Sick, old, and very young prey has basis in nature

[alockwood1]

"There's a systemic speciesist scheduled predation" just raises more questions.

Actually, when you put it like that, it seems more realistic than I had previously considered. See: war.

...Okay, now I'm imagining a 100 Years War scenario where opposing armies are ignoring each other so they can loot, exploit and devour the opposing faction's cities, Magdeburg-style.

I still want to say that's more "grimdark / grimderp" territory than realistic for it to happen all the time, though, especially if it's against unwilling members of your own society.

I would imagine that such a society would be smart enough to have a City Guard, as it were, for such things.

[LightDragon]

This is actually a very interesting topic and I will answer in detail.

To start with, there are two types of predators in my stories. Those who need to eat preys to survive (let's call them carnivores) and those who eat preys for other reasons (let's call them omnivores).

Regarding carnivores:
The most ethical carnivores in my stories are those who understand their place in the ecosystem. They think their purpose as predators is to remove preys who are crippled, sick, old or injured, so that younger preys can thrive. Therefore, the most lawful-good carnivores always try to target old and sick preys, and spare young healthy ones. When it comes to very young preys, ethical carnivores are also aware that they represent the future of the prey population, in addition to the fact that they have much to live for. They will eat very young preys if they are starving, but only as a last recourse. And even then, they will likely threaten the very young in hope that an adult prey offers to take their place.
The "ethical priorities" of a predator in my universe is this: old, injured and sick > healthy adults > very young.

Now, the reason I usually don't represent a character eating old or sick preys is because it doesn't offer drama. I like the prey to pose problems to the prey, either directly or indirectly, because it creates drama and exiting stories. An ethical predator eating their usual meal would only work as a background thing, not the center of a story.

There are numerous reasons why a carnivore would want to target a prey out of this order:
- Ignorance. The predator does not understand their place in the food chain and doesn't realize that old and sick preys are easier and preferable.
- Anger. The predator wants to get rid of a particularly annoying prey that is annoying them.
- Challenge. The predator is more excited by the thrill of the hunt than the meal itself, so they want their prey to oppose resistance.
- The predator wants to assert dominance and supremacy. Eating strong and healthy preys sends a chilling message to anyone willing to defy them.
- The predator was trained to act as a fighter or a killing machine, and in doing so their instinct has been modified kill strong preys.
- A healthy adult prey may have offered itself to the predator, maybe as part of a deal.
- Legitimate defense. The prey may have posed a threat to the pred or to a third pary, and the predator eats the prey to end the threat.
- Duty. For example, a cat was tasked to prevent mice from entering the pantry, and will stop at nothing to get rid of persistent mice.
- The predator is outright cruel and evil. They revel in defying the natural order of things.
- Laziness: The predator is so lazy that they prefer to eat the first thing they see rather than searching for an easier prey. This is especially the case if the predator has an easy trap they can use to capture healthy adults as efficiently as the more vulnerable preys. This scenario can also happen in case of hunger and indifference, in addition to laziness.
- In more civilized settings, healthy adults can be easier to hunt, as they are more likely to fall into traps and put themselves in danger.

Regarding omnivores:
The reasons that could push an omnivore to eat a healthy adult are the same as those listed above for carnivores. Unlike carnivores, omnivores do not have the natural duty of eating old and sick preys, so they act more on a case-by-case basis.

[Scrumptious]

I know I'm going to get viciously attacked for saying this, but I prefer underage prey, but not for the reasons most will immediately jump to.

Any number of us might enjoy underage prey for reasons that are not (as) creepy in the way some folks might jump to conclusions. I think the creep-factor is when the folks who identify as preds think too much and hard about the sexual exploitation of minors. This also runs into problems with certain laws when content with this sort of stuff is created.

For my own part, I am sexually attracted to the powerful callousness of the predator (from the prey perspective). The underage prey are never the object of sexual desire.

The main one I can think of involves a civilization where there's a sort of social contract maintaining balance and peace between predator species and prey species where there's no more random predation, but every prey knows the date their life expires as food at an older age.

That's an interesting setting. Have you developed it further?

I actually did some math once, involving 1,000 human-like Prey per Predator - one prey a day causes the initial population to last under three years, 1 a week just around 20 years, and one a month causes them to last 80 years. Mind you, that doesn't take into account sickness/injury, or if the Predator wanted Pork or Mutton or Beef, or Venison instead. In any case, I like treating Sentient Meat as a Special Treat that could be eaten once in a while.

I like the way your mind works, getting off on the math of it.
Long, long ago, before the internet had come into most people's lives and the closest thing to porn I had was the equivalent of the Sears catalog, I'd look at voracious models and run calculations of how many tinies they could eat at certain size ratios in order to be full. You took that idea to a demographic level!

[alockwood1]

I actually did some math once, involving 1,000 human-like Prey per Predator - one prey a day causes the initial population to last under three years, 1 a week just around 20 years, and one a month causes them to last 80 years. Mind you, that doesn't take into account sickness/injury, or if the Predator wanted Pork or Mutton or Beef, or Venison instead. In any case, I like treating Sentient Meat as a Special Treat that could be eaten once in a while.

I like the way your mind works, getting off on the math of it.
Long, long ago, before the internet had come into most people's lives and the closest thing to porn I had was the equivalent of the Sears catalog, I'd look at voracious models and run calculations of how many tinies they could eat at certain size ratios in order to be full. You took that idea to a demographic level!

Yeah, I kind of realized that Predators eating humans all the time would cause issues. So, I decided that, what was needed, was some sort of limit - a quota of how many humans a predator was allowed to eat, while making sure that the population of said prey still existed. Using the above scenarios, and assuming that females get a chance to recover between pregnancies, like a year or so, and that mate swapping is possible - 1 means that there is no replacements. 2 means that careful management might be needed to keep some of the lines around. 3 means that the predator doesn't need to worry too much about population management.