Detail XV: Farms in the Hinterland

What lies between the settled areas and the "true" wilderness? And how can we determine this from the wilderness maps?

Let's begin with an example region featuring two settlements. The settlement to the left is about 6000 persons, and the right much smaller, about 130. These numbers refer only to the urban population of the settlement proper. This population number is the source of infrastructure numbers, and for that reason is fixed.

lighter "wilderness" hexes can be considered cultivated

Of course, not everyone lives in the settlement, and so we consider that 85% of the 20hex's total population is rural. This comes out to about 15000, and then increases to 18000 due to market spread. Already we have a problem: how are all these people fed?

As a note: the intent is not to micromanage the result such that every individual of hundreds of thousands of people each have their determined job, place, and caloric intake. However, we do want to ensure that our results are consistent and coherent. The players are not interested in the type of detail produced by slavery to the numbers. They want to know (usually) how far outside the town is the dungeon? It is unlikely that a typical dungeon (as understood by most parties) would remain uncleared within several miles of the farming hinterland. We must make the numbers serve us instead.

For some reason, the online worldbuilding community is convinced that a square mile of farmland can support 180 people. I'm not sure what the origin of this number is, and I can't exactly say that it's wrong, but it certainly ignores the incredible variability of arable land and agricultural technology. But let's pretend it's a viable average at least, so we can see where we land.

Our total population of ~24000 people, then, will require some 153 1hexes of farmland outside the city (each 1hex is 0.866 sq mi). The 20hex itself is only 400 1hexes. That certainly reduces the tight feel of the map above into something essentially cleared of all trees and wilderness.

Alternatively, we can take the 6000 as the total population. That requires about 41 1hexes to feed. There are 26 1hexes on the above map which are adjacent to settled hexes. So let us assume that the heavy cultivation of those hexes (including farming, orchards, timber management, and hunting) added to any small-plot cultivation of the denser settled hexes yields the caloric requirements of the 20hex.

Quite a lot of work to end up back at the same square. However, there are some key takeaways from this experiment nonetheless.

1. The adjacent wilderness hexes are not pure wilderness, and in fact are probably heavily farmed. No orc lairs here.
2. For this map in particular, the smaller settlement, although tiny in comparison to the larger, controls a slight majority of the productive land (which it likely sends a few miles down the road to the larger settlement). This is probably a collection of holdings of 1-3 knights who are tied in some way to the larger settlement.
3. As a corollary, the smaller settlement will have about the same number of agricultural class with a much smaller merchant/elite class. They will depend heavily on the larger settlement for military protection and most market services.
4. There are about 75% fewer people in these hexes than I'd previously thought. That will have significant implications if questions arise about hex wealth or the mustering of an army.

Falconry

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

One of my players wants to begin with a focus in Falconry. I will try my hand at expanding out the rules for the Amateur status. As an ancient and on-going pastime, there is no shortage of real-world information regarding the training and behavior of these birds.

Bird Companionship is an amateur-status sage ability where the character gains personal satisfaction and increased experienced bonuses from the presence and use of falcons. For any combat where the falconer's bird participates in the fight, the falconer receives an additional 5% experience bonus. If the falcon is killed in combat, this bonus is not awarded.

Rouse to Hunt is an amateur-status sage ability where the character may send the falcon to hunt for game food. Refer to the Hunting sage ability for the time necessary to locate a target.  A successful hit which results in a stun or kill will allow the bird to grip the game up to its own bodyweight in its talons and return to the falconer. Heavier prey which is stunned or killed must be killed or retrieved by the falconer.

Train Falcon is an amateur-status sage ability which allows the falconer to educate a young bird so that it will perform as desired. Training a bird is a long and complex process which requires near-constant attention. The process begins with either capture or hatching. A wild hawk under a year of age (a passager) is suitable for training. These can actually be easier to handle than a fletching (called an eyass) obtained either from a hatchery or a wild nest, since an older bird has had time to develop some natural instincts. Falcon training proceeds through three stages: Manning, Behavior, and Hunting. These stages are attained by a series of ability checks (using wisdom, intelligence, or charisma) made by the falconer. One roll may be made per day; the ability stat attempted on a given day cannot be the one used the day before. Each stage requires that a total of 10 successful rolls be made out of a minimum of 15. The last four rolls of the 15-roll sequence must be successes (or the last three rolls in the case of a passager). The falconer receives a +1 bonus to the check for each 20 points possessed in Falconry. Once trained, the bird may be used by the falconer or sold; however, a purchased bird will require 1-2 weeks of acclimation to its new owner before its benefits can be realized.

Manning is the process of acclimating the bird to society and in particular to the falconer. 

Behavior trains the bird to respond properly to necessary equipment such as gloves, perches, hoods, and leashes, and to follow simple vocal or visual signals. While falcons cannot be trained to the same degree as dogs, they can nonetheless learn to obey commands such as returning to glove, perching, or hovering.

Hunting trains the bird to attack ground and air prey, and to retrieve prey for the falconer when possible. The falcon will rely on its own instincts and the body language of the falconer when choosing a target while hunting or in combat.

Waken Regard is an amateur-status sage ability which affords the falconer opportunities to meet and conspire with persons of local authority. An authority not more than one rank above the character may extend an invitation to join them on a hunt.

I am not yet satisfied with Waken Regard. Perhaps it may also grant a bonus when making a request of an authority figure. However, it will need to differ at least in degree from Waken Admiration, the Expert-status sage ability.

I'm sure there are other considerations and issues which will arise, but that is part of the iterative process of design.