12-26-2015, 01:03 AM
So here's an idea I'm toying with: The Avali practice eugenics. Not the forced sterilization/execution kind that the Nazis did, but they don't grant reproduction to be a basic right. Real predatory packs (and even many groups of herbivores) do not allow free reproduction: only the alpha pair can have children. I imagine primitive Avali would have followed a similar pattern, and since they were rather abruptly dragged up the ladder of societal and technological development, it is conceivable that they still cling to some old ways of thinking.
Packs themselves seem to be supremely egalitarian in their modern form, so I'm going to say that the role of deciding who gets to have babies has been handed off to the tribal or even central governments. Perhaps a system like in David Brin's books, where individuals are given cards with differing permissions to reproduce: some can request permission to reproduce, some can reproduce a set number of times before reevaluation, a few can reproduce freely, and some are barred from reproduction at all.
This also fits with what I seem to recall about the Avali need for population control, and their status as preferential carnivores, carnivory is less efficient than herbivory. Every time energy changes tropic levels (sunlight>plants>prey>predator), some energy is lost. That's why there are always so few predators compared to prey. If Avali eat a lot of meat, their populations will have tighter food restrictions. For simplicity's sake, I think I'll say that despite their smaller size and slower metabolism, it takes about the same amount of farmland to sustain an Avali as it does a human. I know the Avali don't tend to be farmers, but it's a way to compare the two.
Thoughts?
Packs themselves seem to be supremely egalitarian in their modern form, so I'm going to say that the role of deciding who gets to have babies has been handed off to the tribal or even central governments. Perhaps a system like in David Brin's books, where individuals are given cards with differing permissions to reproduce: some can request permission to reproduce, some can reproduce a set number of times before reevaluation, a few can reproduce freely, and some are barred from reproduction at all.
This also fits with what I seem to recall about the Avali need for population control, and their status as preferential carnivores, carnivory is less efficient than herbivory. Every time energy changes tropic levels (sunlight>plants>prey>predator), some energy is lost. That's why there are always so few predators compared to prey. If Avali eat a lot of meat, their populations will have tighter food restrictions. For simplicity's sake, I think I'll say that despite their smaller size and slower metabolism, it takes about the same amount of farmland to sustain an Avali as it does a human. I know the Avali don't tend to be farmers, but it's a way to compare the two.
Thoughts?