How long does the general journey of the Dawnbringer Crusade?

[u/Aggravating_Guest340]

Perhaps for months or years?

No way, weeks?

As time goes by, the survival rate of the Crusaders will drop exponentially, so decades will be virtually impossible.

And as far as I know, I heard that their survival rate in the age of beasts is 10% and in general, 20%, so I would appreciate it if you could check if I am correct.

(And if the Dawnbringer Crusade are overly prolonged, will some of them form familys? Well, in general, the harder it is to survive, the greater the probability that the reproductive instinct, or love, will sprout... So, how do they raise their new children?)

[u/sageking14]

You have made the greatest of errors possible in Warhammer. You asked for a "general" or "average", there is none. Any answer you get that claims there is is people bold-faced lying to you. None of the lore on Dawnbringer Crusades say how long a Crusade lasts.

As a start it is a Crusade and it is an expansion effort. Both of which are endeavors that can take days to months to years, to yes even decades. The Crusade is only technically completed when it sets down roots. But many of those fail in the final hour.

Technically the people in these caravans are leaving their home towns forever. So the crusade functionally never ends as true success is achieved when the new town lasts long enough for new generations to take over, or for a rare free a charter to be granted making their settlement a City of Sigmar.

But yeah. Days, months, years of travel are all possible depending on the Crusade goal.

[u/Aggravating_Guest340 → u/sageking14]

Oh, I'm sorry. And thank you. It's been years since I've encountered Warhammer outside Warhammer's mainland, but I'm ashamed that I haven't gotten used to the common sense of Warhammer setting yet.

[u/sageking14 → u/Aggravating_Guest340]

No worries there is no shame to be had! A good thing to keep in mind is that for Age of Sigmar, GW kinda does mean it when they say they want you to be able to have YourDudes.

So sweeping concepts like the Dawnbringer Crusades have a lot of detail but allow for a decent amount of things to be broad strokes. You know. Except for when GW gives population or army numbers, managing to lowball real low. But that's just expected of Fantasy settings, no?

So anyway things like how long it takes are pretty open ended. So the DBCs work with where Hammerhal is, where Excelsis is, where Greywater Fastness is, and where Your City is. After all what if yours is at the bottom of a Made In Abyss style chasm that takes months just to get out? Hearing a DBC is supposed to settle down in two weeks doesn't work at all, they've never reach the rim of the chasm where all the Lodeberries the city covets are.

Just as one silly example. There's also the practical. As a more hopeful setting than 40K or WHFB, the Crusades need a more hopeful spin. As an aside, in Era of the Beast they became more successful as that's when Tahlia Vedra's Reforms happened that changed the rate of disasters faced. So Dawnbringers more oft than not aren't brutal marches at speed.

Which means they tend to veer toward real life. The expeditions taking however long each will need. With a few more threats of course, like robo-dinosaurs... (these are real, they are Ferrosaurs and live in Chamon)

[u/Aggravating_Guest340 → u/sageking14]

robo-dinosaurs? Ferrosaurs? Why is this real?(just saw Lexicanum.)

 Well, this mysterious lore you gave me is really wonderful. 

And, I like the expression 'a more hopeful spin'.

And thank you so much for your passionate response, kind and knowledgeable user. 

[u/Scales77 → u/sageking14]

This is the first that I'm hearing of these "Ferrosaurs" and I'm gonna need GW ti give me pictures/a model or something!

[u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 → u/Aggravating_Guest340]

Regardless of the setting, an ironclad rule about Warhammer lore is that you shouldn't focus too much on numbers because writers are terrible with them. GW says that everything is canon and nothing is true; therefore, all statements about numbers should be considered non-canon.

[u/Aggravating_Guest340 → u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871]

Actually, that sentence also exists in my neighborhood. 

I think the evaluation of their sense of numbers is a very famous rule in the Warhammer franchise. Honestly, what you said is amazing because not any diffrent word with that sentence.

[u/Togetak]

Sageking’s answer is pretty spot on, but it’s worth noting the purpose of dawnbringer crusades is to extend the influence of their hosts cities or establish beachheads in yet unreclaimed territory, they’re the kind of thing where you have a pre-set destination (though don’t always end up settling there, given circumstances) and you’re not usually just thrown into the completely uncharted wilds with years worth of travel time between you and the place you’re supposed to be materially useful to. You’re supposed to be sent off with most of what you’ll need for the journey, and to settle where you’re going, so it’s logistically difficult to plan that far ahead anyway (though obviously it’s not like it cant happen either).

Having kids is actually intended, though! Maybe not on the journey itself, but they’re meant to be setting down roots and the big reward for settlers is the chance for their future family to have claim on land that’ll maybe one day be at the center of a true megatropolis city of sigmar. Many crusades have non-combatant hangers-on, or take along the children of those on crusade, so I imagine they’d just fall back into one of those roles if someone did end up pregnant on crusade.

[u/Aggravating_Guest340 → u/Togetak]

Hmm, the childcare during their journey. It's hard and the survival rate of children is low, but it must be worth it. Probably. It's also inevitable. And thank you for your interesting and useful response. 

[u/Togetak → u/Aggravating_Guest340]

Honestly I imagine the survival rate of the non-combatants is probably higher than the people there purely as soldiery. Everyone is given some amount of combat training and expected to be able to help defend the crusade, but the people there specifically as freeguilders are the ones doing the bulk of the fighting as they go and probably being most of the attrition during it. I don’t imagine kids and vital non-combat figures are dying during attacks if anyone else can help it (and probably not being specifically targeted by anything that’s attacking a crusade force to begin with) and they’re probably not the ones going hungry when something goes wrong with the food supplies

[u/sageking14 → u/Aggravating_Guest340]

We don't have anything that would lead us to think the survival rate of children is low in the Cities of Sigmar or in Order societies besides Idoneth. They pretty regularly bring up war orphans exist in massive numbers with no indication they die in the streets often. So if even orphans are making then other kids are fine enough.

[u/Aggravating_Guest340 → u/sageking14]

What I was talking about was during  a Crusade. I read some of historic large-scale forced migrations, and sadly, the mortality rate of children was much higher than that of adults... Especially while they are on the move.(Specifically, five times of adults)

Because young children are more physically vulnerable than adults, more susceptible to disease, and more prone to being targeted by bad beasts... And their curiosity is really unpredictable.

And I thought it was a similar case. 

[u/sageking14 → u/Aggravating_Guest340]

Because young children are more physically vulnerable than adults, more susceptible to disease

Yes. For a number of reasons such as poor sanitation, lack of things like baby formula and well-preserved food, exposure. But bear in mind. Cities of Sigmar canonically have mechanical horses, tanks, cogforts, automobiles.

They have Aqua Ghyranis, a substance they have in abundance that cures all those things. How in abundance you may ask? Every Dawnbringer Crusade is given an Aqualith which endlessly produces the substance. We've seen generations-old settlements whose Aqualiths pooring life giving, curative water are only starting to give out.

There are wizards who preserve food, magical ice to create refrigeration. It must be such much of what lead to the high death of children has been solved. Bear in mind, the cities of the Realms are grand city-states where some dwarf Earth's largest. This would be impossible if mortality rate was high from all the things you're eluding to.