DeadFencer Posted October 17, 2015 Report Share Posted October 17, 2015 The general consensus is that the southern part of Scadrial is only slightly more advanced than the north we've seen. But weren't they free from TLR's thousand years of technological stasis? If Scadrial was about to develop guns before the staid, shouldn't the south be at least beyond our technological level, possibly even in the ftl age? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamEternal Posted October 17, 2015 Report Share Posted October 17, 2015 (edited) The general consensus is that the southern part of Scadrial is only slightly more advanced than the north we've seen. But weren't they free from TLR's thousand years of technological stasis? If Scadrial was about to develop guns before the staid, shouldn't the south be at least beyond our technological level, possibly even in the ftl age?Since TLR put the southerners where they are and decided to not alter their biology, it is assumed he also managed to limit them somehow so they wouldn't advance enough to threaten his Empire in the north.EDIT: Currently, my favorite theory is that he trapped them underground with a great cadmium bubble "fabrial". It would also explain how they discovered mechanical allomancy. Edited October 17, 2015 by CognitivePulsePattern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyrindor Posted October 17, 2015 Report Share Posted October 17, 2015 The world during TLR was too hot for travel between the north and the south. Each civilization was at a pole. They could have been technologically advanced during TLR but likely would have lost most of that during the Catacendre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRat Posted October 17, 2015 Report Share Posted October 17, 2015 They were free from TLR's direct control, but also unaltered to survive in the "World of Ash" and therefore had a whole host of other problems to deal with. My personal theory is that they lived underground, away from the burning sun and choking ash, and as a result had very limited living space, food production, and population. Since technological progress only happens at significant rates when there is excess food (IE: some individuals have free time to devote to things other than survival) combined with a reliable ability to retain knowledge over generations (IE: kids going to school instead of helping to grow/gather food), it is entirely possible that the Southern peoples never had any major technological advances until centuries into TLR's time. By that point, all previous knowledge not used on a daily basis would have been forgotten, and their technological progress would have essentially started over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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