Technology, Time Period, and Your Setting

[Nameback]

A lot of times, writers will receive advice along the lines of: "if your setting is early-medieval, then you shouldn't include crossbows, because the technology would be out of place in your setting."

However, I think it's worthwhile to consider playing around with technology, mixing and matching from periods in a way that doesn't necessarily reflect real-world historical trends (but which, of course, remains plausible). After all--why should your world have gone through the exact classical-early medieval-high medieval-late medieval-early modern progression of the real world? Also, writers should feel free to re-locate technologies. India was producing high-quality steel ("wootz") as early as 500 BC, while other cultures struggled to make consistent or high-quality steel--but clearly the technology was not impossible for the time period. Similarly, blast furnaces (capable of melting iron) were present in China since at least the first century BC, and in ancient Tanzania from about the same time or perhaps slightly earlier.

In general, I find that people often forget the technological richness of the ancient world, despite its lack of advanced energy sources. For example, crossbows (of somewhat different design than high middle ages varieties) were actually employed from at least as early as the 5th century BC in Greece and China, eventually evolving into advanced siege weapons like the repeating ballista. And of course, there were domestic and agricultural inventions, such as: cement, flush toilets, indoor plumbing and hot water, sewage systems, aqueducts, dams, construction cranes, mechanical reapers, hydraulic mining, surgical techniques, medicinal preparations (in general, classical medicine was far superior to most medieval medicine), soap, tooth-fillings, and perhaps most importantly, salami.

Just because your world has serfs and knights and kings doesn't mean your people necessarily have to empty their chamber pots into the street, bathe once a month, and not understand the toxic effects of lead and mercury. The ancient world had diverse and often surprisingly modern technologies, and they can become effective plot and setting tools in establishing your own unique world.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Indeed.

This is sort of relevant to my WIP. The setting is (on the surface) your average, bog-standard, generic fantasy world (elves, dwarfs, dragons etc) only it's advanced to the technological (and social and cultural) level of the real world today.

I'm struggling with some of the reasoning behind why I've included some technology that's common in the real world today (cell-phones), but not others (cars), but I figure that if I just give it some time I'll come up with a plausible explanation - or change my mind about it.

 

[wordwalker]

Quite true.

One thing that makes this works best: Try to have a good sense of what "average period" the reader will think your story's paralleling, and position the tech so that the great advances (and failures, and even the real-world innovations the reader might not have believed for then) get something of a spotlight. Let the advanced steel of your "India" be the military wonder of the world, don't mention it casually so the reader thinks you put it there on a whim.

 

[Ddruid]

Thanks for the useful and interesting posts as always, Nameback.

@Svrtnsse Cellphones but no cars? That sounds like it does need a plausible explanation. Does the wireless communication depend on magic instead of the advanced technology or are they just ordinary cellphones?

Personally, I'd like to know more about the technologies of the ancient world and its variations in different civilizations at. For example, why was the technology of one civilization more advanced and efficient than that of another? Was the advanced civilization older and so had more time develop its implements and tools? Or was a civilization in different circumstances than the other which forced it to think ingeniously and build something unique? Could the technology of a civilization depend on factors like climate and geography?

For example, maybe a group of farmers were located in an arid area where rains were scarce and had to dig up canals connecting their fields to the nearest river, thereby, inventing a rudimentary irrigation system. Or something like that.

A discussion on this topic would be interesting and informative (not to mention fun).

 

[Svrtnsse]

The "no cars" deal is currently based on how the aether (magic) reacts to the intermittent energy release of the internal combustion engine (violently). Unfortunately it doesn't account for jet engines or solar powered cars. I may just end up scrapping the idea if I can't come up with anything plausible.

Battery power works for smaller devices, like cell-phones, but not for larger ones, like cars. The idea here is that the relation between a battery's efficiency and its size is flawed. Powering a small device like a cellphone is OK, but to get the energy required to propel a car forward for any acceptable amount of time the battery would become too big to fit in the car.
At least that was the idea. Then I had a word about it with someone who had an actual clue and they pointed out some flaws with the idea that I can't actually recall at the moment. Even then it feels a bit contrived.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

On the urban fantasy front, we realized that in our series we are starting in the present day and projecting time-wise about 50 years into the future. So, our WIP, the first book in the series, has current technology like smart phones and desk top computers... but as we get a few books in and we're writing about the next generation, what will their world look like? And the world their kids live in? To try to set those stages as realistically as possible (as realism is one of our things) we're currently reading Michio Kaku's Physics of the Future to get an idea of what sorts of technological advances can be reasonably expected in the next 50 years. Pretty cool, actually!