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Number of mages working jobs in capital cities.

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Senko

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« on: <07-22-17/0321:17> »
First off this isn't a "how many mages do x" topic it's just me stating something that's probably fairly obvious. Specifically I just saw some statistics for population in my country and it hit me even today just how much of our population is actually crammed into just a few major cities. For instance I live in Australia and we have around 21 million people in the country, nsw according to these figures has around 7.5 million people and Sydney has over 6 million people living there.

Even just using the generic 1% of the population is magically active (and not allowing for those too young, too old, too weak, not interested, etc) that means we'd have around 210,000 magically active people of which almost half (75,000) live in just one state and a quarter (60,000) live in just one city. The rest of NSW a decent chunk of our country has only 15 000 spread throughout all if it and the rest of a continent has barely over 3 times the amount living in one city. A significant amount of which would lice in Melbourne which with a population of 4.5 million would have another 45,000 mages there meaning Melbourne and Sydney just two cities would account for almost half my countries entire magical population between them.

With Shadowrun far greater population compression that would get even worse with the bulk of a countries/corps mages probably all being found in one single city. I never really though about this before and just wanted to mention it.
« Last Edit: <07-22-17/0324:30> by Senko »

farothel

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« Reply #1 on: <07-22-17/0513:30> »
It would depend on your country.  In Australia for instance I would assume that a lot of those 1% mages are actually aboriginals who live in the mana storms out there.  So in that particular case the numbers might be slightly different.  But yes, according to numbers I saw in 2014 slightly more than half of the people live in urban areas and that number is only rising, so that would hold true for mages as well I assume.  Of course, in shadowrun you also have nature shamans who won't touch a city with a standard issue ten foot pole.  For instance there were a lot magically active living on Mount Shasta with Hestaby.  There, if I recall correctly, where more than 1% magically active, so those would skew the numbers.

So I guess the answer is: how many do you want to live in a city in your game.
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Senko

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« Reply #2 on: <07-22-17/0532:33> »
Oh sure that's going to shift things as would the fact a lot of the active mages would be where the jobs are like  I said I'm just looking here at base level only. On a purely numbers basis it just sort of hit me today how much of the magic community would be in a few areas capital cities, nature reserves, temples, what have you. For the average small town they could quite conceivably have no magic users at all when your looking at the numbers from the top level like this.

farothel

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« Reply #3 on: <07-22-17/0557:02> »
I guess a lot also depends on where the corps would send their mages.  A large number would be in cities of course, but you could also find a large group of mages in a research station in the middle of nowhere (even if the town nearby, if any, doesn't know it), as some research is best done away from cities.
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The Wyrm Ouroboros

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« Reply #4 on: <07-22-17/1844:33> »
I believe the traditional breakdown is this:
Quote
1% of the population is magically active. 10% of those are aware and capable of controlling it; the others just 'have a knack' or have gone bonkers.  10% of those are of sufficient capability to be of use - a 'base' magic rating of 3 or better, essentially.
That means out of your 6,000,000 people in Sydney, 60,000 are magically active; 6,000 are aware and can control it; and 600 are magically active individuals of all types working in and around the city.  Seems a lot, yes, but when you get down to it ...
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Beta

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« Reply #5 on: <07-22-17/2145:27> »
I think part of the OS's point may have been regarding how much the magically active might cluster in capitals and other major cities?  That a city of six million in a territory of twelve million may have more than half of the magically active.

The Wyrm Ouroboros

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« Reply #6 on: <07-23-17/0142:27> »
I would not personally consider that to be likely, in no small part to the fact that a good third to a half of the magically active are those who follow more naturistic paths, and among those who revere nature were the magical arts first and most highly recognized.  You might make a fantastic salary of 400k as a wage mage, but you're still generally being directed by a spreadsheet and a mundane, whereas in a tribal society you might well hold a position of nobility, honor, and influence as a judge, a communer to the spirit world, medicine-man, however you want to put it.

I don't deny that 'more people = more mages', or even that mages will tend to cluster; dealing with mundanes all the time can be a major headache, and it's nice to be understood by a fellow-astral-sensitive, you know?  But I wouldn't personally call it more than a percentage point or three in either direction.
Pananagutan & End/Line

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Senko

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« Reply #7 on: <07-23-17/0159:16> »
I think part of the OS's point may have been regarding how much the magically active might cluster in capitals and other major cities?  That a city of six million in a territory of twelve million may have more than half of the magically active.

That was pretty much my whole point yes on a purely population based look at things a huge proportion of the magically active are going to be in just a few areas and that there'd be relatively few spread out over the rest of a country. To use Australia again population wise we have 210,000 mages (or if you want to get picky about an actual breakdown 2,100 give or take) of which 60,000 (600) are in Sydney alone with another 40,000 (400) are in Melbourne that's a huge number relatively speaking of the magically active population. You still have another 10,000 (100) in the rest of NSW (nature path flowers if you want to actually start breaking things down). However breaking into X mages are in rural towns, f mages are in secret facility, y mages are in caves in the woods is further than I wanted to go here. I was just looking at the basic 1% of a population have some form of magic (regardless of type, age, training, interest, ect) and how much of a countries magical population would therefore be in just a few cities. Sure there'll always be exceptions and Gm preferences as well as the fact if a gm says there's a mage somewhere there's a mage there but again that's further than I was really looking to go here I just wanted to share my personal surprise at how much humans even in the real world are crowding in just a few cities and what that could mean for a resultant concentration of mages.

« Last Edit: <07-23-17/0207:56> by Senko »

The Wyrm Ouroboros

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« Reply #8 on: <07-23-17/0210:26> »
Yeah, but you can say the same thing about anyone.  Purely population-based look at things, a huge proportion of ...

... doctors ...
... nurses ...
... computer programmers ...
... road crewmembers ...
... fast food workers ...

... are going to be found where-ever the majority of the people are found.  Very few types of people are NOT going to have their centers-of-job-population be at, well, the centers of population - farmers and forest rangers are the two that pop into my head at the moment.  But this is why population centers are population centers, you know?
Pananagutan & End/Line

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Senko

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« Reply #9 on: <07-23-17/0217:59> »
Sure I knew it intellectually but it didn't hit me emotionally how heavy that was actually becoming till I saw the actual break down if you see what I mean?  5 cities alone in Australia account for almost half our population with the 6th most populous having just over 600 thousand and the 20th just under 81 thousand. Maybe it's just me but I didn't realise it was that big a difference between population division.
« Last Edit: <07-23-17/0228:04> by Senko »

Reaver

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« Reply #10 on: <07-24-17/1622:36> »
Welcome to the modern world :D

Advances in technology, energy, and labour have allowed the 'unwashed masses' to flock to cities like crazy. And it's a trend that will continue for a long while.

And it's not just your country either... Canada's major population is found in 3 cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver house 60% of Canada!). The US is in the same boat (Californa, New York State  Florida account of 55% of their population!).


Thanks to modern technology, and fossel fuels, 1 person can do the work of 1000, and grow/harvest enough food for 10,000!

(Fun fact: Alberta and Saskatchewan are the farmlands of Canada. Those 2 provinces alone produce enough wheat to meet the world's supply! - and until 1990 we dumped most of what was harvested into the ocean! Now we PAY farmers to NOT grow wheat! And as to why we don't use it feed the starving masses? Well, let's just say that the poverty groups and countries don't want us to, and leave it at that....)
Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

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The Wyrm Ouroboros

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« Reply #11 on: <07-24-17/2354:40> »
... clearly you must shift to corn and rye, and make whiskey, bourbon, and other aged alcohols.  Not for sale ... yet ... ;)
Pananagutan & End/Line

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Senko

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« Reply #12 on: <07-25-17/0457:03> »
Or move to canada, become a farmer and get paid not to work. "Yeah I have 6 fields producing - 250 tons of wheat per year".

rednblack

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« Reply #13 on: <07-30-17/1144:45> »
... clearly you must shift to corn and rye, and make whiskey, bourbon, and other aged alcohols.  Not for sale ... yet ... ;)

Make bourbon in Canada?!  1. You can't.  2.  >:(
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Reaver

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« Reply #14 on: <07-31-17/1344:27> »
What? Never heard of Canadian Club,  Gibson's, or Crown Royal?
All Canadian Rye Whiskeys.

Then we have... oh.... 15 breweries within 6 hours of my front door. Some big, Some small...

(Apparently Canada is the beer capital of the world, as Canadian consume more beer per person then anywhere else!)
<Looks at waist line.> Yep, I can believe that.


Now, where did I put that can of beer.... it's time for corn flakes!
Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

Remember: You can't fix Stupid. But you can beat on it with a 2x4 until it smartens up! Or dies.