Even if technology would have little practical purpose in a magical world, Dragaraens (especially the Hawk and Athyra) obviously value knowledge. Yet one of the books (I forget which) implies Dragaerans haven't figured out the world is round. How could this be? Contrary to popular misconception, [Earth's] humans have had this figured out for quite some time - the Egyptians not only realized the earth was a sphere, but calculated its diameter. I think the answer to this is the presence of the Overcast. The motivation for developing mathematics is linked with astronomy; for example, solar calenders or calculating lattitude and longitute for navigation based on the relative positions of stars and the horizon. Perhaps being deprived of the stars, Dragaens never developed advanced mathematics (and therefore never developed science or technology). (If this is correct, is this the purpose of the Overcast?!) However, Vlad says that the Athyra (?) had a unit for magical energy (~ the joule). This implies that they have the means to quantitatively assess magic's physical effects, which would require a basic understanding of Newtonian kinematics. So maybe I'm wrong and just wasted some of your time. _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/