Hi,
Usually by the time I read a thread, and want to make a comment, thread drift has set in. I was inspired to this entry by several previous threads, so I will throw it into a new thread.
My question is what was the original tech level of various areas of Safehold life, and how do the proscriptions and the OBS relate to what was the assumed or projected level of technology. Here are some of my guesses:
Textiles,16th century. I am reminded of a story from “Why Nations Fail” about William Lee who created a stocking frame knitting machine in 1589, only to have his request for a patent turned down by Queen Elizabeth I , then the French monarchy, and then by King James I. Did Langhorne intend all textiles to be hand knitted, or was that just a result of the breakdown of civilization after the War Against the Fallen.
Sailing, maybe 17th century. I found it interesting that Charis spent so much time training sailing masters, with advanced navigation skills, and yet their galleons were rather primitive.
Food preservation, mid 19th century. This would include rules for sanitary food handling, and maybe canning. When Howsmyn describes what needs to be done to create brass cartridges, he says that brass containers had been made by drawing operations for centuries for apothecaries and food preservation. Is that canning?
Chemistry ? century. They have recipes for things to do, and recipes for things to avoid, but there is no understanding of why.
Math ? century. Just how much can you do with Roman numerals?
Architecture ? century The understanding of geometry must be pretty advanced. It would have to be used in Charis’ navigation. We have descriptions of all kinds of buildings that aren’t falling apart. We have the description of the canal locks and pumps which are affective, and relatively trouble free. Notice the complaints about the temporary nature of the church’s repairs to the canals after the raid.
Metal work, mid 19th century. Starting with the very first book, Merlin describes a cotton gin, and a spinning jenny. That is Feb 891, and we don’t hear another word about those until we hear that Charis has greatly increased the amount of textiles that it produces. What you didn’t hear was that a whole new infrastructure had to be created to build the textile machines. It can be inferred that all of the knowledge, and skills existed to build water wheels with iron or steel drive shafts, that the textile machines can be built with metal structures where required, and that whatever gearing is necessary internally within the machine can be built. This is implicit in the hand built watches and clocks. Another reason to believe the advanced state of metal work is where Howsmyn muses that “Safehold had always had a working empirical understanding of hydraulics… of concepts which had been used in the waterworks the “archangels” had made part of Safehold’s infrastructure from the Day of Creation.” I take that to mean cast iron pipe and metal pumps. When Lieutenant Zhwaigair examines the Mahndrahn rifles his comment is: “That indicates that the heretics are using a lot more powered machinery like trip-hammers and stamp mills than we are.” and “Given some time to think about it, my uncle could probably set up a shop to do a lot of the same things, but he has no more than a hundred workmen. I can’t even begin to estimate what his output might be if he followed the heretics’ example with powered machinery, but I can’t believe it would be anywhere near what the heretics’ve actually accomplished.” He didn’t say, “Gosh, we don’t know what they did, or even how we might copy it.”
Ship building ? century. Notice that Charis didn’t have any problem modifying their existing galleon designs to carry truck mounted cannon, and once the church's navies got around to recognizing the need, they didn’t have any problem building armed galleons either.
Mining ? century. When Howsmyn describes his new foundry, he says that “the new docks at Fraidys’ll have steam power on the cranes and conveyors from the beginning.” So what was powering the cranes and conveyors prior to steam engines?
RFC said in a reply to Dilandu, that Safehold’s technology and skill level was not comparable with any historical time on earth. I think the mixed nature of Safehold’s technology is the only thing that keeps the series from being science fantasy. The mixed nature of Safehold technology also has to be considered when you consider automatic actions by the OBS.
and, Mangy Fur the Smart Alick Spacecat.
