[Andrew Lias] #> Now, we might well wonder why the islanders (AFB and can't remember the #> proper spelling of the damned place) haven't developed their own mundane #> technologies. I can only assume that, lacking the big advantage of #> something equivilent to the Orb, their technologies have been developing at #> an ordinary rate, proportionate to their lifespans, which would put them #> somewhere about 3,000 BCE, by my estimates. [Ike Porter] #I think I'm inclined to agree with this. I've concidered the islanders to #be equivalent to aboriginals in level of tech as well as, to some extent, #lifestyle. Maybe feudal would be more accurate though. Technological advance requires a society that gives some people enough time and energy to mess around with interesting stuff, and maybe discover or invent something useful. It also requires some physical resources: e.g., you can't do much with iron if you don't have iron ore. The Empire's feudal structure, based on the Teckla as the working class with 90% of the population (where'd I get that figure from? I know I didn't make it up) at the bottom of the pyramid, provides the former; and there's certainly plenty of territory for the latter. The islands don't have much territory and their society seems much less structured. -- Mark A. Mandel http://world.std.com/~mam/Cracks-and-Shards/ a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website