Yora
Maester
We often think of climate change as a unique thing that is a first time in ever, but really the only things that makes this one different is that it's greatly accelerated and amplified by human activity. But history was affected by similar changes quite drastically before.
A Song of Ice and Fire is a very prominent example of huge political upheavals in the face of an approaching winter that will last for many years. But the coming of a more distant ice age is also a looming threat in the Witcher series, and I recently realized that the old Command & Conquer games also revolve around populations being drawn to extreme ideologies as large parts of the world become increasingly uninhabitable. (Apparently fiction writers in the 90s were on to something.)
And that had me wonder how many great events or significant periods in history, that make great reference frames for fantastic stories, are also tied to environmental changes?
The main one I can think of is the 14th century cold period. Even though it kept getting colder after that, this period saw widespread malnutrition making the people susceptible to the plague, which was so devastating that it destroyed the medieval feudal system by completely changing the demand and supply of labor. And I've also heard that a century earlier, changing climate in central Asia motivated the Mongols to expand into literally greener pastures.
The end of the Bronze Age is also often attributed to climate change as a major factor by many historians. The big empires had been doing seemingly very well for century, and then in the span of decades all disappeared, leaving only reports of huge hordes of peoples coming from the sea to raid their lands. Apparently some kind of huge refugee migration caused by climate change in Europe. And of course, the near east empires weren't in great shape at that time either. The Egyptians were the only Bronze Age civilization that survived, but they never got anywhere close to their former fame. In Greece, writing disappeared completely for centuries, and when a new Greek culture appears in historic records, the new word for "king" is the old Mycenean word for "village headman". There was just nothing left.
Do you know about other historic periods driving by environmental changes or know more details about these examples? I think it's a fascinating topic, but one I see rarely discussed in fantasy discussions.
A Song of Ice and Fire is a very prominent example of huge political upheavals in the face of an approaching winter that will last for many years. But the coming of a more distant ice age is also a looming threat in the Witcher series, and I recently realized that the old Command & Conquer games also revolve around populations being drawn to extreme ideologies as large parts of the world become increasingly uninhabitable. (Apparently fiction writers in the 90s were on to something.)
And that had me wonder how many great events or significant periods in history, that make great reference frames for fantastic stories, are also tied to environmental changes?
The main one I can think of is the 14th century cold period. Even though it kept getting colder after that, this period saw widespread malnutrition making the people susceptible to the plague, which was so devastating that it destroyed the medieval feudal system by completely changing the demand and supply of labor. And I've also heard that a century earlier, changing climate in central Asia motivated the Mongols to expand into literally greener pastures.
The end of the Bronze Age is also often attributed to climate change as a major factor by many historians. The big empires had been doing seemingly very well for century, and then in the span of decades all disappeared, leaving only reports of huge hordes of peoples coming from the sea to raid their lands. Apparently some kind of huge refugee migration caused by climate change in Europe. And of course, the near east empires weren't in great shape at that time either. The Egyptians were the only Bronze Age civilization that survived, but they never got anywhere close to their former fame. In Greece, writing disappeared completely for centuries, and when a new Greek culture appears in historic records, the new word for "king" is the old Mycenean word for "village headman". There was just nothing left.
Do you know about other historic periods driving by environmental changes or know more details about these examples? I think it's a fascinating topic, but one I see rarely discussed in fantasy discussions.
Myth Weaver
Minstrel
Auror
