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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steverooo" data-source="post: 2797922" data-attributes="member: 9410">The theoretical guideposts leading to the telegraph seem the obstacle, to me.  Lightning's electricity wasn't understood by Ben Franklin, and it took Coulomb to work out the electromagnetic charges, and Einstein to explain them...  That brings you up to THIS CENTURY, and I don't believe that even WE have the whole story!In order to even conceive of a telegraph, one must first understand that electricity FLOWS.  A Wizard or Druid might, but it is a far leap from there, to a current flowing through a coil of wire producing a magnetic field, which attracts a piece of ferrous metal, and/or a coil of wire moving through a magnetic field inducing a current flow!This is important because a telegraph uses current to cause the depression of a switch on one telegraph set to induce a magnetic field in the coil of wire on the other one.  All of this must be powered, and that power has to come from somewhere, and voltaic cells (another invention) generally won't do it, over long distances.  Generators, of the AC type, are generally required...  Now what do we need to do THAT?!?Besides all of the theoriticians (Volta, Coulomb, Franklin), the advances in mining, timbering, etc., you're now going to have AC power, too?  I think this is going to be more than you wanted...And if this knowledge exists, and your world is normal, then compasses certainly exist, and are in common usage.  Understanding electromagnetism well enough to make telegraphs possible certainly implies understanding magnetism well enough to make a compass!Now you can change the theory, and/or eliminate some of the generator problems by having some Wizard invent a leaden jar that holds the energy from a once/week Lightning Bolt, or some such, and simply some of these problems, but...  If you eliminate steel, then how is the telegraph going to work without it?  The coil won't attract the arm, and the 'graph won't work!Best to simply invent a magically tied quartet of 'graphs, where, when one moves, the one connected to it (only via magic) also does.  Two stations in line are connected to each other, and the previous station for the first/next station for the last.  Each station has two each "To" and "From" telegraphs (one for each of the other two stations).  Station One sends a message to Two, which comes in over the "From 1" 'graph.  Station Two sends back the "ACK" signal on the "To 1" set, then repeats the message to Station Three via the "To 3" set, then waits for the "ACK" on the "From Three" set.  It might even be possible to limit it to two sets that can both send/receive, or even one set, if the operators identify which station they're from, and which direction the messages are heading.</blockquote>

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