Fictional culture and technology

[jfrazierjr]

Okay, so this is very tangential topic to mapping... but I got to thinking today about how culture and technology interact with the sorts of things we'd put on a map... i.e. I'm interested in some other aspects of world-building.

One thought, in particular, I've been pondering today regards how advances in technology and knowledge will affect what we see on maps and what the imaginary people that inhabit those lands think about their world. For instance, by the time an imaginary peoples reaches something of a rennaissance level of technology and culture, is there any room left on a local/regional map for mysteries, "haunted forests", "here there be dragons", or other unexplored or wild lands? Or do we have to journey to a distant and unknown continent for these things?

What about Gunpowder? How does is that going to affect these things? Are societies with access to gunpowder inevitably going to look more modern, or do feudal systems and monarchies evolve to meet these challenges?

What do you guys think?

Well.. think about it this way... 3000 years ago, the Egyptians and Aztec peoples knew the world was round and had developed highly accurate maps and calenders. 2000 years ago the Romans had homes with running water and a rudimentary radiator heating systems. 1000 years ago most of the world was dumber than dirt and had lost many of these advances.

With that said, I don't think it matters. It really depends on the particular society in the end.

[Redrobes]

A lot of technology issues are glossed over pretty thickly in fantasy stuff. Castles in D&D have towers and barbicans which would not be present with the availability of flying creatures. You see typical dark ages castles but these were refined and by the end of their days when powder came in castles went out. Some bizarre rounded ones with earth banks took their place but you never see any of these in campaigns.

Also hand held weapons made certain armour obsolete. Full plate became redundant in the latter period before powder as the late crossbows could penetrate a breast plate.

Given that there are magic and fantasic creatures in these settings then its anyones guess as to what might have really happened to castles and armour.