Sunday, December 23, 2012

Idea Sketch: Technology Timeline

We can get an idea of what kind of technology exist by examining our own time line of inovation and adjusting from there. Each race's tech will be based on this standard we set, plus a little in their own fields (Dryads are better at medicine, Marfs better at architecture, Mume's better at culture, etc...). We'll set the standard technology to about 5th Century BC.

Following time line taken from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_historic_inventions) with a little from other sites about Agriculture.

--Crynt were the first peoples
--Borc Came next
--Then Ixxar
1.8 Million Years ago: Fire, Cooking
500 Thousand Years Ago: Shelter
--Dryads entered the world here
--Moblin soon afterwards
400 ka: Pigments (paints), Spears
200 ka: Glue
160-40 ka: Burial (religious rites?)
--Marf enter around here
110 ka: beads
60 ka: Bows
36 ka: Cloth
--Felf entered the world here
35 ka: Flutes
28 ka: Rope (weaves?)
16 ka: Pottery
7000 BC: General Agriculture, Animal Husbandry
6000 BC: Kiln, Granaries,
5000 - 4500 BC: Lacquer (Local discovery?)
4000 BC: Bread, Yeast, Ploughs, Domestication of crops
3630 BC: Sericulture (Very Local Discovery)
3500 BC: Irrigation, Leather
3000 BC: Cuneiform (Writing?), Bronze, Papyrus, Fermentation (Beer Etc.) Spices (Local), Sugar (Local)
---At this point, Reliable history can be placed. We have Writing and Papyrus.
2600 BC: Large Scale Timbering
--Effees lead the Mumes in the world by about 50 years.
--Zero Day. Mumes enter the world.
2400 BC: Abacus (Real spread of Mathematics?)
1700 BC: Wind Powered Machines (Felf)
1300 BC: Large Scale Canals
700 BC: Two Masted Ship (Let Sea Trade Begin)
530 BC: Underground Aqueducts
515 BC: Crane
500 BC: Cast Iron, Crossbows, Cupola Furnace (Metal Foundry, Iron Smelting/Resmelting), Catapult/Trebuchet, Spiral Stairs, Wheelbarrows, Row Cultivation (Farming)

Alright, Let's stop and take a look at what we got.

Of course, some technologies, like Sericulture, will be local only and some will be universal so perpetuate trade.

The year when everything happens and new ideas and innovations was predicted 2,000 years after Z-Day, so we'll set our mark at about 500 BC and work backwards. That means to determine the rough year an invention above was made, we subtract the BC year from, let's say 2550, so that things like Cast Iron have been around for at least 50 years.

That means the the Abacus was invented by the Ixxar in 400 BZD (Before Zero Day) on the Mume Calendar. We do not yet have Steal, and different irons will be rated depending on where they're from. The two things left out for our own time line will be the Effee and the Mume. They are both roughly 2,000 years old so came into the world before iron or sea trade.

Borc: Having affinity with Fire, they would be the best metal workers and have the best iron.
Crynt: Not sure about technology, sine their culture and Magic is spirit based.
Dryads: Almost a complete focus on Medicine and health. They would dominate herbalism and such.
Felf: With a smooth understanding of time, they would have a better grasp of things that flow. Time, Water, Wind, History?
Ixxar: Having better grasp of maths, engendering and mechanical creations would be thier forte. They invented Catapults.
Marf: Architecture and building focus. Also they would bypass metelergy, making stone weapons as hard as iron.
Moblin: No way, man. Moblins are the racial equivalent of the god Loki. Any technology they have would be a hodge-podge of stolen ideas combined in ways that defy reality, but still work.

Effee: Wild Effee, outside of Annalow, would major in working with animals. They are, for the most part, the native Americans of the northern Americas, focusing on farming and animal husbandry. Most are Nomads, which mean Most are traders.
Mume: Once Mume's enter the picture, we start to see a burst of trade and exchange of ideas, as well as a focus on culture, plays, history, and philosophy.

Annalow exists today as a hub of trade and cultural exchange. They are Alexandria and Rome combined, yet we're still in age where Empires rule to the north and the southern lands are built of city states. Nationalization hasn't occurred yet.

Next up, we'll look at Geography and locations of important cities.