers moved into proximity of Hivelands
Assume 1.6M Xiticix in late 105 PA
Assume 30M Xiticix in early 109 PA
:. Xiticix growing at ~135% per year
This means that assuming worst case scenario that there are 30M Xiticix in early 109 PA and only 300K psi-stalkers feeding on them exclusively, the Xiticix would be maybe extinct by the end of 111 PA. If 500K psi-stalkers, Xiticix would be extinct by the end of 110 PA.
After the Xiticix are no longer a threat, Psi-stalkers would need to find a new food source, establish sustainable hunting of remaining Xiticix, trade for PPE/ISP, learn to like the taste of sour milk (LL PPE), or migrate globally / megaversally.
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Analysis provided for anyone interested re Pecos... if I made any mistakes, pls let me know
What is minimally needed to feed 195k psi-stalkers in Pecos Empire for 1 year?50 PPE/ISP * 52 weeks * 195K = 507M PPE/ISP
Sharing through dispersal killsAssume injured, <15yo and >65yo can't hunt due to inability or infirmity
Assume <15yo = 15% = 29,250 psi-stalkers
Assume >65yo = 15% = 29,250 psi-stalkers
Assume 1% of remaining hunters are injured and can't hunt = 1,365 psi-stalkers
:. 59,865 psi-stalkers
Fact - PPE doubles on death
Fact - victim must be creature of great magic
Assume each dispersal kill generates 500 PPE on average that can be consumed (300 for hunter, 200 dispersed on average fully feeding up to 4 Psi-stalkers within range)
:. dispersal kill requires creature of magic with at least 250 base PPE - this is Greater Demon levels of PPE, summoning and ritual battle may be part of the process, however most likely a rare event
:. Otherwise, 15K Greater Demons would need to be killed weekly to feed the young, old and infirm.
Donation of ISP to others by those who can't huntAssume average psi-stalker has 25 ISP to donate every week (50% of base ISP)
Assume injured, <15yo and >65yo donate to each other to reduce burden on hunters and keep hunters at optimal ISP
:. This reduces required PPE from hunting by 77.8M/yr, leaving 429.2M PPE to be gleaned from hunting or ritual killing (i.e. hunted victim is brought back to elderly for them to kill and feed)
PPE gained by killing a victim of a huntFact - PPE doubles on death
Assume 429.2M PPE is consumed through hunting or ritual killing every year, after Psi-stalker to Psi-stalker ISP donation
:. Base PPE of all victims combined must be at least 214.6M PPE
Assume each victim has minimum 25 base PPE (any excess from a given kill is consumed by the hunter)
:. 1 kill per week meets weekly requirement
:. 8.6M victims of hunt/yr
The population of the Pecos Empire is 1.64M
It is unrealistic for 8M+ DBees to come through rifts every year
Trade for PPE / ISP - a renewable resourceWB14 pg 170 - with 6400 psi-stalkers in Houstown, there is a brisk trade in PPE for sale to hungry psi-stalkers
Assume psi-stalkers have closest relationship to humans than others and willing to trade with them, for the sake of simplicity
Assume 445K humans in Pecos
Assume 5% of humans have magical powers
Assume the average mage could donate/sell 100 PPE
Assume each person requires 20hrs sleep (3 days) to regenerate PPE (RUE pg 186)
Assume no meditation or other means of regenerating PPE faster
:. at least 2.2M PPE available every 3 days or 270.7M PPE per year
Note: ISP is probably preferred for trade as a psychic is still left with half their ISP rather than be totally drained
Assume 445K humans in Pecos
Assume 25% of humans are minor psychic or better
Assume the average psychic could donate/sell 10 ISP
Assume each person gets 5hrs sleep a day to regenerate ISP (RUE pg 366)
Assume no meditation or other means of regenerating ISP faster
:. at least 1.1M ISP available every day or 401.5M ISP per year
:. only 64% of all tradeable PPE/ISP from humans would have to be donated, sold or forcibly taken without killing to reduce the death rate from required hunting to 0
Fact - psi-stalkers like the hunt and not all refrain from killing
Assuming 164,000 killed hunt victims a year (10% of Pecos total population), PPE consumed would be sufficient to feed ~3100 Psi-stalkers.
:. Only trade in PPE/ISP would reasonably sustain the other psi-stalkers