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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5693994" data-attributes="member: 8835">One of the different points of view is that Hussar mentioned that things weren't invented, the setting "just is" that way.One reason I look at it as the invention path (ala Civilization) is that advances for society come from ideas. there's a momentum that has to build up, and ultimately "somebody" has to invent it.You may not literally plot it out in your setting, but technically, 3000 years ago, the dark lich Evilgula decided to make his workers build 24x7 in order to complete his ever growing tower to the heavens using stone mined as part of digging a hole to the hells that he might truly bridge the two.the point then, stuff builds on stuff, and until your brain is ready for it, you're not going to think of new stuff.Take the craftsman concept.  Back in the day, a craftsman built the entire Thing, whatever it was (ex. Armor).  That means building one piece at a time and assembling it.  The craftsman knew how to make all the parts.Along comes Henry Ford with the Assembly Line.  With this idea, each man is responsible for building or connecting 1 part.  There's less time wasted switching from task to task for any given man.  But each man has to spend all day doing the same repetitive task.This idea isn't rocket science.  But a part of my business is teaching this concept to business professionals that to make their workflow more efficient, they need to turn their work into assembly line patterns.  It's only been like a hundred years, and people still can't grasp it.So, much like the how I'm not embracing this idea of the setting being totally different than medieval + magic, the ability of humans to transform the world into what your talking is based on a chain of invention to get to that point.Now I know a cliche of fantasy is that these kingdoms have existed for zillions of years, etc.  Given that our own world has had a hard time maintaining longevity of nations in any reasonable quality (Rome got about 200 good years), I call BS on any fictional country pulling it off.</blockquote>

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