D&D Technology

[WayneLigon]

Like they do in half of Europe, most of the Americas and various parts of Africa and Asia?

Dear God, please don't tell me that because it's called Latin America that you think they speak actual Latin there? Please tell me that's not so. Latin is a dead language (A friend of mine's favorite joke is 'I've been studying Latin for five years and I still can't find the word for 'motorcycle'). Virtually nobody outside the Vatican speaks it and there are a very small number of fluent speakers. Latin-derived languages, yes, but not Latin itself.

 

[Huw]

Dear God, please don't tell me that because it's called Latin America that you think they speak actual Latin there? Please tell me that's not so.

My name's "Hugh", not "Dan Quayle"!

Take Latin with trace amounts of Celtic, Phoenician and native European (Basque, Iberian, Tartessian), add a few centuries of Arabic, split into 2 major branches (Andalus and Portuguese), overlay on native American and inject English for the last few decades.

I know Latin and Italian. I don't know Spanish or Portuguese. I couldn't speak to a Mexican, but I could read their newspapers. I used to have an Italian landlady. The language she spoke sounded closer to Latin than the Italian I'd learnt.

Language names are relative. Spanish goes by the name "Espanol" or "Castellano" depending on where you are.

Latin is a dead language (A friend of mine's favorite joke is 'I've been studying Latin for five years and I still can't find the word for 'motorcycle').

Birota automataria.

Virtually nobody outside the Vatican speaks it and there are a very small number of fluent speakers. Latin-derived languages, yes, but not Latin itself.

Vatican Latin is pronounced like Italian, not Latin, so even the Vatican aren't fluent.

 

[Huw]

Excepting that few of us speak Latin, but many speak Latin-derived languages, point of fact. For that matter, English is such a mishmash as to what it's eaten up lingiusitcally that its pedigree is akin to a mutt, to say the least. No, I was referring to the alt-history conceit you find in VALIS - the Empire never died, thus, we'd be speaking Latin and not a descendant language.

A better example would be Greek then. Modern Greek's very different from modern Greek.

 

[Huw]

Bronze was seen as the superior metal for a long time because iron was brittle and didn't hold an edge well.

Bronze was also really easy to repair and maintain.

 

[Gez]

*What would the word be for something appearing in an inappropriate place rather than an inappropriate time? Anageographic?

Anatopism. (Topos, land. Like utopia, literally "nonland.") I have already used anatopic several times.


After all, we have utopia (imaginary worlds) and uchronia (imaginary time), so why not anatopia for the geographic equivalent of anachronia?

 

[Gez]

According to Wikipedia the first known use of arabic numerals in England was 1487 and they weren't in common use untill the mid-16th century. And decimal numbers didn't replace fractions in common usage until later than that. Heck Britain only switched to decimal money in the '70s and yet D&D uses decimal money.

The idea of base 10 numerals was invented in 400 BCE but it took 2000 years to diffuse into common european usage.

They were introduced in Europe by a French pope, Gerbert d'Aurillac (aka Pope Sylvester II). Practically five centuries before your Brits.

 

[Gez]

My half-kidding blame of the elves centers on a home brew or two I've encountered that needed certain elements to be lost to history. Unfortunately when elves live 1000 years you can't make an event from seven centuries ago be truly lost, so suddenly the event took place 4000 years ago instead.

My solution to that was to just... kill off the elves.

Or make them amnesiac. Elven trance has always bugged me -- why don't they sleep? So I've made them akin to faeries. They live long, and stay youthful nearly forever, but on the other hand, they always live in the present. What happened a year ago is forgotten. Until an exceptional elf discovered the way to fix events in his memory and remember seemingly forever (compared to what he was used to) -- that's the trance. It's an aquired technique that is now taught to all elves by their parents. Elven childhood lasts for so long because they first have to learn it, and teaching it is not easy.

 

[Gez]

A better example would be Greek then. Modern Greek's very different from modern Greek.

What's the difference between one bird? It has two wings, one comprised.

Sorry, reading your sentence reminded me of that nonsense joke. (I got what you actually meant.)

 

[I'm A Banana]

In other gaming-related news, this is why I have massive problems with the idea of "Advancement Levels" or the like in things like d20 Future. There's not just one rate of advancement, guys.

Actually, both Roman mosaics from 300 AD and Minoan wall paintings from 1600 BC depict women wearing what are obviously bikinis.

Ancient Undapants ftw.

 

[Tsillanabor]

Often magical advancement is seen as more important than technological advancement in my worlds. I've never run a campaign world that lasted for more than 1200 years in game time, and I've made sure that the past shows technological advancement, but slower than in our world.