Questions about Arcel

Questions or discussions about Almea or Verduria-- also the Incatena. Also good for postings in Almean languages.
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rotting bones
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Questions about Arcel

Post by rotting bones »

1) If Arcel is the Almean equivalent of East Asia, how come it's intellectual traditions are so primitive compared to Erelae's? There doesn't have to be a definite reason, but on earth, Middle-Eastern, Malayali, Chinese and other Asian mathematicians worked out the rudiments of calculus long before Europeans got around to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus The Japanese even developed a rather unsystematic set of integration methods without any help from Leibniz or Newton. Come to think of it, is there a reason why science, philosophy and mathematics all over Almea looks stunted in comparison to similar periods in terrestrial history? Is this because of some Almean cultural mindset, the existence of magic or is it perhaps just a concession to Almea's origin as a S&S universe?

2) Is Hiefae's alphabet a Bopomofo, a Pinyin or a Hangul?

3) I see the Taoist concept of wu wei (not doing) plays a prominent role in the beliefs of Hyemsur. In Taoism however, wu wei further clarified as wei wu wei (doing without doing, or effortless action). Does Hyemsur also teach "having without possessing", etc? (something of the sort is mentioned, but only in the not-fighting section) Does Hyemsur inspire genuine rebels, anarchists, outlaws and knights-errant as Taoism evidently did in China?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_knight-errant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Margin
http://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/sbe40/sbe4013.htm
...

PS. Is Uyram inspired by Tamilakam? It never ceases to amaze me how Zompist makes the business of creating deep and intricate conworlds seem easy.
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zompist
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Post by zompist »

That's not really how it works-- Almean cultures aren't based on a single Earth culture. They're influenced by Earth of course... if you don't use a wide range of culture the tendency will be to just repeat the standard fantasy pseudo-Europe. But it's an influence, not a copy.

I don't think science is stunted on Almea-- remember that its development is comparable to about 1800, a time when science didn't dominate Earth either. But I've worked out a lot of this only relatively recently-- the Historical Atlas of Erelae, for instance, does a poor job explaining technological developments. I'd like to make technological development a lot clearer; this is something lacking in most fantasy worlds I think.

I haven't looked at Hiefae's work in detail, but since it's based on Verdurian and Kebreni, it's most likely a straight alphabet.

Mainstream Hyemsur went out of its way to repudiate rebellion and anarchy... questioning authority is one thing, getting yourself killed as a threat to public safety is another. But offshoots of it would very likely have pursued those avenues.

rotting bones
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Post by rotting bones »

Thanks.
If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way. - Mark Twain

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Post by kuroda »

I'd like to make technological development a lot clearer;

Please don't! The current balance is fine. (If anything, I'd rather read less of the gears of history and more synchronic sociocultural description.)

[t]his is something lacking in most fantasy worlds I think.

Really? In published (mass media) fiction I could see that, but not online, surely? I feel like it's quite the opposite: too many real-life techies toting their worldview into worldbuilding.
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Post by zompist »

I dunno, I don't look at online cultures much. Do you have an example at hand of one that overdoes the tech?

rotting bones
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Post by rotting bones »

zompist wrote:I dunno, I don't look at online cultures much. Do you have an example at hand of one that overdoes the tech?
I've never seen anything like that either. If you concentrate on technology, you offend kuroda; if you don't, then you disappoint me. Stop listening to us and work on whatever Almea needs to be more realistic.
If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way. - Mark Twain

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Post by brandrinn »

Speaking to Question 1:

On Earth, "The West" and "The East" developed agriculture at about the same time, and typically the North Chinese Plain and the Ganghetic Plain were at least as densely populated and urbanized as anywhere in the Middle East or Europe. On Almea, Erelae has a 2500 year head start on Arcel, both in agriculture and civilization. There's no reason to assume Arcel would have more advanced technology.
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Post by bulbaquil »

It's also possible you're reading "1800" and thinking of it as "the 1800s" rather than the actual year 1800, which probably looked a lot more like the 1700s than the 1800s.

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Post by rotting bones »

I'm procrastinating because this will take a while to explain.

brandrinn: valid point.
If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way. - Mark Twain

In reality, our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, which indeed is a divine gift. - Socrates

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