How technologically advanced is Taldain.

[ruler of the mists He/His/the survivor of the pit]

We know that moat of the Cosmere is in the Victorian era. Is Taldian more advanced as Moonlight says.

[Treamayne]

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We know that moat of the Cosmere is in the Victorian era.

Nope. Only Era 1 Scadrial. Most of the Cosmere would not equate easily to Earth-levels of technology (for example, Roshar during Way of Kings - No aircraft, but they have global communication via Spanreeds? Do you consider that pre-1910s because of the lack of aviation, or post 1980 due to written information communications technology (MagiTech)? 

3 hours ago, ruler of the mists said:

Is Taldian more advanced as Moonlight says.

Yes. Taldain was advanced back before Rashek went to the Well. Both Dayside and Darkside were advanced, just in different areas (Darksiders considered Daysiders primitive, until Khriss got there and realized that their sciences - especially pneumatics - were at least equal to some Darkside advancements).

(Mistborn and White Sand Spoilers)

Spoiler

Both Taldain and Scadrial had Gunpowder before Rashek went to the Well, but Taldain continued advancing when TLR basically froze most advancement on Scadrial. Then, for unknown reasons, Autonomy closed off Taldain to Worldhopping, and it was Taldain advancement that stagnated without having access to Silverlight and shared scientific knowledge. WoB:

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Edited for Length and Relevence

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that's part of it. Though I don't think we got in the graphic novel some of the important worldbuilding elements, such as the armor that melts when sprayed with water, the unique forms of fighting, and the fact that the people you assume are the advanced ones (because they live in buildings instead of tents) are actually far less technologically developed than the ones who live out in the desert. (Because on this planet, that's the "good" land while the low sands are the less fertile parts.)

That was a dynamic that was very hard to get across in the book, though, and I don't know that my skill at the time was up to it. I was disappointed in the graphic novel once the colors and final art came back to discover a number of pages that looked like brave Europeans fighting savage desert people--which was the reverse of what I'd been trying to accomplish. (But is part of our cultural biases, so I'm not surprised it was how the artists ended up interpreting it. And I'm to blame for not reinforcing the idea stronger back when it could have been changed.)

General Reddit 2016 (Oct. 12, 2016)

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yafeshan

I am space nerd with a love of fantasy, so; Why is Scadrial prime example planet to invent space travel. Is its allomancy/ferruchemy/hemalurgy combination more suitable for that kind of technology or do they have other incentives to invent space travel other than regular technology development? Is it related to the intervention of unknown metal/shard/beings we saw?

Brandon Sanderson

There are a bunch of reasons.

The most technologically advanced of the planets (Taldain) is extremely isolationist because of its Shard, while Harmony is very interested in the progress of his people.

Scadrial has an advanced understanding of metallurgy, and for many years was quietly open to visitors from across the cosmere. In the modern era, that has enhanced. It's a much safer place to visit than, say, Sel, Threnody, or First of the Sun.

There are other reasons, too, which we'll get into as the world progresses. Having some prominent cosmere-aware people pulling strings behind the scenes is a big help. If you know other worlds are out there, and are populated, then you're more likely to push toward space travel.

Stormlight Three Update #6 (Feb. 8, 2017)

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DrogaKrolow

Technological progress. So Scadrial is going all the way to cyberpunk.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

DrogaKrolow

But do you plan to do it anywhere else?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, with an asterisk, right? Roshar has a very different technological path but they have access to so much more Investiture in an easy to use format. Roshar is really heading toward what we call magicpunk, or things like this, magepunk, where you are using a magical power source and things like this. So their technology is going to go weird but it's going to go fast once they start figuring things out because they have easy access to Investiture resources.

Scadrial: slower for various reasons and things like that, but it's ahead.

And then there was Taldain, which was really far ahead but then froze when it got-- Offworld travel was stopped and it became isolationist.

So most everybody is kind of heading that direction but, yeah.

DrogaKrolow.pl interview (March 17, 2017)

 

Hope that helps

Edited November 8, 2024 by Treamayne
SPAG/Clarity

[+Lewis Nethur He/Him]

8 minutes ago, ruler of the mists said:

We know that moat of the Cosmere is in the Victorian era. Is Taldian more advanced as Moonlight says.

Not the planet as a whole, but our general understanding is that Darkside specifically is hyper-advanced technogically due to the unique pressures and stresses placed in its inhabitants. There is good reason to believe that they are literal centuries ahead of the next leading contender and have been under shardic quarantine by Autonomy in part to prevent them from hunting and killing shards who's worlds are still early in development...

everyone should be afraid of, or embracing, the darksiders...