TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE, MAGIC

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE is probably the area I could most use help with, to be honest! So your thoughts are appreciated. My idea is that the Scientific Revolution is led by the Ottoman Empire rather than Europe (which would have plenty of historical precedent, really - see history of Islamic science). I also had the idea that the Industrial Revolution is started in Britain, as it was in our world (in broad terms - I know a lot of this is open to debate but let's not get sidetracked :D) but that the driving force behind it was imperial interests, particularly in getting naval advantages, which has led to the Age of Steam. This happens rather earlier than in our world - beginning from the late 1600s rather than from 1750ish onward, though the domination of the sea by steam-powered ships didn't happen until the first couple of decades of the 18th century. It's now 1850. The British are the most technologically advanced of the three empires (though the Byzantines and Ottomans tend to think of them as a rather young upstart power and are very scathing about British culture), but the Ottomans have the best medical science. I want to leave a lot of things open to discussion, but I'd say technology levels are similar to our own in the early twentieth century. 

An interesting point of difference is the existence of MAGIC. This is a science called ALCHEMY or al-kimia (depending on where you are from) and it is as reputable as any other science - it's studied extensively at university and indeed is considered one of the most difficult disciplines to master, with many important subfields. Most practitioners are theoretical alchemists and do not claim to be able to perform magic per se, or work within the field of alchemy to advance understanding in fields of chemistry, medicine etc. But there are some who claim, through their engagement with the advanced spiritual beliefs of alchemy alongside rigorous academic study, to be able to perform magic. The clearest visible sign of these are the golem. They are extraordinarily difficult to make and their creation in Kostantiniyee is only allowed if one has a licence from the University. The advanced masters of alchemy are often elite men or eunuchs, because the mystical side of alchemy has often been the province of religious orders that founded universities, but there are female practitioners too.

All three powers are at best sceptical of and at worst hostile to anyone who claims magical ability outside of this elite. The selling of magical potions or magical services is forbidden and is punishable by heavy fine or a beating. This doesn't stop these services being offered, of course, but one normally goes outside the city walls to find them...

Comments

[oni-neko.livejournal.com]

I have some questions and an idea of two.

First off, I am curious about the university, and was wondering a lot of things about it. Who runs it? Such as how does one get to study there? How many years does it take to become a licensed maker of Golem?

Also what would the reaction be to a project that aims to use the new steam technology to make an equivalent to golem?

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

These are cool :) The University of the city is a bit unusual in that it's a civic university so it has members from all different religions - a lot of universities are founded by religious institutions, so Kostantiniyye is a bit special in that regard. The kind of expertise required to be a maker of golem would probably be of someone of professorial status in university terms - an advanced academic.

There would probably be strong resistance from traditional parties to such an idea and someone who tried such a project might find it the victim of controversy and even sabotage. But they also might find financial backers from, for instance, the British, who are all into steam power but don't have as strong a history of strength in alchemy. So that could be pretty nifty.

[oni-neko.livejournal.com]

Good to know. of course I know have more questions. and more thinking and looking up of stuff to do.

So, at what age would someone generally start at the university? and how much would the fees for tuition likely be?

Also, um, what year is it going to be in game? are we in the 18 or 19th century? or even the 20th?

I've been looking up the history of robotics as that could be helpful for figuring out what sort of tech they may have to work with on Automata, though I will probably decide that because of alchemy, automata would not have advanced nearly as fast as they did in our world.

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

It's the mid-19th century - that's in the general post but it's not very clear so I should clarify! I haven't picked an exact year.

I guess they would start university in their late teens and the fee wouldn't be super high - maybe £50 a year? - but that would be enough to keep out quite a lot of people. But there are some scholarships available.

[oni-neko.livejournal.com]

I suppose picking an exact year doesn't matter unless we are going be at the turn of a century. I lookked but I didn;t see anything about which century it was the basic blurb mentions that the city changed hands in the 17th century and that it's been independent for about 70 years.

i'm thinking that maybe the automata project is a group of young students and a professor or two with ideas about making golems that are less expensive than the current ones by using steam tech rather than alchemy. Maybe most of the group comes from the merchant class background.

[tezcatl-ipoca.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I want to do some reading up on technology.... (Also having a mental tangent about architecture but that's my brain for you.) I am quite interested in this side of things (including, as I was saying to you, industrial espionage, the weapons race etc) in order to have a big change from stuff I've done before, but I will definitely want to RESEARCH ALL THE THINGS.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Hmh. My impression of alchemy is (loosely) that it involves inducing changes in the metaphysical by manipulating a physical object or item. If I'm off on that, this entire question might be irrelevant, but...

Is there any perception of religious rites (e.g. Communion) as magical? And if there is, does it matter, or is it a case of "this ritual uses alchemy to transubstantiate, but it's not about alchemy any more than a wedding ring is about whitesmithing"?

I realize this is a pretty small detail, but I wondered. :)

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting area because it was actually quite a dangerous idea in the middle ages - of linking the miraculous to magic - whilst at the same time there was quite a lot of elision between the two. I would think that in a world where alchemy seems to be accepted and respectable that there would be strong scope for it having a religious element - which would make it even more important for it not to be practised by people outside of controlled, established elites: see witchcraft and deals with the Devil.

[middlemarching.livejournal.com]

You state in this entry that the current year is 1850... am I just imagining a 1922 year from somewhere else? :D I could've sworn I saw something like that in one of the other entries.

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

I don't think so? I definitely shouldn't have done, anyway. This game's certainly not set in the 20th century :)

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

Oh, I found what you're talking about - no, that was just a map from Istanbul (http://konstantooc.livejournal.com/1965.html#cutid1) in 1922 provided as illustration.

[tess-thiess.livejournal.com]

If you have the time, Kim Stanley Robinson's "Years of Rice and Salt" present a counterfactual history of the world from the 1300s to the atomic age where 90% of Europe was killed by the plague.

Since the author likes parallels, it shows the development of science and the industrial revolution outside of Europe, sparked by existing and theoretical tensions and movements existing outside of Europe. He also creates direct parallels, like a da Vinci / Galileo figure in Samarkand.

[snakey.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed that book! I would totally reread it if I had it here.

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to read that for years... It is a mighty tome, though, so I don't see it happening any time soon.