Now I don’t mean why were the walls so big – that was Paragua‘s doing. He smashed the little settlement of Robcradle (which was probably around 3 hectares or a little bigger than the Roman Colosseum) and then built vast walls around the area. No I mean, why was Old Pavis from 880-927 so big? At its height, the city had over 50,000 inhabitants. How did it feed itself? Let’s address each question in turn.
1. Why so big?
Pavis was an EWF affiliated-city. It was allied to the Third Council, but not part of the Great Ritual. It was settled by humans from Dragon Pass, dwarves, and aldryami, but also by people seeking shelter from the Great Ritual and the wars of the EWF and the Middle Sea Empire. The prospect of making a new life on free land was a great lure, as was the exemption from the demands of the Great Ritual. Freethinkers, opportunists, the adventurous, and the desperate were all drawn to Pavis.
Thousands of people crossed Prax each year to settle in and around Pavis between 831 and 871. Now remember, it only took three or four weeks to get from the core territories of the EWF to Pavis. And Prax was safe for travel – the settlers would be protected by the Pure Horse People, who had displaced the Animal Nomads. Pavis himself had defeated Waha and made peace with him at the Paps. Rather than thinking about the settlement of British colonists to Australia or North America, a better model might be the settlement along the Wilderness Road or the Northwest Territories. And of course they settled not just Inside the Walls, but along the entire River of Cradles.
Once Thog and his trolls were defeated in 877, settlement from Dragon Pass and Peloria escalated. Joraz Kyrem was a member of the Horse People (and founder of the Zebra Tribe) and he brought Yelmalio-worshiping mercenaries from Peloria to defend against the trolls and trollkin. They built a Sun Dome Temple south of Pavis and settled it.
2. How did they feed themselves?
The Pavis cult claims that their god has great power for life within his lands, and that the number of inhabitants within the Walls prove it. That claim should not be dismissed out of hand.
Additionally, at its height, some 75% of the land within the Walls was used for farming or was part of the Garden. Many of the inhabitants of Pavis were farmers. Between the elves and Pavis’ presence, that might have been able to feed some 15,000+ people within the walls. Maybe even more – as we do not know what alliances Pavis maintained back then.
Meanwhile, we have numerous small settlements along the River of Cradles, which no doubt grow food, catch fish, and otherwise provide food for Pavis. Pavis received meat from the Paps (at least until 924 or so).
Pavis circa 920 ST from Pavis: Gateway to Adventure (2012)
All sorts of Second Age avant-garde thinkers, religious dissenters, opportunists, and the adventurous ended up in Pavis. And that might well have been behind the Third Council’s support. Siphon off what might otherwise be dissonant voices against the Great Ritual and send them to a place where they would be allies instead of foes.
It is entirely possible that Pavis’s population growth was like that of San Francisco. In 831 it might have only numbered a few hundred people, the initial followers of Pavis. The next year it might have had a 1000 people. And in the next few decades another 25,000 people came to Pavis, many sent by the rulers of Dragon Pass. The first came to study with Lord Pavis and his friends, but the laters came for land, opportunity, adventure, or to escape the growing oppression of the Third Council.
I kind of imagine that at its height, parts of Pavis looked a lot like the old Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco:
