Production Network Growth

Lore & Background

The roots of this production network lie in the crisis of the Late Middle Ages, when demographic collapse from the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death of 1348–1350 upset feudal manorial arrangements. Serfs rebelled, moved to towns, bought land, or entered favorable rental contracts with lords needing to repopulate estates. In England, the manorial system broke down by the 16th century, and land concentrated in fewer hands. The enclosure of common land—previously held in the open field system where peasants had traditional rights—became widespread, creating a landless working class that provided labor for new industries. Marxist historians describe this as "a plain enough case of class robbery," noting revolts like Kett's Rebellion and the Midland Revolt that ended in violent repression and executions.

In Their Own Story

The winter wind howled through the thatched roofs of Oakhaven as Lord Valerius inspected the granary logs. The numbers were tight, but not disastrous. He traced the line from the forest edge where woodcutters had worked until dusk, down to the sawmill where planks stacked high against the rain. A single broken wheel on a cart could halt the flow of timber to the carpenters, leaving new families without shelter before the snows came. Valerius nodded; the network held, but only just.

Reader's Guide

The growth of a production network begins with identifying local resources and assigning laborers to harvest them. Players must construct processing buildings that convert raw materials into usable goods, such as turning grain into bread or ore into tools. Storage facilities are critical buffers; without adequate stockpiles, workers cannot function during off-seasons or bad weather. Once a surplus is achieved, trade routes can be established to export excess and import missing commodities. Failure to maintain these chains results in population decline as needs go unmet.

Did You Know?

• The term 'capitalism' in its modern sense emerged in the mid-19th century, coined by thinkers like Louis Blanc and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.
• Karl Marx discussed 'capital' and the 'capitalist mode of production' extensively in Das Kapital (1867).
• The earliest recorded long-distance profit-seeking merchants were old Assyrian merchants active in Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BCE.
• The Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death of 1348–1350 led to a population crash that upset feudal arrangements.
• England's Elizabethan Era saw an early statement on national balance of trade in Discourse of the Common Weal of this Realm of England, 1549.