[Astromancer]

Has anyone thought about simply introducing paper from China to the West more quickly? It doesn't give anything like the bang you get from the paper/printing combo, but it would probably multiply the supply of books ten fold. Instead of 90% of Greco-Roman classical writting being lost you'd probably only lose 40% to 60%. Allow the right survivals and you could justify a clockpunk Elizabethan setting that would be vast fun.