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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 3478179" data-attributes="member: 463">Our modern concept of progress only really dates from the 18th-19th century, when the technological achievements of our civilisation began to approach and in some cases finally supercede that of the Romans, two thousand years previously.&nbsp; The more traditional views are those of the cyclical nature of history, favoured by the Greeks, and the Romans' focus on 'decline and fall' - they were talking that way centuries before the western Roman empire actually fell.&nbsp; With this in mind, history, including technological and magical history, is more one of cycles of growth and decline than of uninterrupted progress.&nbsp; Things change, knowledge is lost, things get worse.&nbsp; For instance, IMC the Albine Empire had accomplished armour-smiths who could make Full Plate Armour; the Empire is gone and the ability to make such armour is fading fast.&nbsp; Interior plumbing and flush toilets, likewise!This is hardly unrealistic to someone living in London - the Victorians seem to have been easily able to accomplish feats that are well beyond the capacities of modern Londoners, such as building efficient sewerage and rail systems.&nbsp; Progress is a state of mind, not a law of history.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 3478179, member: 463"] Our modern concept of progress only really dates from the 18th-19th century, when the technological achievements of our civilisation began to approach and in some cases finally supercede that of the Romans, two thousand years previously. The more traditional views are those of the cyclical nature of history, favoured by the Greeks, and the Romans' focus on 'decline and fall' - they were talking that way centuries before the western Roman empire actually fell. With this in mind, history, including technological and magical history, is more one of cycles of growth and decline than of uninterrupted progress. Things change, knowledge is lost, things get worse. For instance, IMC the Albine Empire had accomplished armour-smiths who could make Full Plate Armour; the Empire is gone and the ability to make such armour is fading fast. Interior plumbing and flush toilets, likewise! This is hardly unrealistic to someone living in London - the Victorians seem to have been easily able to accomplish feats that are well beyond the capacities of modern Londoners, such as building efficient sewerage and rail systems. Progress is a state of mind, not a law of history. [/QUOTE]

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