Vrash-Vashael Farmer Rivalry

What is the Vrash-Vashael Farmer Rivalry?

The Vrash and the Vashael are the most common species on Theoma. In the early era when the land gods told all the peoples of Theoma that they would be rearing three children at once every time they had any children at all, so that the world may have more dragons over time, the Vrash and the Vashael grew fastest. This resulted in a necessary side effect: the largest number of farmers are also Vrash or Vashael, as many people need much food.

The Vrash have a natural ability to remodel the ground that they walk on. Untrained, they can only do simple things like drying it out, forcing it into sedimentary stone, or breaking it apart. With appropriate training, they can change the very kind of soil they're standing on. The Vrash believe that this gift makes them the best farmers on Theoma by far, and Vrash farmers are VERY proud of the reliable high yields that they produce by giving their plants perfect soil conditions all through the growing season and every single time.

Yet there are an awful lot of Vashael as well, and the gods gave the Vashael a special gift: Vashael Dancing Implements. A Vashael farmer equipped with Vashael Dancing Implements does not work their fields so much as oversee their tools working the fields for them. This magically-assisted supervisory role is super-productive, and because Vashael Dancing Implements are cheap enough for almost all Vashael farmers to have a full set of them, they believe that they are the best farmers on Theoma by far. They're VERY proud of the large amounts of farmland that each individual Vashael farmer can tend to.

Mixed communities of Vrash and Vashael sometimes get into it about which gift is better. Vrash complain that the Vashael are using magic items, which is like cheating; Vashael complain that the Vrash are casting spells on the soil, which is like cheating. Kinder farmers in the rivalry note that both sides are using magic with powerful gains, and they focus on developing the skills to succeed with their particular advantage!

Which one is actually correct?

There is no simple answer, but in general the question comes down to a quality vs quantity tradeoff. The Vashael produce larger yields per farmer, because they can work very impressive amounts of farmland. The Vrash produce larger yields per field, because they can get large yields out of every single plant.

Individual theomes may see very different outcomes based on the skill and dedication of the farmers. If the determination is purely by yield, there's enough free space on Theoma that the competition belongs to the Vashael to lose, because the larger and more numerous fields of the Vashael catch more sun and rain to turn it into agricultural products. Yet lose they sometimes do: Vashael farmers have to learn to care for the soil, or they leach the fields dry of nutrients. The resulting year-over-year declines in yields eventually makes them look incompetent as farmers if it catches up to them where the Vrash-Vashael Farmer Rivalry has reared its head.

What about wind magic?

Most Vashael wind magic is too local to have any effect. Some Vashael farmers can adjust the weather in their favor by prolonged and intensive meditation. Most of them don't. It's brutally boring, psychologically peculiar, and it risks irritating the local land god (as they generally consider the weather their own to decide upon). Yet a Vashael who thinks that perfect weather would win a competition for them sometimes will do it anyways...

See also:

Vrash-Vashael Farmer Collectives