Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26213507-20150928140042/@comment-25479664-20151005172758

Bronkiin wrote: WrathOfHircine wrote: Phantasys wrote: WrathOfHircine wrote: Skyrim does not have much sources of food unlike other provinces. Many farms around the cities produce enough food to EXPORT. They myth that Skyrim needs the empire for trade to survive is an outright LIE! The only things Cyrodil export are luxury items such as wine and higher quality clothes. Most farms produce foods only for themselves What evidence do you have for that? Nazeem's farm is profit making, Carlotta sells her surplus, the Battleborns are profit making. This is a trend through all of the Holds. If farms produce only for themselves, how does Skyrim eat? As it stands large sections of Skyrim's economy are being used to subsidise the rebuilding of Cyrodil (have you guys even read the last two threads?), and the Empire needs Skyrim too much to cease trading if Skyrim becomes independent. In Whiterun, Riften, Falkreath and perhaps even Markarth, the land may be JUST fertile enough, but waht about Dawnstar and Windhelm? They might be able to sustain themselves during peacetime just well enough, sure, but what about during wartime, when soldiers burn several thousand calories every day? Not to mention the possibility of sieges, assaults on farms, and perhaps even the Thalmor poisoning Skyrim's wells and underground springs, huh? The only food scource that Skyrim has a massive abundance of is fish, right? But fish are (A) low in calories, (B) only found in large numbers in certain holds (Haafingar, Morthal, Windhelm, and the Rift), and (C) they are in WATER. And water can be poisoned (the Thalmor have the Bosmer on their side, remember, who are very good with poisons). Wartime conditions suck up resources very quickly. The only way that Skyrim could effectively mass produce enough food to maintain its armies would either be to make sure that enough people stay back at home and farm (less soldiers), or that they enslave another race, most likely the Argonians (possible rebellion).