Technology 13

This is the ninth in a series of posts intended to provide a technological framework for my world. The purpose of this framework is to create unique, regional settings for player interaction. A realistic simulation of the actual world is not a goal of this system and will not be given credence when approving comments.

Regions with a technology of 13 will have an average population density of 23,959 to 44,321 per 20-mile hex.  This includes the following regions, shown on this table:

94 regions.  This technology accounts for 1,117.1 hexes of my world, occupied by 38,640,273 humans.  There are no non-humans.

I am struck by the coincidence that these last three tech levels, 11, 12 & 13, have all had accounted for approximately the same number of people: 34 million, 37 million and 38 million each.  This was not intentional.  It does suggest to me that the simple algorithm I'm using (each tech above 10 includes entities 1.85x more dense) is correct - or it is just wildly coincidental.  Most probably the latter, heh heh.

By now, the reader is probably sick to death of these tech posts.  This being the ninth one, I'm getting somewhat weary myself.  These are a lot of energy and I'm getting tired of thinking my way through the developments involved - but I do want to press through until the end.  I hope, sincerely, that I don't end up phoning in these last six levels.  All, I'm afraid, will be fine-tuning aspects of the tech 12 baseline (I think, anyway; I could be wrong once I give more thought to what's ahead).  Certainly 13 doesn't make any great changes to the status quo of church vs. aristocracy vs. capital . . . this being a formula that continues until the mid-20th century, when the church starts to feel itself crumbling.  We're in the midst of that crumbling now, with the sound and fury of toppling institutions giving them the temporary illusion that their pronouncements still matter in a world that begins to hate religion.  Of course, people will claim that Islam still has a lot of power, but that's nonsense; religion has power when it is seen as a positive force in people's lives.  When religion merely becomes the excuse used by governments to oppress people, that is the illusion to which I refuse.  For most Islamic fundamentalists, religion is merely the left hand you're supposed to watch so you don't see what the right hand is doing (it does a pretty good job of fooling stupid people).

But I digress.

Available Technologies

See tech 12.

Civil Service.  The need for the three sides of power requires a set of principles to govern liaisons among themselves - and this entity goes a long way to supplanting the government itself.  Whereas the aristocracy channels taxes towards their own ventures, tech 13 has an institution that directs taxes to the good of all.  This help support the various ventures of government, promotes the construction of larger engineering projects and empowers many educated common persons who now have a vocational path that is not oriented towards trade or religion.

Philosophy.  Apart from interest in metaphysics and ethics, philosophy strengthens the originating ideas and themes proposed in tales and literature into fundamental ideals for how persons should act and behave.  This in turn has strengthened the new civil service, so that the principles of promoting welfare and the general interest have inculcated themselves into the social conscience (it did not begin with Jefferson, the hack).  This philosophy, in turn, is made manifest by the spread of . . .

Drama.  Tales are greatly elaborated by thematic purpose, that serves to educate even the lowest element of the culture with propaganda and a call for intellectual action with regards to social problems.  The presence of drama, in turn, helps unite the people into a common heritage, something that hasn't coalesced into 'nationalism' as yet, but retains suggestion of that ideal.

Music.  The development of martial themes and emotional coloratura further heightens the social culture.  This, too, aids in giving people a common heritage, from the sort of complex music played for the upper classes to the elaborate affairs now planned by the lower.  With drama and music we introduce the bard class, incorporating magic with the music of minstrels from a lower tech level.

I plan to speak this evening with my players with regards to reducing the intelligence limits of both bards (from 15 to 13) and illusionists (from 15 to 12) this evening, to see if they have any objections.  After some initial discussion, I don't believe that lowering these stat requirements will vastly increase interest in either class - nor will they, in any way that I can see, alter the balance of power in the class itself.  Those intelligence numbers are completely arbitrary - and in the face of the tech system going so well (it is for me!), I'm ready to rethink those numbers.

After all, gnome illusionists must come from somewhere.  I know the gnomish territories in my world - Harnia is easily the most populated.

Here and there, I can see, there will have to be minor adjustments all over my previous system.  I'm resolved, however; I can't wait to start playing this system.  At present, I have both my parties in each campaign at the front door of a dungeon.  It is convenient that this is where they both are, just now, as I play with this new concept.

Lifestyle

I think it is fair to combine both rural and urban together again.  Population density has risen to around 80-100 persons per square mile, so that even in a large region like the Punjab (290 hexes), a big town is not very far away.  The countryside's mindset will orient itself more and more towards the town, as much redevelopment and infrastructure will begin with appealing to the civil service for monetary investment.  This investment in turn will begin to lock town and country together into a single geopolitical framework, the forerunner of nationalism (see tech 14).

With theaters, music halls, the incorporation of ballrooms into palaces, a general flourishing of the arts generally (allowing another chosen profession for the talented and technical), life for many persons will become more interesting and comfortable than the dependence on tavern and drink that will define lower tech levels.  For many persons entering a town, there will be more interest in washing, changing clothes and attending one of the daily events in the city (a far cry from weekly or monthly festivals found elsewhere) than in simply sitting in a tavern for six hours.  Of course, for some people, the appeal of the latter option will never go away . . . but this too will begin to separate the culture into people that 'matter' and people who do not.

The civil service, in an effort to save time, will create endless fees and monetary penalties for infractions, enabling the wealthy to 'break the edicts' with little suffrage while the poor will find themselves hemmed in further - and even compelled to leave, as town life becomes more restrictive for those who are not part of a faction.  Once again, this will mean that towns and cities are cleaner, lacking slums and even a red light district entirely - the latter replaced by a theatre district, where it may still be possible to get horizontal refreshment, only now through an agent rather than direct bargaining.

My world of 1650 is pre-Industrial revolution, so there isn't the opportunity for labor that would exist in a late 18th-century world.  Artisanship takes a very long time to learn; the remarkable simplicity of industrial manufacture through steam, gas and ultimately electricity created the filthy city we identify with the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  A well-fashioned 17th century town, one where the population was well educated and managed, was nothing like we imagine medieval cities to be (an invention of Hollywood).

This situation may seem strange for players who never think of things like attending the theatre or taking a seat in the observer's gallery of the local parliament - but I feel that with encouragement and a clear understanding of when this is possible, players will find the potential to be interesting.  I feel it will greatly improve their vision of my world and the opportunities that lay before them.

Military

It should be clear to the reader that I am spending less and less time on things apart from lifestyle - that is because matters like government and the military substantially affect the players only so much as the players are interested.  I've stuck largely to what the military might be doing and what things the government's structure should be watched for; more than this may be added at a later time without filling space right now.

So the only point I want to make now about the military is that they, too, are being funded by the civil service.  With the support of martial themes and greater controls on entry (and less loyalty to anything except the paymaster and the general philosophy of the military itself), the army TOO becomes a profession for the poor.  Under the control of a more stable government than aristocracy, the military's precision will make it a more dangerous weapons both towards other regions and towards the state itself.  This will change many local attitudes about the military's purpose, status and general import to foreign action.

Conclusion

I've digressed a lot through this post, so I think I'll call it quits.  I'd like to hear on the intelligence of bards and illusionist and on further considerations due to the civil service and the army.  I feel I've fallen a bit short on both those topics.