10-26-2020, 06:03 PM | #51 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
I think a couple of Megalan Civil War options have been mentioned in this thread, so that works.
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted. |
10-26-2020, 06:17 PM | #52 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
If either Meglos breaks up, or there is a multigenerational civil war in Meglos, there will be a strong tendency for the ban on technological advance to collapse. With all the factions fighting for their lives, they will embrace any advantage they can. And guns will be the least of that.
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo Last edited by Astromancer; 10-26-2020 at 07:22 PM. |
10-26-2020, 06:46 PM | #53 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
I assume you mean "for the ban to fail" or some such? Weapons bans rarely survive warfare, unless the banned weapons don't give you enough benefit to be worth the bad PR (e.g. chemical weapons really don't work terribly well for anything but terrifying civilians because they're super hard to aim, hollow point rounds aren't actually very relevant to military use because ordinary jacketed munitions at assault rifle velocities expand just fine).
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10-26-2020, 07:18 PM | #54 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
Well, the gun ban relies on:
A) Top-down enforcement with relative peace B) Fear of angering the wizards There's also the hyper-conservatism of Yrth, but let's leave it aside for a moment. If Megalos collapsed, A is obvious (at least within Megalos). B may or may not hold together. Early muskets aren't terribly impressive, and fireballs are quite effective at dealing with gunpowder stores. |
10-26-2020, 07:30 PM | #55 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
Quote:
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10-26-2020, 07:33 PM | #56 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
Quote:
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Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
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10-26-2020, 08:43 PM | #57 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
Sure. I won't dispute that wizards could respond to the introduction of guns dynamically and potentially see an increase of their power. But as written, Wizards fear the introduction of guns would become their undoing. It even mentions that if one of the rival factions in Caithness started using cannons the wizards may feel obliged to join the other.
In all honesty, the gunpowder ban seems a little like a red herring. Many European states were able to begin centralizing and reducing the power of the nobility through the introduction of standing armies (perhaps driven by advancements in banking). Guns just made it increasingly easy to make larger and larger armies. Actually, there's an idea. Have the Megalans and the Muslims steadily build up standing armies that end up being shattered in something similar to The Mages' War. Maybe the armies are sophisticated Pike and Mage formations (as opposed to Pike and Shot). This leads to a die back of centralized power in the background to justify why things seem so feudal. |
10-26-2020, 08:52 PM | #58 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
I dunno about gunpowder, but I'm definitely interested in the idea of alternate technological development for Yrth, more along the lines of a Dungeon Punk / Magitek setting like Eberron. Which would be doable with a lot more enchanted items.
I'm thinking things like enchanted Airships, Golems replacing Slave labor, magical Telecommunications.. Heck, the Telecommunications alone. Considering items enchanted with Communication technically only cost 800 energy to create, I'd be shocked if Megalos' entire Imperial government isn't linked with Palantir-like crystal balls, allowing Imperial edicts to be communicated across the Empire the day they're issued. Let's be honest, even without technology, there's no reason a magic-using civilization would stick to Medieval Stasis if they could help it. |
10-27-2020, 05:47 PM | #59 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
Here's an idea, Araterre has TL4 ship technology according to the books. So, if Araterre had a period of being less supervised by the throne of Meglos and the Curia the Prince of Araterre might follow the example of Henry the Navigator.
An organized attempt to search for lands beyond Yttarria wouldn't please the powers that be in Yttarria, but Araterre would really benefit. Sailing out to seek new lands would be an epic adventure.
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10-27-2020, 07:35 PM | #60 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: Ideas for Yrth
Both of these seem a little dubious; an Araterre that's headed east and south is an Araterre that isn't supporting piracy on the Erythraean Sea or the Mare Medium. And unlike the Portuguese who had a fair understanding of what value could be garnered by finding a route around Africa. Araterre is, "maybe we go east and discover new lands with valuable things?"
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banestorm, yrth |
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