Old established armies and their cherished bureaucracies - what would we do without them?

The elves of old didn't burden themselves with all these rules and bureaucracy!

The disused nursery is a nice & poignant touch.

 eocostello and I have been discussing the story, and I've pointed out that there's a certain existentialist feel about this story and the Ballad over at mspaforum. Most people going on about their business (or going through the motions), while empty cribs and empty villages proliferate and the powers that be are moved to increasingly desperate ways of trying to revive the race.

Christ on Crutches, that's depressing, isn't it?

One of the underlying sadnesses of all medieval fantasy is that it happened "once upon a time" in the long-ago past. Now the world is smaller and more civilized and there are less adventures to be had. There are more humans than there have ever been, but each of us individually seems to be .. somehow .. LESS than our forebears.

We're only threebears (if that) nowadays, and little golden-haired girls can eat our porridge and kick our asses.

Damn right it's depressing.

In light of that, I agree with Stephen Hawking that flinging ourselves out into space is essential to the species. Not just for the resources and Lebensraum, but for the desire we still have to see what's beyond the next hill.