Well, evolutionarily at least it would make a lot of sense to care about your role in society as an end. If the village can only support one smith, for instance, then you better focus your energies on being a damn good smith so that nobody else can replace you.
If the village can only support one smith, and you’re the smith, then if you’re not bloody incompetent you can probably do just fine for yourself as long as you make sure to take on an apprentice eventually (it needn’t be until later in life). Nobody else’s business is smithing, so you don’t have any competition, and as long as your goods perform reasonably well you’re pretty much set.
Well, evolutionarily at least it would make a lot of sense to care about your role in society as an end. If the village can only support one smith, for instance, then you better focus your energies on being a damn good smith so that nobody else can replace you.
And nope, afraid not.
If the village can only support one smith, and you’re the smith, then if you’re not bloody incompetent you can probably do just fine for yourself as long as you make sure to take on an apprentice eventually (it needn’t be until later in life). Nobody else’s business is smithing, so you don’t have any competition, and as long as your goods perform reasonably well you’re pretty much set.
At best you take a son as apprentice so that he can feed you when you are too old to work as smith.