World questions

[Valarian]

QUESTIONS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE

4. Does gunpowder exist?
My preference is no gunpowder present. At least, not in the region of Ansium.

5. Are the any cultures who promote literacy?
I would imagine that various cultures would promote literacy in it's population. The City States of Akron certainly would, at least among the merchant classes. Their very existence and culture is based on trade. A degree of literacy would be required. Elven and Dwarven cultures would also promote literacy among their people. Other cultures may rely on an oral tradition, rather than written records.

6.Does medicine exist?
Medicine would exist to varying degrees, especially in the longer lived races who'd have the time to devote to study. Natural immunities would reduce the need for a culture to develop medicine. There's also the magical influence to consider. Secular medicine may not take off in a culture that has ready access to the healing services of a local priest. If magic is widely available, and therefore available at a price accessible to the commons, then secular medicine may not exist at all. The local priests would dispense herbal remedies to those who don't need magical intervention and magical remedies to those that do. Some herbalists outside the priesthood may exist for those settlements too small to support a temple. Or, there may be a movement of itinerant priests who wander the countryside on a regular round.

7.Origins of self-conscious species?
It's easier if there is a common physiological background for all species native to the world. It's also likely that the humanoid species will have similar biologies. They may even be close enough to allow interbreeding. However, there may be species that have certain differences. The centaurs, for example, may have a dual pulmonary system - one system taking oxygen from the lungs to a heart to serve the upper torso and brain, and another system to take oxygen to a heart for the circulatory system in the lower torso. The lungs would probably be larger than normal humanoid creatures, with the diaphragm sitting lower in the upper torso. The stomach, digestive system and reproductive system would be in the lower torso.

Centaurs and dragons, being hexapods, may have a distant common ancestor. There would be less commonality between centaurs and other (quadrupedal) species.

8. Calendars and time measuring

I mean ancient Celts in Europe had a working lunar calendar hundreds of years before Rome come to be and it exceeded the Egyptian and Grecian variations in accuracy.

I do like Celtic system - 13 months of 28 days, with a leap day every 19 years. The number of moons and suns is going to have a great influence on the calendar for the world. For example (taking Kalpana), two moons of differing sizes may mean that the larger one is used to calculate months, but the smaller one used to calculate special days. Conjunctions of the moons would be significant in that there would be especially high tides. Times when the moons are diametrically opposite would result in especially low tides.