Dragaera

Two words about two letters etc. (small PotD Spoiler)

Tue Jan 14 14:10:36 PST 2003


On Tue, 14 Jan 2003, Alexx S Kay wrote:

> > Just because firearms may have been invented at some point in the Dragaeran
> > past does not mean that they are at all common, or even existant, any
> > longer.  Dragaeran history is long enough that lots of information can be
> > lost.
>
> To the left, between Lyorn compulsiveness, and the (as you mention below)
> documented survival of incredibly ancient documents, I'm dubious that any
> technology that existed long enough to be widespread could possibly be lost.
> ["Lost" in terms of "completely forgotten".  I can easily conceive of certain
> kinds of industrial infrastructure being allowed to fall out of use.]


Remember Loftis and "breaking the stick" from the 5-7th cycles.  I assert
that to build a cannon requires metallurgical skills which a sword-based
military would not allow to lapse, a knowledge of gunpowder, and a source
of saltpetre or some extremely basic chemistry that would anyway be
familiar to those with the above metallurgical skills.

To build a pipe bomb (useful to assassins, I should think) wouldn't
even require the metallurgical skills.

- Philip