Who eats the Chybisan surplus food?

Disclaimer: This is a derivative work discussing Hârn or Hârn World, originally created by N. Robin Crossby. No assertion of copyright to Hârn or Hârn World is made by producer or the publisher of this work.

Combining the data given for cultivated acres per person in Hârnic kingdoms, it becomes evident that Chybisa is a net producer of food crops. If the Hârnic sources are read closely enough, a Chybisan peasant produces food crops about 170 % the amount that peasants in other “civilised” realms on Hârn. Even if the proportion of cultivated land compared to the uncultivated land would be smaller in Chybisa than in other parts of Hârn, the surplus production of food seems to be a fact. What happens with this food? Four scenarios follow.

1. The food stays largely in the hands of the peasants

This would make the Chybisan peasants very well-off. If they eat the food, they would have more than half again the bread and ale that typical peasants on Hârn have on their table. It is probable that this would make the Chybisan peasants fat. Perhaps the Chybisans are known abroad as distinctly round people. But the Chybisan peasants might also give the extra food to their livestock, meaning that Chybisan swine and cattle are fed with high-energy food, resulting in excellent, fatty pork and beef. Perhaps the Chybisan livestock is known from its fullness and health.

2. The food is largely collected and used by the nobles

This would make the Chybisan nobles very well-off. But because there are no practical ways to export the food from Chybisa, the nobles have to use the food locally. If they don’t eat all of it, they can give it to their followers, meaning that Chybisan nobles and their retinues are very healthy. Also, the nobles could use the food to raise cattle like the peasants in the previous example. This would mean that the Chybisan nobles run a successful business in beef. If this sounds odd, at least horse-breeding is suitable for the Chybsan nobility. Perhaps the Chybisan riding and war steeds are the largest and healthiest on the island.

3. The food is largely exported

Well, the food probably cannot be exported. Some of it may be sold to feed the caravans on the Genin Trail, but transporting the foodstuffs on land to southern Kaldor or northern mainland Melderyn is impractical to the point that it is highly improbable – at least in any quantity. Some of the food may be sold to feed the crews of the merchant vessels that visit the Ulmerien ports. But transporting the food down the River Ulmerien would be impractical, because even via Ulmerien and sea lanes Chybisa lies far away from potential markets, and the cost of the food thus transported would rise to a level too high to make the business profitable. Transporting the food down the River Ulmerien would also be dangerous, because the river runs through territory controlled by Barbarians. Of course, the food might be traded to the Barbarian Hodiri, Pagaelin and even Chymak...

4. The Barbarians eat the surplus food

A fourth possible explanation muster is that the net food of Chybisa is used by the Barbarians – by Hodiri and possibly even by the Pagaelin. At first this might sound unbelievable, but it is actually pretty easy to construct a historical socio-economic scenario that connects the Barbarians and the Chybisan surplus food crops production in a meaningful way.

Chybisa was almost totally overrun by the Barbarians during the migration wars. The onslaught of the Barbarians stopped only at the ports of Burzyn. But this would hardly mean that the Barbarians were beaten back. The inability of Chybisans to re-colonise lost lands is due to the fact that these lands were and still are inhabited by the Barbarians. The Barbarian onslaught ceased mostly because the Barbarians could occupy the land they needed to support themselves. But the status quo between the Chybisans and the Barbarians was fragile. As time went by, Chybisans probably re-colonised some good agricultural land, while the Barbarians ranged close to the civilised settlements whenever they felt so. The result was raiding and local skirmishes. The reason was that both parties wanted more to live on.

The answer was to give up something to get something. Weak but rich powers have always used their riches to maintain a profitable status quo. (The logic is historically universal and eternally practical. To be able to enjoy of one’s prosperity in peace, one is usually forced to give some of the prosperity to one’s neighbours.) The Chybisans could produce surplus food, while the Barbarians mostly wanted nutrition. As agriculture produces food more effectively than hunting and gathering, the Chybisans had the possibility of producing more food than the Barbarians from a given area. When the Chybisans understood this, and when the Barbarian chiefs were given a peaceful option, the parties arrived in mutual solution.

Chybisans started to pay an annual food-tax to the barbarian chiefs in return of safety.

While the Chybisans might have been the weaker party, they surely did not face the Barbarians without arms. It was the armed part of Chybisans, i.e. the nobility, who negotiated the deal with the Barbarians. Thus the deal was made between Chybisan barons and Barbarian tribal chiefs. The food-tax is not paid by the peasants straight to the Barbarians, but first collected by the nobility, and given by them to the Barbarian chiefs as gifts.

(In early 5th century the Pagaelin attacks on Chybisa might have ensued from some kind of breaking of the mutual agreement. The fact that Melderyni diplomats could handle the Pagaelin threat without bloodshed tells that some kind of mutual solution was agreed upon, and something was given to the Pagaelin. If the Pagaelin did not enter the food-tax agreement in the 3nd century, they probably did so in the 5th century. Because of their belligerent and deceitful nature the Pagaelin may break the agreement again in the future, especially with the growing religious dissent among their ranks.)

As long as it holds, the solution has two major consequences that help to explain much of the seemingly peaceful and stable political situation on both sides of the River Ulmerien.

Neither the Barbarians nor the Chybisans are totally independent of each other. The Barbarian chiefs depend on food produced by the Chybisans, and thus do not raid the Chybisan farms as long as they can obtain the food peacefully. The Chybisans on the other hand need to produce the food, but in the food they also have a tool to control the tribal politics of the Barbarians. Mutual dependence has created rules of (ritual) conduct that help the Chybisan barons and the Barbarian chieftains not only to survive, but to prosper.
A slow process of intensifying cultural change is taking place. Based on the “Barbarian food-tax”, a wider trade has grown between the Chybisans and the Barbarians, especially between the Chybisans and the Hodiri. The (ritual) payment of the tax creates a situation where the parties can meet in peace. Peaceful meetings lead into trade, as members of both the Chybisan and the Barbarian cultures encounter things and ideas they like. After generations (?), the trade may have grown to be much more important than the original food-tax.

By giving the Barbarians a reason not to invade again, the Chybisans have freed themselves from a continuous and instant Barbarian threat. By accepting the “Barbarian food-tax” the Barbarian chiefs receive an important asset that they can use to prize their loyal supporters. Those loyal to the chiefs eat better and get their food easier, while those in opposition have to use more of their time in hunting and gathering. The tribal opposition is mostly too weak to challenge the deal by attacking the Chybisan farms, as this would end in retaliation from both sides – the tribal chiefs as well as the Chybisan nobles.

Effectively, the Barbarian chiefs tax the Chybisan nobles. On the other hand, the Chybisan nobles use the Barbarian chiefs as their policing force among the Barbarians, and are willing to pay for the security. As long as the Chybisans produce enough surplus food, the Barbarians have little reason to attack the Chybisans, and a mostly peaceful status quo rules in and around the Ulmerien basin.

Appendix: how come the Chybisans produce surplus food?

The total cultivated area of Chybisa is 125.450 acres (equals 513.89 km2), and the kingdom has 9655 inhabitants. The population density of the cultivated Chybisan areas is 18.79 inhabitants per km2. If we count how many acres a person in Chybisa has, multiply this area by the excellent land quality in Ulmerien basin (avg. LQ 1.22), we get a result of 15.85 effective acres per person.

When we do the same maths for other human realms, we get the following effective cultivated acres per person in Hârnic human realms:

Realm	Avg. LQ	Pop. / km2	Acres / person	Effective acres/person
Chybisa	1.22	19	12.99	15.85
Kaldor	1.11	27	9.01	10.00
Kanday	0.99	23	11.01	10.90
Melderyn	1.05	28	8.95	9.40
Orbaal	0.90	31	7.99	7.19
Rethem	1.06	28	8.87	9.40
Tharda	1.03	35	7.12	7.33

These numbers have been derived from the kingdom and population data collected by Jeremy Baker, available on his Tower Hills web page.