FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

A NUTS AND BOLTS GUIDE TO CIVILISATIONS

BY PHILLIP MCGREGOR FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

A NUTS AND BOLTS GUIDE TO CIVILISATIONS

BY PHILLIP MCGREGOR CONTENTS FARM F A FORGE R M AND STEAM F O R G ² E

SA NUTS AND BOLTS GUIDE T TO CIVILISATIONS E A M FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

© 2004-2005 by Phil McGregor

PGD #103

Published by: PGD 1 Park Street Harbord NSW Australia 2096

Email: [email protected]

Kibitzing and Advice: The gang at the NSW Wargamers

DEDICATION: This game supplement is dedicated to the memory of my father, Bevan George McGregor (1913-1999) who never really understood what it was I did on my weekends and in much of my spare time (a lot of it sitting before a computer screen, which he didn’t really understand, either) for the last 30 years or so, but was always supportive of whatever it was I did. A great father and a really nice guy. I miss you a lot. THE RUIN The city buildings fell apart, the works Of giants crumble. Tumbled are the towers Ruined the roofs, and broken the barred gate, Frost in the plaster, all the ceilings gape, Torn and collapsed and eaten up by age. And grit holds in its grip, the hard embrace Of earth, the dead-departed master-builders, Until a hundred generations now Of people have passed by. Often this wall Stained red and grey with lichen has stood by Surviving storms while kingdoms rose and fell. And now the high curved wall itself has fallen. CONTENTS

The Limits of Possibility 1 F

SECTION #1: IN THE BEGINNING 3 A An Overview of History 4 A Mere matter of Numbers 8 R Disease and Death 13 In the Beginning: The Basic Rules 21 M

SECTION #2: FARM 24 The Problem with Farming 25 And Give us our Daily Bread 33 F All in a Day’s Work 38 O SECTION #3: FORGE 40 From the Forges of the Gods 41 R Metals and Industry 47 G SECTION #4: STEAM 48 E Wind, Water and Heat 49 Engines of Industry 58

SECTION #5: INVENTIONS 61 Money 62 & Gunpowder 66 Printing 69 Transport 72 Materials 74 S SECTION #6: CONSOLIDATION 75 T It fits like this 76 E SECTION #7: FANTASIES 81 MagiTech 82 A M FARM, FORGE AND STEAM THE LIMITS OF POSSIBILITY If you’ve been playing Role Playing Is there some physical limit that makes Games for any length of time you’ve progress impossible – and what is it? almost certainly picked up some histor- If that’s your excuse you better make it ical knowledge – most RPGs are, after inherently believable rather than mere- all, set either in earth’s past history or ly claiming, for example, “the existence borrow elements of that history as the of magic and the Gods makes it so”. basis for much of their setting. If that is the case only the way in which Having at least a passing knowledge of things change will be different – pre-modern societies and cultures, or because change is the natural state of some aspects of them, is a handy thing human societies. – it gives the player an edge and enables the GM to make the game more IVILISATION interesting and believable. C 101 FF&S attempts to define the limits POSSIBILITIES? (“rules”, if you will) that define pre- modern societies and civilisations ... The problem is that most commercially the constraints under which they oper- available RPG campaign backgrounds ate, knowingly or unknowingly. are poorly conceived pastiches – a hodge-podge of disparate elements bor- This will allow GMs to design believ- rowed from a variety of cultures from able campaigns That are no less fun, different places and times. “cool”, or different for being realistic. What, at first, seems “cool”, often ends It also makes an attempt to look at how up gratingly annoying for all involved. and why those limitations were event- ually overcome (or, at least, redefined), Just think of one common example – and why it didn’t happen faster or the “typical” fantasy RPG campaign spread more quickly, and how the background is based on a pseudo-med- changes impacted on existing societies. ieval society (there is nothing inherent- ly wrong with that!), but one that has This is obviously a huge area, which is remained completely static for many why FF&S claims only to attempt to hundreds or, often, thousands of years. define the parameters. Historically, european “medievalism” The basic information and guidelines lasted for about 600 years, from c. AD provided in this volume will provide 800 (and the crowning of Charlemagne) you with useful tools for campaign des- to c. AD 1450 (Gutenberg’s Printing ign and civilisation construction as well Press) – but even a cursory examinat- as the starting point for any more de- ion of the period shows that society and tailed research you may wish to do. technology was anything but static. THE PROBLEM WITH TIME So why would anyone believe that a The key reason for researching and fantasy background would be any diff- writing FF&S arose from the develop- erent? There are some reasons – it’s ment of what will eventually be the just that they aren’t very believable! Displaced series – a time travel- parallel history background into which SOME (IM)POSSIBILITIES modern characters can be dumped. Are the humans (and other races) in such game backgrounds stupider than This was a natural outgrowth of PGDs those of the “real world”? Not unless first product, Road to Armageddon, humans in your game world are radic- and is, of course, one of the more pop- ally different from the “real world!” ular tropes of late 20th and early 21st century Science Fiction.

– 1 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

Like standard Fantasy campaign back- SO WHAT’S THE DEAL? grounds, such books are equally (if not Never assume that the inhabitants of more) likely to be completely unbeliev- the past are stupid – or even that they able in their premises. haven't already thought of some of the After all, who could really believe that simpler “solutions” to those problems one man could institute an Industrial that the players (through their charac- Revolution in around ten years, as one ters) wish to solve. such series assumes. Other novels, It’s more likely that those in power allowing a whole community to be sent either don't see the need (or believe the backwards or sideways in time are only costs or risks outweigh the benefits) or slightly less unbelievable. that resources needed to institute the It’s not inherently impossible, but it changes simply don’t exist. does require more thought and explan- As for the more complex technology ation than the typical SF author puts that the players will want – well, the into it. problem that they will face is that the I’d like to think that I have done that in further they go back in time the more Road to Arnageddon, but you need to they will lack the tools (or raw mater- be aware of the potential pitfalls that ials) to construct the tools to construct litter most fictional treatments of this the tools to construct whatever it is popular genre. they want (and probably several iterations beyond that!). What do I mean? Well, consider such a background from your point of view as FF&S will have a look at the basics – a GM – and the likely reaction(s) of the limits of the possible – as they are your players. likely to apply to anything the players want to do, from the most basic and all WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE PLAYERS? encompassing to the more esoteric and One of the first things that the play- specific. er(s) will want to try their hand at is to, somehow, use knowledge of the tech- Hopefully, when all is said and done, nology of their time to change things. you will find the concepts and infor- mation presented in this book of use in And they won’t be satisfied with minor creating believable and fun campaigns changes, they'll want to change things for yourself and your players! in major ways. To their advantage, of course. What else would you expect – – Phillip McGregor altruism? (Sydney, 2004-2005) They'll want more and better than the locals can provide – more and better communications, transport, food, enter- tainment, accommodation and, well, pretty much HISTORICAL NOTE everything. While every attempt has been made to And you, as the GM, ensure the accuracy of the materials will have to deal presented herein, a large part of the with all these topics covered are in a state of flux. “simple” ideas and The theories that the author believes “minor” changes. best fit the facts as we know them And while you probably have been chosen over those that have a fair idea that it’s seem, at present, to be less likely – but unlikely to be easy to recreate there are alternative theories. a modern industrial civilis- Similarly, the assessment of historical ation from scratch in, say, and other “fact” made in this mono- the medieval period – you graph are based on research that often may not have any idea at all raises conflicting assessments, the of what the problems are author has chosen those that he feels that they will have to face are the most likely. and overcome. Any errors are, therefore, entirely his.

– 2 –– 2 – IN THE BEGINNING

S E C T

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion I over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female O created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, N and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.” 1 Genesis, 1, Verses 24-30, (King James Version) “Life in an unregulated state of nature is nasty, brutish, solitary and short.” Thomas Hobbes (1688-1779) FARM, FORGE AND STEAM AN OVERVIEW OF HISTORY HOW IT ALL BEGAN

The line of evolution from African proto-apes to modern humans began AGRICULTURE around seven million years ago (though For most of their existence, human estimates range from five to nine beings and their ancestral proto- million years) – but it was not until humans have been hunter-gatherers ... around four million years ago that our and only began to develop the precursor lineal ancestors had achieved an up- skills and technologies of agriculture right posture, though they remained and stock raising around 10-9000 BC. physically small (and had small brains). The first place where proto-agriculture These proto-humans started using developed was the Fertile Crescent stone tools about 2.5 million down to (Iraq plus parts of Turkey Syria and 1.7 million years ago – though the like- Lebanon), where something recognis- lihood of tools made from less durable able as a settled proto-agricultural life- materials (wood and bone, most likely) style developed as early as 8500 BC. predating these is considered likely. These developments were really seden- The spread from from their African tary hunter-gatherer societies rather “Eden” was slow – they only reached than true agricultural societies because South East Asia between 1.8 million the Fertile Crescent was both fertile and 1 million years ago; but they did and well provided with precursor not reach the less hospitable climes of species to the most important modern Europe (the last Ice Age didn’t end till food animals and crops. between 50,000 and 15,000 BC) until Even in their ancestral forms these half a million years ago. “wild” foods (various species of wheat, This was around the time Neander- peas, olives, sheep and goats) were so thals appeared in Europe – and their productive that gathering them pro- 450,000 year heyday only ended in vided a large enough surplus for a 50,000 BC when Cro-Magnon man app- group to become sedentary and develop eared (only displaced the Neanderthals proto-villages and even proto-cities. in Europe around 40,000 BC). The date of adoption of something Australia was only reached around 60- recognisable as proto-agriculture is dir- 40,000 BC, Papua-New Guinea around ectly linked to the number and suit- 35,000 BC, Siberia not until 20,000 BC, ability of potential food crops and do- and North America probably not till mesticable animals in a given region. 12-15,000 BC (and the tip of South The Fertile Crescent had the best America may not have been reached varieties, other regions had less favour- until around 10000 BC). able situations – the last to develop The Pacific Islands were only settled agriculture independently (Eastern US, between 1200 BC and AD 1000 – and, c. 2500 BC) completely abandoned local of course, the Antarctic continent was species as soon as climate tolerant never settled by human beings at all. Maize was available.

AREA OF ORIGIN TIME PERIOD PLANT SPECIES Fertile Crescent 8500 BC Barley, Wheat, Lentils East Asia (China) 7500 BC Rice (South), Millet, Soybeans (North China) Mesoamerica 3500 BC Squash, Maize, Beans; Turkey South America 3500 BC Manioc, Sweet Potato, Potato, Quinoa Eastern USA (Woodlands) 2500 BC Squash, Sunflower, Marsh Elder – 4 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM Agriculture is superior to a hunter- gatherer lifestyle only in retrospect. HOW DID IT START? Early hunter-gatherers were generally The Fertile Crescent developed healthier and better fed than early agriculture c. 8500 BC, followed by farmers – and had a much easier time China (rice, millet, pigs, silkworms) feeding themselves. c. 7500 BC, then Mesoamerica (corn, beans, squash, turkeys) and the Andes Pre-mechanised agriculture was hard, (potato, manioc, llama, guinea pig); grinding, work – and risky, to boot and finally the Eastern US (sun- (modern farmers occupy the best land, flower, goosefoot) c. 2500 BC . and modern nomads the most marginal whereas in pre-farming times hunter- Egypt (sycamore fig, chufa, gatherers occupied everywhere). donkey, cat) got the idea from the Fertile Crescent c. WHY AGRICULTURE? 6000 BC; the Sahel (sorg- So why was agriculture “invented?” hum, african rice, guinea fowl) The easy answer is because no-one from Egypt c. 5000 BC; as did knew where it was leading. Ethiopia (coffee, leff) and Once it had been invented, then it was Tropical West Africa (african yams, oil not always adopted by those who came palm) c. 3000 BC; New Guinea (banana, into contact with the idea of it. sugar cane) and the Indus Valley (ses- ame, eggplant, cattle) probably got the The main advantage was that it idea China c. 7000 BC. enabled farmers to space children closer together (nomadic mothers need Everywhere else the idea and the to space children 4-5 years apart) so plants came, directly or indirectly, from farmers have faster population growth one of these five precursors. and a greater population density. The level of technology and complex These larger, denser, populations supp- social organisation a civilisation has ort non-farming specialists – an adv- achieved is directly related to how early antage in developing technology and they developed or adopted farming. better social organisation. Humans aren’t stupid, but that doesn’t This, in turn, a given population to mean they have 20:20 hindsight, either! support increasingly large numbers of Many of the “obvious” inventions and people from the same amount of land. social developments since the invention High population density thus gives of agriculture (c. 8500 BC) are only farmers an unbeatable edge over low obvious with 20:20 hindsight! population density hunter gatherers.

THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE

Eastern USA (2500 BC)

China (7500 BC)

Mesoamerica 3500 BC

South America (3500 BC) Sub Saharan Africa Fertile Crescent (3000 BC) (8500 BC)

Southeast Asia (Date Uncertain) – 5 –– 5 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

AN (A)MAIZING PROBLEM The wild form of Maize (the main DOMESTICATED Mesoamerican food crop), Amaranth, ANIMALS looks nothing at all like modern maize and even DNA typing has not Only fourteen major species were do- convinced some scientists that it was. mesticated (as opposed to occasionally being tamed) before the 19th century. They are equally unsure how it was selectively bred into Maize – the best Of these fourteen only five were of guess is thousands of years. worldwide significance, the remaining nine either of geographically limited STARTING EX NIHILO range or only spread in modern times. The first domesticated crops were those The Major Five: Sheep, Goat, Cattle, easiest to domesticate – with a single Pig and the Horse. gene mutation that changed them into a variety suited for cultivation. The Minor Nine: Arabian Camel, Bac- trian Camel, Llama/Alpaca, Donkey, Natural selection (early proto-farmers Reindeer, Water Buffalo, Yak, Bali knew nothing of plant genetics!) of Cattle, and the Mithen. useful characteristics took a long time. There are 200,000 species of wild CATS AND DOGS! flowering plants but only a few The two smaller species of domesticates hundred have been domesticated – and that have proved important are Dogs most of those are of minor importance (from Wolves, SW Asia, China and and usually very recent domesticates North America, c. 15-10,000 BC) and (most berries, for example). Cats (from Wild cats, c. 8000 BC, Egypt or Cyprus). The bulk of our modern agricultural crops are limited to a dozen species – Neither has normally been used as a Wheat (several varieties, food or draft animal – however, the many of which are no longer successful domestication of both these commercially grown), Maize, species were important developments Rice, Barley, Sorghum (cereals); in the path of human development. Soybeans (pulse); Potato, Manioc, The domestication of wolves into dogs Sweet Potato (tuber); Banana pre-dates agriculture by many (fruit); Sugar Cane and Sugar thousands of years and was probably Beet. the first step in that direction. Of these dozen the first five The domestication of the wild cat was provide more than half of the long thought to have occurred in the calories consumed in the world today! Nile valley as an adjunct to the The Fertile Crescent had six wild development of agriculture – but more versions of these twelve and the recent discoveries suggest the cat was regional variants were the most already domesticated before this and, productive (in their wild form) and possibly, even before the development most easily domesticated and improved. of farming where it was domesticated (possibly Cyprus and the Levant). Scientists estimate that it would take around 200 years of selective breeding The domestication of dogs was probably to recreate these major Fertile Cres- the first step towards domesticating cent species from their wild forms. other animals and the development of herding, itself a step towards farming.

FIVE MAJOR DOMESTICATED ANIMAL SPECIES

AREA OF ORIGIN TIME PERIOD DOMESTICATED ANIMAL SPECIES Asia 8000 BC Sheep (Mouflon Sheep), Goat (Bezoar) Eurasia (China) 8000 BC Pig (Wild Boar) Eurasia 6000 BC Cattle (Aurochs) Southern Russia 4000 BC Horse (Wild Horse) – 6 –– 6 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

DOMESTICATED OR TAMED? THE BIG PICTURE Domesticated animals are those So there you have it – an outline of the which are raised from young under human story from the earliest times. the control of humans. Humans developed four vitally import- Tamed wild animals are those that ant technologies during this period, the are merely captured as adults but first two being fire and tools (it isn’t which will not or cannot be raised in certain which came first and never will captivity – Elephants and Cheetahs be), which allowed us to transform the are easily tamed and trained but are environment to suit our requirements reluctant to breed in captivity. rather than evolve to suit it. All this allowed our ancestors to mas- This enabled the spread of our ancest- sively increase population – and this ors across the whole of the planet, with led to a need to develop more complex the exception of the remotest islands social structures. and the Antarctic. Greater social complexity led to special- The unprecedented success of our spe- isation which, in turn, accelerated tech- cies has meant everything else has had nological and social development which to conform – and, inevitably, nomadic further cemented our dominance over hunting/gathering gave way to sedent- all the earth’s major plant and ary hunting/gathering and then the animal species while also in- first permanent villages where the env- creasing our ability use that ironment was rich enough to support it! dominance for our own This was associated with the earliest ends. large-animal domestication and the Today, the human spe- beginning of herding, humanity’s cies is undoubtedly the third great technological advance. peak of the planet’s food Modern research seems to conclusively chain – because we have show that agriculture (the fourth big remade the food chain, and the planet, technology) followed the creation of the to make it so. And we continue to do so. first permanent settlements and, very Species and environments have been much, was a consequence of those set- transformed, even destroyed, in pur- tlements being created in the first place. suit of this (mostly unconsciously until recent years) even “wilderness” areas CONSEQUENCES today are hardly unaffected by the last Agriculture made humans virtually 50,000 years of human dominance. unstoppable – concentrating food/ener- gy for our advantage as no other species The only difference between our remote has managed. ancestors and ourselves is that they took millennia to do what our technol- Tools (and fire is a tool) enabled our ogy (and numbers) allows us to do in ancestors to manipulate their environ- years or decades. ment more effectively – and to develop ever more complex tools.

NINE MINOR DOMESTICATED ANIMAL SPECIES

AREA OF ORIGIN TIME PERIOD DOMESTICATED ANIMAL SPECIES Southeast Asia 4000 BC Bali Cattle (Banteng), Mithen (Guar) Southeast Asia 4000 BC Water Buffalo (Wild Water Buffalo) Himalayas & Tibet 4000 BC Yak (Wild Yak) SW Asia & Egypt 4000 BC Donkey (Wild Ass) Eurasia 4000 BC Reindeer (Wild Reindeer) South America (Andes) 3500 BC Llama, Alpaca (Guanaco) Arabia 2500 BC Arabian (One Hump) Camel (Wild Camel) Central Asia 2500 BC Bactrian (Two Hump) Camel (Wild Camel) – 7 –– 7 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM A MERE MATTER OF NUMBERS One of the key questions that you'll The reason was simple – the margin for want to be able to answer is, simply, survival was so small that the human how many people are there? population was particularly vulnerable This has obvious consequences. Popul- to natural disasters. ation density, and the technological lev- There is genetic evidence, for example, el it can both create and support will hinting that our ancestors were knock- have a direct impact on what the char- ed back to a population in the order of acters will be capable of doing. only 10,000 individuals by the explos- ion of the Toba supervolcano in Indo- SO, HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE THERE? Current world population is known only nesia around 75,000 years ago. to within +/-10% – and that’s with acc- The 10000 BC figure for world pop- ess to sophisticated technologies and ulation is estimated at 1-4 million. the concept of the need for a census. Which is probably the best that a “pure” hunter-gatherer lifestyle could Yet before the 20th century, this simply wasn't the case for much of the world, support. and before the 18th century, it wasn't Even with the development of agric- even the case for what passed as the ulture, population didn’t rise quickly, “civilised” (i.e. European) world. though population densities in areas that adopted the new technology did. Figures for world or national populat- ions before the c. AD 1800 are guess- It is only with the development of work of varying “reliability.” urban based civilisations that numbers jump – from around 2000 BC onwards. WORLD POPULATION There is also a correlation between the Prior to the development of agriculture population density of an area and the and herding world population, shown length of time since it adopted agric- in Table A (an average of several ultural and stock raising technologies. estimates), was quite low. Simply put, the longer you had the Population density was also low com- technology the bigger your population pared to what became possible after the is likely to be. development of herding and farming. After all, cities represent a massive concentration of population.

W orldTABLE A:Population WORLD POPULATION (MILLIONS (Millions))

500 450 400 350 300 250

200 150 100

50

0 10k 5000 4000 2000 1000 500 500 1000 1500 1 AD BC BC BC BC BC BC AD AD AD Population 3 5 7 27 50 100 285 195 300 475

– 8 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

TABLE B: WORLD POPULATION BY CONTINENT 900.0

800.0

700.0

600.0

500.0

400.0

300.0

200.0

100.0

0.0 1350 1450 1550 1650 1750 1800 1850 1900 Africa 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Asia 50.0 100.0 200.0 300.0 440.0 560.0 700.0 900.0 Am erica 75.0 75.0 75.0 10.5 12.5 24.5 59.0 144.0 Europe 69.0 55.0 75.0 100.0 145.0 185.0 270.0 412.5

Still, world population did not exceed EUROPEAN POPULATION one billion (1,000,000,000) until the What are the figures for an even more middle of the 19th century AD! specific area? Europe, as the most CONTINENTAL FIGURES likely candidate for basing a campaign on (or in) is fortunately fairly well cov- What about a breakdown by continent? ered – Table C (overleaf, all figures are See Table B (all figures are averages averages from several sources) provides taken from several sources), over. the figures, but note that the same These figures are even more highly caveats apply to these figures as for suspect than the worldwide figures – those in Tables A and B. for example, it is certain that the early The figure for AD 1340 probably repre- figures for Africa are overstated (the sents the limits that could be achieved fact that they are all “100 million” is a with the agricultural technology of the dead giveaway, isn’t it?). time (the “carrying capacity”) – and, in It was probably 25 million in AD 1650 any case, the Little Ice Age was start- and 25-35 million by the 1700's. ing to set in, only started to decline c. The figures the Americas are also AD 1500 AD and really only “ended” in under considerable doubt, but no-one is the 1800’s (and its progressive end and certain whether they are over or under- the good harvests that tended to accom- estimates (and that argument cont- pany it are thought to have made the inues acrimoniously). start of the Industrial Revolution in the UK much easier). Whatever the population was, it seems certain the bulk of was concentrated in There is some reason to believe the Central America (mesoamerica). effects of the Plague were so dramatic and drastic because the limits of Despite the doubts, they give a ballpark population growth had been idea of relative magnitude by continent. reached – most of the Demographers believe the relative per- peasantry were barely centages for AD 1650 probably applied getting by so they to early periods – at least as far back as were susceptible to the BC/AD juncture. and contracted any disease especially As a general rule, areas of low popula- one as devastating tion density are either unsuitable for as the agriculture or are occupied by cultures Bubonic that have not yet developed/adopted it. Plague.

– 9 –– 9 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

TABLE C: EUROPEAN POPULATION (MILLIONS)

25.0

20.0

500 AD

650 AD 15.0 1000 AD 1340 AD 1450 AD 10.0

5.0

0.0 Asia Greece Italy Iberia France Britain Germany Russia Poland Hungary Minor

500 AD 5.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 0.5 3.5 5.0 0.5 22.5 650 AD 3.0 2.5 3.5 3.0 0.5 2.0 3.0 0.5 1000 AD 5.0 5.0 7.0 6.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 2.0 1.5 12.5 1340 AD 6.0 10.0 9.0 19.0 5.0 11.5 8.0 3.0 2.0 1450 AD 4.5 7.5 7.0 12.0 3.0 7.5 6.0 2.0 1.5

TABLE NOTE: Greece includes URBAN LIFE RURAL LIFE The Balkans; What about towns and cities? With populations so low, compared to Obviously the larger the population of modern levels, and with towns much France also in- a region, the larger they are likely to be smaller as a percentage of overall popu- cludes the Low – but there are limits. lation, what was the countryside like? Countries Until the agricultural and industrial People tended to cluster together, so Britain includes revolutions beginning in the 16th cen- population densities could be quite all of the British tury AD (at least in Europe), 80-90% of high on a localised basis – but, overall, Isles the population of a region were directly the landscape was much less populated Germany also in- involved in the growing of food. All than we take for granted today. cludes Scandina- non-farming specialists come from the As late as the 15th and 16th centuries via remaining 10%, overwhelmingly con- large swathes of western europe were Russia also inc- centrated in cities covered by (relatively) trackless “forest ludes all Slavic Consider this: food could be economi- primeval” – with islands of civilisation areas cally transported no more around 20 scattered amongst the trees. Poland also inc- miles (normally much less) by land, so Southwest Asia and North Africa were ludes Lithuania towns and cities not on navigable rivers rather different – because the process or seaports will be surprisingly small. Asia Minor also of civilisation had been underway there includes Syria, Late Republican Rome probably had a for much longer. Egypt, and North population of 500,000, which may have Goats, charcoal burners and farmers st-2nd century Africa. reached 1,000,000 by the 1 had mostly deforested the “Middle AD. Constantinople eclipsed Rome amd East” by the 2nd century BC (even in also reached a population of 1,000,000 Greece land degradation was well at its height. under way by the 4-5th centuries BC. Chinese cities, probably several of them at a time, also achieved these magnit- METROPOLI AND MARKETS udes. Baghdad may have reached a The huge port cities such as late Imp- million under the Caliphate. erial Constantinople, Islamic Istan- bul or early Imperial Rome imported For the rest? By the 15th century AD the largest cities in Europe were food, by sea, from as far away as around 20-50,000 (Cologne and London Egypt and North Africa. The exist- were both around 20,000; Rome and ence of these monster cities skews the Paris were possibly nearer 50,000), “average” distance from which cities with Istanbul c. 400,000. in Europe drew their food supplies – mostly it was no more than 5-10 miles! – 10– –10 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM The long term effects of farming, and of civilisation generally, is why much of DEMOGRAPHY the Middle East, North Africa and In modern times we are used to women Greece are such a barren landscapes living longer than men and that, at today – 2500 years or more of deforest- birth, there will be more women than ation, over-grazing and erosion men (the normal ratio is 104-105 fe- But, as late as the end of the 18th male 100 male babies). century AD the majority of the world Until around age 14 this birth ratio was still a relatively untouched and remained mostly static, but once a certainly mostly untamed wilderness! woman was old enough to be married Since then, with the massive and things changed. continuing increase in human numbers Dramatically. and the need for ever increasing amounts of farmland and grazing land Between the age of 14 and 40 the figure to provide the food that they need, the reversed and there could be as few as “wilderness” and its denizens have 67-77 females for every 100 males. been in a state of headlong retreat. What was the problem? DEALT WITH AS WOLVES ARE ... Well, the single biggest killer of women Wolves and Bears were a real danger until very late in the 20th Century was, to outlying villages and, in bad win- as it has always been pregnancy, child- ters, even smaller towns (packs of birth, and related complications. With wolves harassed Paris in 1420 and pre-modern medical technology having 1438!) – and, of course, to anyone who children was both almost impossible to found themselves between lodging avoid as well as extremely dangerous. places while on a journey – through- out the whole of Europe (though LIFE EXPECTANCY largely exterminated from the British Life expectancy in pre-modern times Isles by the later middle ages). was an average of 30-40 year. Wolves remained a problem in some Most deaths occur in the very young areas of Europe (not just backward and the very old – and this was an th parts!) until the late 19 century AD. extremely important fact. LIONS, TIGERS AND ELEPHANTS ... The death rate for babies under five Go back further and the world was was so high as to drag down the average. even more “wild” – the Middle East- ern elephant was hunted to extinction As late as the 16th century AD, 25-33% in ancient times (though the North all babies died before their first birth- African elephant survived until the day; of all babies born in a given year, time of Hannibal), as was the North only 50% could expect to live to age 20. African-Ethiopian-Middle Eastern- Some historians have suggested that Asian Lion. Herds of wild Horses wealthy families employed wet nurses roamed the eurasian steppes – and, of and nannies partly as emotional self course, the veldt of Africa was covered defence. Distancing the child that, all by vast herds of all sorts. too often, would not survive. THE HUMAN HERD ... Only when children reached age 5 did Historically the Fertile Crescent crop their parents begin to take a personal package supported a population den- interest in them (“Oh, you’re still sity of between 10 and 50 per square around! Well, better start schooling!”). kilometer. Medieval France, blessed with an abundance of arable land, Female life expectancy was especially managed 40/km²; Germany and Italy, affected by increased vulnerability to less well endowed, 33½/km²; the Brit- disease resulting from the stress of ish Isles scored just over 16/km² (most repeated pregnancies and childbirth in England and Wales). – but in some pockets males still died more quickly and their Average urban population density in could be a surplus of widows western europe was around 150 per in some age groups. hectare (15000/km²).

– 11– –11 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM Overall, however, women did not live When did Childhood formally end? as long as men. Well, there was nothing at all like the After these initial years, the chances of in-between status of “teenager” that someone reaching an age in excess of exists today – you were either a child, 30-40 was much improved, though and treated as one, or you were an adult. much fewer would reach ages in excess Most commonly males and females of 50-60 than do in modern times, and were counted as being adults on or few indeed reached their biblically around their thirteenth birthday, and allotted “threescore years and ten.” many pre-modern socio-legal codes use this as the cut-off point for the begin- CHILDHOOD ning of adulthood. In pre-modern times, childhood was Why the thirteenth birthday? Simply very short – assuming that a child because at around that age both males survived to have a childhood. and females are likely to be able to do a For all children the first few years of full adult day’s work, or something life tended to be very similar. Babies reasonably close to it. And, of course, were generally wrapped up tightly in for the girls, it was around the earliest cloth windings (“swaddling clothes”) to time that they were likely to start their keep them immobile until they were periods – traditionally the definite sign weaned, if not longer. Sometimes these that a girl was now a woman. windings would incorporate a board to Of course, as social complexity keep them straight as well, especially increased, the need for ongoing learn- for the children of the poor. ing to acquire the increasingly complex Wealthier families gener- skills that civilisations were developing ally had a servant to tend meant that the age of effective adult- to their babies, but in hood did then, and still does today, poor families the mother continue to increase! (or an older daughter) would carry it every- GRANDPARENTS where, strapped to their Some prehistorians and anthropol- backs or laid down near ogists have suggested that one of the where they worked. reasons for the boosted replacement Once a child was weaned, rates that kick in around 10000 BC it was allowed slightly goes beyond the obvious effects (and more freedom and prob- benefits thereof) of agriculture and ably enjoyed, briefly, a animal domestication/herding is the period something like a development of grandparents. modern childhood. The theory goes that the increased In poor families, how- resources available meant that the ever, they will all too older members of the community soon be given simple could remain valuable even after they tasks to do to assist the were too old and infirm to hunt, gath- father or mother in the er, herd or farm full time (or at all). running of the household Their existence meant that they could or in the operation of the act as child minders for their still family business (farming, active adult children which, in turn, trade, craft or whatever meant that the children they looked it might be). after had higher survival rates. Certainly, in all families, Their continued survival meant that rich or poor, a child will the community as a whole also contin- be either started in its ued to benefit from their experience, formal “education” or which could be passed on to future “craft training” by the generations, increasing the intellect- time it has reached its ual capital of their tribe or society. fifth birthday, if not somewhat sooner. There is no firm evidence for this, but it seems plausible. – 12– –12 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM DISEASE AND DEATH: BACTERIA, VIRUSES AND HISTORY

When the early hominids started to diverge from our common ancestors WIDE HORIZONS with the anthropoid apes in Africa The tropical savannah was not disease several million years ago, they made a free, and some of the new diseases that momentous decision that is still having our ancestors encountered (and still an effect on the world of today. encounter) there were at least as lethal as those they had been exposed to in The decision in question? To move out their rain-forest homes. of the tropical rain-forest that was their previous home and onto the savannah. However, there were less of them – and the further away these early hominids Why was it such a momentous decision? spread from the rainforests the fewer they were exposed to and the less like- THE HOT ZONE lihood there was of them making the Tropical rain-forests are the environ- cross-species jump to those hominids. ments that are the most densely packed This reduced impact of disease meant with the largest variety of all types of that, the further from the rain-forests living organism that exists. they spread, the more able they were to The perfect breeding ground for all out-compete the local species. sorts of parasites, bacteria and viruses. This was a major, though unforseeable, Many varieties. In massive numbers. evolutionary advantage and is probably Many of these micro- and macro-par- one of the major reasons for the success asites can easily survive in the hot, wet, of the hominidae family. environment in a tropical rain-forest, It also explains the lack of demographic even outside of their normal host (or change in Africa – the maximum pre- hosts) – and this is a close to perfect modern carrying capacity was far lower medium for inter-species transmission. than elsewhere because this was where the oldest diseases infecting humans LEAVING HOME also originated! When our precursors left the rain- It also explains the reasons tropical forests, they largely left behind the dis- rainforest-like environments are eases that they were already commonly sparsely populated even today. afflicted by, as well as an environment where inter-species disease trans- ENDEMIC VS EPIDEMIC mission was likely – and against such An endemic disease is one which is diseases they had no innate defences. constantly present in any place, as Without pre-existing immunity, such distinguished from an epidemic dis- new diseases result in high mortality ease, which prevails widely at some until one of two situations arise – one time, or periodically, and from a sporadic disease, of which a few inst- * all possible hosts were dead ances occur now and then. * all possible hosts had survived and Endemic diseases are often those developed an immune response. that have reached a state of equilib- An organism’s to a new disease is either rium in the target species, and which to reach equilibrium (becoming endem- do not generally cause many deaths. ic) or to develop an immune response Epidemic diseases are often those that provides partial or full immunity that have not reached a state of equil- (normally passed on in the womb or ibrium in the target species, and during breast feeding). which tend to cause many deaths. – 13 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM SOCIAL FACTORS DIRECTIONS For many diseases death rates are The trend of most diseases over time is boosted by social breakdown – people for them to become less lethal, if not die from lack of basic care when less infectious, reaching an equilibrium friends and family abandon them and in their host population (and food even the state is overwhelmed. source – an important consideration). This is especially so with “virgin field” As far as Evolution goes, such a move epidemics – diseases appearing for is in the best interests of the disease the first time. These can have death organism – and of some benefit to the rates of 60% or more, yet drop back to host organism as well. 10% or less with basic care. This is certainly the case with diseases Some religious “rituals” also seem to that become endemic, though not nec- have been developed (or to have pro- essarily with those that remain epi- vided a survival advantage) to deal demic (or even sporadic). with disease transmission without anyone ever really understanding An obvious example of this progression why the practises were effective. are the so-called “childhood diseases” (Measles, Mumps, Chicken Pox etc.) In other situations, these selfsame which were, when they first appeared practices could have the opposite into an unexposed population (“virgin effect and actually spread diseases. field”), mass killers on a par with Smallpox or the Plague (however, see ORIGINS the Social Factors box). Most human diseases are diseases of The scientific evidence suggests that it civilisation – they require large takes 6-8 human generations (150-200 numbers of people living in close prox- years) for a new disease to mutate imity to breed and spread, helped by enough (or for human hosts to develop pre-modern living conditions which are a continuing immune response) for normally massively sub-standard in the such a balance to be reached and the area of public health. disease to become endemic. In fact, the biggest single factor Of course some diseases do not make involved in the increasing average life this change, either failing to make the expectancy of human beings over the cross-species jump permanently, effec- last century or so (the biggest increase tively die out after one (usually) app- in history), has not been better medic- earance (O’nyong-nyong fever, and, ines or improvements in medical possibly, the Spanish Flu) or they be- science but simply improvements in come (or remain) epidemic and disapp- public health and sanitation! ear back into their animal reservoir until conditions are right for them to CIVILISED DISEASES re-appear (Bubonic Plague). Medical historians believe that almost “An infectious disease which immu- all human diseases are the result of nises those who survive, and which re- cross-species jumps – either from our turns to a given community at intervals rain-forest heritage (for the oldest of five to ten years, automatically be- diseases, such as Malaria) or from more comes a childhood disease.” Plagues recently domesticated animals (such as and Peoples, William H McNeill Cowpox and Smallpox, though there is considerable scientific controversy as to Many familiar diseases are historically what the exact relationship between quite recent – Mumps can only be cer- the two diseases is). tainly identified (as the plague that hit Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian This jump is not War) from c. 400 BC, Leprosy (though always successful – in ancient times many disfiguring skin Ebola (too lethal were called “leprosy”) only appears c. too quickly) or 200 BC, Epidemic Polio c. 1840 AD. SARS (sorta lethal, and slightly infect- And, of course, AIDS only c. 1959 AD. ious).

– 14– –14 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

SOCIAL COLLAPSE ... MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS The arrival of a new epidemic disease There is evidence to (or a new series of epidemic diseases) suggest that diseases can be so devastating as to have require a minimum important and obvious effects on the population base to be- society as a whole. come endemic. Mea- sles, for example, re- The plagues that hit the Roman world quires a minimum of in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD effectively sounded the death knell of 7000 susceptible the old pagan religions. people in close prox- imity all the time to There were several factors involved in remain endemic. this – the pagan religions had no theological explanation for these Since it is endemic, plagues and, worse, no effective normally only chil- words of comfort for those who end- dren are the sus- ured and survived them. Christianity ceptible. For 7000 non-immune chil- did have those things. dren to be available constantly an overall population of between 300,000 Also many could be saved by quite and 400,000 is required. This is a reas- simple nursing care – care that was onable sized city! seen as an important part of a Christian’s duties to his fellow man. Where the required numbers were not available (in rural areas or smaller Pagans often simply fled. Christians, towns), then Measles is epidemic and more often, remained. Theologically, must be brought in from outside. the Christians believed that they were doing god’s work – Pagans had Other endemic diseases are harder to no such comfort. pin down, but there are hints that, at least in the earliest historical times, a Those who survived not only felt a minimum of about half a million people debt, but also a sense of solidarity in close(ish) proximity was necessary. that the pagan “religions” simply could not match. A possible reason for the slow spread of endemic diseases beyond their region of So Christianity survived and grew origin is simply the low population den- and paganism was eclipsed. sity areas bordering major civilisations. ... IN MESOAMERICA Where such regions of sparse pop- Something similar happened in the ulation existed they acted as protective Americas where the nativeto 80%, buffers for the bordering civilisations. often within a single generation of IXED CONSEQUENCES first contact, while europeans were M As human populations grew and their remarkably unaffected. endemic diseases a became more com- Obviously the “gods” of these new- mon, these diseases expanded geo- comers were far deadliery, and more graphically. They inevitably reached partisan, than the native gods, so it other civilised regions with different was a matter of survival to appease disease backgrounds. and worship. This meant die-backs, sometimes quite Even the most advanced Indian massive, as both communities had to societies collapsed, demoralised by come to some sort of ecological balance the massive diebacks – and this, as with these “new” diseases. Three major well as the religious need to convert, examples of this intermixing are resulted in complete subservience to readily apparent in history – the newcomers. The recurrent plagues (not After all, they were not subject to the satisfactorily identified) that hit the same “wrath of god” that the Indians Mediterranean world in the 2nd-3rd were, and therefore must be the “fav- centuries AD, causing a die back of oured” of god! 25-30% (partly causing the collapse Or so the surviving Indian populat- of the Roman Empire in the west). ions believed. – 15– –15 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

TIME TRAVEL IMPLICATIONS person there sickened and died – the The disease strains time travellers only people allowed access being con- have been exposed to will not necess- victs collecting the dead or distributing arily be the same strain the locals food. have – which may mean that both Since towns were not self-sufficient, groups are subject to “virgin field” and relied on daily markets for their epidemics (just as immunisation food supplies, a plague could make against this year’s influenza provides peasants unwilling to bring fresh pro- little or no future resistance). duce to the town’s regular markets, a The recurrent outbreaks of the great inconvenience at the very least. Bubonic Plague in the 14th and 15th centuries AD, causing a die back of MALNUTRITION 25-40% in Europe (also die backs of This is a general problem in pre-mod- similar severity in Asia). ern societies, and an important factor The repeated massive die backs in the spread and lethality of disease. caused by the arrival of the Outbreaks of epidemic disease comm- combined Eurasian disease pool in only (though not only) occurred in con- the Americas, from 1492 onwards – junction with crop failures and famine around 70-80% within approx- – as malnourished immune systems imately a century. were less effective. FLIGHT OF THE WEALTHY Even in a “good” year in a pre-modern The wealthy often simply flee epidem- society a normal person’s diet was ics, abandoning the towns (the only marginal, and “regular” diseases which places with a large enough population kill only those already sick today would to support the epidemics anyway) and also be major killers. fleeing to their country estates where NIMAL ISEASES less crowded conditions, better sanit- A D ation, and a degree of isolation provide Many, if not most, human diseases considerable protection ... for people were originally animal diseases and whose better diets mean their immune have been “acquired” post-agriculture system is operating one more than half when the increased population dens- its cylinders as well! ities, human and animal, in close prox- imity vastly increase the chances of This flight of the wealthy has a major cross-species transmission. impact on civic life – these are the ruling and governing classes. Such diseases are most often quick act- ing and quite virulent, whereas those If the Mayor and Council flee, and all diseases that have long been associated their main bureaucrats as well, then with, first, proto-humans and then hu- normal business becomes difficult to mans per se, are slow acting and much conduct. Such behaviour was common. less lethal (at least in the short term!). PLAGUE RULES Civilisations that also have large num- Normal life in an epidemic affected city bers of domesticated animals tend to be was all but impossible for other rea- the unhealthiest (such as, for example, sons. A curfew kept all but a few ess- Europe as against, say, Mesoamerica). ential workers indoors between dusk and dawn (those Priests and Phys- Strangely enough this has proved to be icians who have not fled and, of course, to the long term advantage of societies the convicts collecting the developing this civilised lifestyle – an bodies of the dead). advantage that is often ignored or mis- understood. Any household with a AQUEDUCTS AND BATHS plague victim inside Roman cities were healthier than was required to seal their successors for the simple reason itself up and remain that the Romans provided high levels sealed until a cer- of public health infrastructure – clean tain number of water, flush toilets, public baths etc. days had passed But they really didn’t understand after the last why it was effective. – 16– –16 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

RACIAL DIFFERENCES ... populations of domesticated animals What about all those pointy eared or and were extremely vulnerable to Eur- big bearded types popular in fantasy asian diseases brought to the americas worlds? What diseases do they have? by the Spanish and Portugese. Well, the most obvious answer is if The result? A 90-95% dieback of Amer- there are “half-pointy ears” or “half- ican indian populations within a cen- big beards” then the pointy ears and tury of the first contact with no similar big beards are human. dieback amongst the invading Europe- Being able to interbreed and produce ans (or back “home” in europe. viable offspring capable of repro- ANIMAL ORIGINS duction is an indication that pointy As indicated elsewhere, medical scien- ears and big beards are not different tists believe that most diseases were “species” merely different ethnicities. originally diseases of animals and So they will respond to diseases like crossed the species barrier in past humans – with one possible variation. times, though this can still happen and Some human ethnicities in the real the fear of what could happen when it world have genetic adaptations to does is the basis of the overhyped fears some diseases (sickle cell anaemia, of SARS and Bird/Avian Flu. for example vs. malaria), so it is poss- SOME ANIMAL DISEASES ible that this may apply to some of the Measles is probably related to Rinder- diseases that exist. pest, a disease of cattle; Tuberculosis However, it is not likely that any such is also originally a bovine disease as is immunity or resistance will apply dis- Smallpox (a mutation of Cowpox or eases that have not been long vice versa); Influenza is originally a epidemic amongst a population. disease of Pigs and/or Ducks and Per- The reverse is true as well – ethnici- tussis is common to Pigs and Dogs. ties other than pointy ears and big Malaria seems to have originated in beards will be unlikely to have resist- birds. The Bubonic Plague was orig- ance or immunity to diseases that inally a disease of small rodents, and affect the pointy ears and big beards! was so devastating in Europe because the Brown Rat, the main carrier, was However, they also have some immu- killed by disease and the fleas that nity to them, so when a society with carried the infection spread to humans. such a background comes into contact AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE with societies without such exposure, One theory for the end of the Plague their diseases kill more than any inter- epidemics is that the European societal conflict does. (Brown) rat was exterminated by the Nomadic herders, even though they disease and replaced by the Norway have close contact to larger numbers of (Black) rat which hosts the disease but animals, do not have the same level of is immune to it ... and so changed from exposure/immunity because their com- a mass killer to an occasional one. munities are not large enough for inter- Another theory is that better nutrition human transmission to occur. and the increasing number of brick and Hunter-Gatherer societies have neither stone built homes reduced the chances the density of human–human contact of contracting the plague in two differ- nor the closeness of animal–human ent, but equally effective, ways. contact to develop such immunities. The last mass outbreak of the Bubonic Finally, societies that have high den- Plague in northwest europe was the sity populations but who do not have Great Plague of London in 1665. high densities of domestic animal pop- Since then, major plague outbreaks ulations are also less “disease exper- have been confined to the less ienced” and vulnerable. developed parts of The classic example of this is when the the world. They dense urban populations of Mesoamer- were, even then, ica and the Andes. They had no dense nowhere like the

– 17– –17 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

mass killer that the Black Death was in HEALING MAGIC & DIVINE FAVOUR the 14th century AD. If you are looking at a world where There are typically no more than 10 “magic” (or “divine power”) allows case per year reported in the US healing spells/miracles, is the infor- (mostly in southwestern states border- mation herein irrelevant? ing Mexico) and, worldwide, an average Probably not. In most fantasy based of 2000 cases per year (China, Congo, game systems healing spells or mir- India, Madagascar, Mozambique, acles are severely limited – so severely Myanmar (Burma), Peru, Tanzania, limited as to have almost no impact Uganda, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe have on the existence or spread of diseases. reported 100+ cases pa in the 1990s). Think about them – they are rarely available to beginning characters and MODERNITY are only able to “cure” one (or a small The major development in mankind’s number) of diseased people at a time, relationship with disease in the last and there are almost always usage several millennia has been that inc- limitations that mean they cannot be reased travel speeds have brought all of used very many times in a day. the previously isolated disease pools Since the assumptions underlaying into close contact. most roleplaying systems assume As long as they were separated by that the numbers of people with such space and time, the infrequent trans- spells will always be extremely mission of diseases from other disease limited, this means that their impact pools led to massive outbreaks accom- in the face of a real pandemic will be panied by massive die-backs until some virtually nil. They will be able to save sort of eventual balance was achieved – a few of the wealthy, and that’s all. something that did not always occur. But there are more problems. Do Faster travel changed this – making all these “cure” spells/miracles provide the major epidemic diseases of the immunity to the disease they cure? If main disease pools more likely to be they do not then the “cured” indiv- endemic, and develop into childhood idual will likely contract the disease diseases which could be countered by again – especially if the area is increased birth rates, rather than re- suffering from a pandemic! maining demographically disastrous Similarly, do these spells/miracles though relatively infrequent epidemics. “cure” all diseases? Or only known Of course, not all major epidemics diseases? diseases have changed in this way and What of diseases from lands far away they may remain a danger – of sorts. from where the spell was originally However, the development of a scienti- researched? fic understanding of the causes and Or diseases from lands where the means of transmission of diseases and deity responsible for the miracle isn’t the development of public health meas- worshipped? ures to minimise these factors coupled And what about magical/divine dis- with actual treatments for many of eases? Will one college of mages (or them has reduced their likely impact to one group of clerics) be able to count- virtually nil. eract the disease(s) created by an- EMERGING other? All sorts of problems are likely. THREATS In all likelihood “magic” and “divine Thus we arrive at the present – favour” will remain of little interest to a present where the threat of most people – public health measures killer epidemics is outside are going to be more important in the personal experience preventing disease. of almost all of the likely readers of And non-magical and non-divine this book, and un- practitioners will always be more important than wizards and clerics. – 18– –18 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM common even amongst the inhabitants Of course, less likely is not the same as of the less developed parts of the world. “impossible” – but, even if a major epi- But have things changed? Mostly yes. demic disease does appear and spread All the “old” killers have been tamed, if worldwide, it is extremely unlikely to be they have not been eliminated com- as bad as those of the Spanish Flu. pletely (as Smallpox has, theoretically, The Spanish Flu killed 40-100 million been). people worldwide in around nine But new diseases have emerged, and months. The Black Death killed a mere continue to do so, and will continue to 30 million people in Europe from the do so for the foreseeable future. But 14th century, but in multiple outbreaks medical technology is mostly more than spread over 100 years! SARS and Bird a measure for them, but – Flu? Overhyped media scare tactics. – disasters sell newspapers, so we have Which is less than relevant if you or wildly exaggerated claims about “po- someone close to you is a victim of a tential” killers such SARS, with only “less severe” epidemic that, say, carries 8096 cases worldwide in 9 months, of off a “mere” 1% of world population (64 whom a mere 774 died. A mortality rate million people or thereabouts, at the of 9.6%! A nothing compared to real current estimated world population of killers such as the Spanish Influenza 6.48 billion). (see below)! For example, the most recent “real” Does this mean that there is no pandemic, the Hong Kong Flu of 1968- likelihood of such a disease occurring? 69, killed “only” around 700,000 people worldwide, mainly because of better Not at all! The chances of something public health measures based on better like the Spanish Flu occurring again scientific understanding of how dis- are much less than they once were – eases work and spread. but not impossible. INAL ANDEMIC WHAT’S CHANGED? F P ? The likelihood of a pandemic, or even a Several things have changed to make series of pandemics, having the same the outbreak of new epidemic killer massive die back effects as they did in diseases less likely – pre-modern times is not high at all. There are no unincorporated That any disease would be disease pools left from which an capable of infecting existing disease could come. and killing most of The agricultural revolution of the humanity in a very last 400-500 years has mostly moved short period of time mankind, even farmers, away from is extremely unlikely, close proximity with animal herds in probably impossible. which new diseases commonly arise Assuming naturally occur- (for example, Avian/Bird Flu and ring diseases under normal SARS are thought to have originat- conditions, of course. ed in Asian societies where peasants still keep animals in close proximity In the aftermath of, say, a in their homes). massive nuclear exchange, and the consequent breakdown The scientific revolution of the last (temporary or otherwise) of mod- 400-500 years has meant that we ern public health and medical reg- now know the most common meth- imes, then the possibility of pan- ods of disease transmission, and demics increase dramatically. have also developed the public health measures needed to interr- Even so, it is unlikely that they would upt them. be worse than historical ones and, by themselves, are unlikely to wipe The same scientific revolution has out the survivors en masse. led to the development of medicines that can either entirely cure or at The only other possible option least minimize the effects of serious for a worldwide pandemic epidemic diseases. that exterminates humanity – 19– –19 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM really involves human interven- No natural disease fulfills all of these tion in the process – criteria – if it did, then humanity would not be here! BIOWARFARE If you really want a Developing a disease that does have all scenario where humanity the above traits is, despite the scare- is destroyed – or almost mongering of anti-genetic engineering destroyed – by disease, types, unlikely in the extreme to then the only realistic happen by accident; and developing one option is to assume the deliberately also seems unlikely with involvement of some our present state of knowledge and ab- sort of engineered dis- ility (or, indeed, at any near future ease. A bioweapon. level of knowledge or ability). But even that option doesn’t bear too close an examination – at least with our present biological knowledge.

THE FINAL PLAGUE So, let us consider the basic parameters that you will need for such a world- ending plague (or, at the very least, a civilisation ending one) – It has to be close to 100% infectious. If it isn’t, then there is a chance that some people will simply never contract the disease. And there has to be little or no chance of anyone having any “natural” immunity to it. THE LAST PLAGUE ... It has to have multiple modes of Wiping out an intelligent species transmission. with the sort of geographical range and population levels of homo sap- This is required to maximise the iens is, as you can probably guess chance of transmission ... protecting from the notes below, so unlikely as against one mode of transmission is to be effectively impossible. relatively easy. Against several, it is increasingly difficult. Diseases simply do not work the way they would need to to be able It has to have multiple vectors. to do this ... not even genetically If it only affects humans, then when the engineered diseases that we could local population density falls below a reasonably be expected to create at certain level it will not simply fail to our current (and likely future) levels spread further, it will be pooled in the of scientific knowledge. alternative vector and continue to There will be some people who will spread. either be completely immune or It has to be immune to normal who, by luck or design, will not be treatment regimes. infected even though they may not be immune. If standard antibiotics or antiseptics treat the disease effectively, then it Even if the disease is far and away isn’t a threat. If only exceptional and more lethal and infectious than any- heroic measures can treat it, then it is. thing in our historical experience, at some point, the “carrying level” of It has to remain viable in a dormant the remaining survivors (and their state for long periods of time. likely dispersal) will make any So that even where the alternate vec- further spread (and any further tors are not present, the disease re- deaths) unlikely. mains a constant threat. Even multiple diseases won’t likely do any better. – 20– –20 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM IN THE BEGINNING: THE BASIC RULES

So, what can we learn from the The evidence for this is increasingly information in this section, and how there. The development of farming in can it be applied to designing (or the Fertile Crescent followed this redesigning) civilisations? pattern because, fortuitously, the most suitable wild plants were native to the Rule #1: Any intelligent species will region. Those areas that had less develop tools, which are one of the signs suitable wild plants took longer to of intelligence. This often includes the develop a suitably mutated alternative. mastery of fire as a first step. North America, for example, was on the Fairly simple and non-controversial, verge of doing so, only to abandon it in eh? Self evident, even. the face of the arrival of a subspecies of If you don’t have intelligent species, maize adapted to the local climate. then you don’t have civilisation, and if In Australia, the Aboriginal people you don’t have civilisations of some were hampered even more than the sort, you don’t have a game background. North American natives in that their Of course, tools don’t have to be basic raw material was even less obvious. For example a psionic race suitable, but there is evidence to show could have few or no physical tools if that the process was underway in they used mental powers instead ... in several areas well before the arrival of effect, their minds are the tool(s), and the first european explorers. an aquatic race would not develop tools Rule #4: The development of perma- using fire (though they might use nent or semi-permanent settlements subsea volcanic vents to smelt metals, based on agriculture and stock raising one supposes). inevitably leads to the development of Rule #2: Intelligent tool-using species endemic and epidemic diseases “native” living in areas rich in wild foods de- to those settlements. velop semi-permanent, then perma- The requirement is that there be nent, settlements before they develop both agriculture and stock raising (animal domestication) stock-raising on a major and farming (plant domestication). scale. Generally with The archaeological record is large bodied mammals increasingly clear that villages pre- in the mix, but very date both domestication of animals and large numbers of of food plants. The only reason no-one smaller mammals suspected this is simply that farming, and avian species in when developed, displaced everything close proximity to else and its very success meant that the the human popul- farmers dominated the richest lands. ace will do as well. Nomadic hunter-gatherers were soon All except one subset left with marginal land not really of historical civilisa- suitable for farming or hunting. They tions developed both simply could not compete. – the exceptions being Rule #3: The development of perma- the new world civilis- nent or semi-permanent settlements ations of Central and inevitably leads to natural selection of South America. suitable local food plants in such a way Everywhere else that as to make them suitable for farming civilisation developed and, indeed, makes their growth cycle endemic and epidemic reliant on human intervention. diseases largely based – 21 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

on the diseases of the stock animals the POINTY EARS AND BIG BEARDS ... civilisation possessed also developed. Rules #5 and #6 mean that the ever This is not to say that “uncivilised” popular woods dwelling pointy ears areas are necessarily healthier places – (Elves) and cavern dwelling big tropical rainforests most certainly are beards (Dwarves) simply don’t make not. However, with lower population sense the way they are often presented. densities (both of humans and domest- All those snooty aristocratic Elves icated stock animals), they mostly are. and their “highly civilised” cultures – The creation of civilised “disease pools” well, back home, who produces what seems to require a minimum populat- they eat? Who creates the artifacts ion, in close proximity, of around 250- they use – and who feeds those artifi- 500,000 people. cers? The answer, all too often, seems to be ... “Uh ... Uh ... Uh ... !” Such a “disease pool” is important for the expansion of civilisations. As for the all those blue collar Dwar- ven metal (and other) smiths ... where Rule #5: Population dense agriculture do they get their food from? trump population diffuse nomadism You could argue they trade their (hunter-gatherer/herding ). Always. smith-work for it. But that begs the Farming always allows a greater pop- question, “ ... how did they feed them- ulation density than hunter-gatherer selves while they were developing (or even nomadic herder) lifestyles can those skills?” support, even in the richest of lands. There are ways around these Population density also means disease, “problems” – and ways that do not and this is another advantage for the require some magical or theological agricultural civilisation. deus ex machina. But they require a For example, groups living in woods or level of thought (or detailed social and forests are unsustainable in the long cultural description) beyond what is term against full time farmers, and the often provided in game backgrounds. same applies to groups living in Rule #6: Civilisations are cultures that caves/caverns. create cities. This requires (and im- This is based on sheer numbers but, plies) division of labour and specialisa- also, on the diseases that the populat- tion. Cultures that do not have cities ion dense agricultural societies bring are unlikely to be able to support a with them. Diseases that their low civilisation (certainly, there is no his- population density forest-woods-cave torical precedence for such a situation). dwelling brethren simply do not have Cities require large rural populations and, consequently, from which they die to support them. Until modern times in huge numbers. (the 19th century, really) cities only There might be exceptions, but they maintained population levels and grew would be exceptional. There would have in because of migration from outside. to be some mechanism that would exp- Inside? lain how the woods/cavern dwelling More people died than were born. group managed to obtain as much food as regular farming groups from an Without large populations your society environment that simply does not allow will have minimal division of labour, for intensive agriculture. which means that very few (if any) people will be able to specialise in a Numbers are king, in the long term. particular process or skill. And even in the medium term.

– 22– –22 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM And specialisation is the basic require- ment for a civilisation to progress, giving it increasingly large competitive advantages over societies with smaller populations and fewer specialists. It is politically correct for some prim- itive hunter-gatherer societies to be called “civilisations.” Resist the tempt- ation, no matter how worthy, they are cultures. Rule #7: Once a culture has developed farming, populations do not remain low All to one son? Or equal amounts to all? and geographically limited, they ex- Before Napoleon, the first method was pand to the limits of geography and the most common in France; after Nap- resources available. Much more quickly oleon, the latter was. Hence the strange than you would think. and unproductive size of most French European populations expanded to the farms. maximum carrying capacity of availa- This means it is unlikely in the extreme ble farmland/agricultural technology that any area will remain sparsely within 5-10 generations of its introduc- inhabited (or, indeed, uninhabited) for tion in a given area. The same pattern any extended period of time once an holds for all old-world civilisations intelligent, tool using, species arrives. Inevitably this has social implications. Even massive wars do not retard this Once all the available fertile land is in drive to populate for long, if at all. use, how do you split it up between the For pre-agricultural societies this pro- family? cess seems to be much quicker than HERDING VS. FARMING CULTURES ... most people would, at first, accept. Historically, nomadic herding cul- For example, calculations show the tures enjoyed considerable success vs. Australian continent could have been sedentary farming cultures – at least entirely populated by a single extended on the vast steppes of the Eurasian family group over the course of 2000 landmass allowed for large numbers (100 generations) years, and that is of nomads. without the benefit of agriculture Mobility gave considerable military (recent discoveries have shown that advantage in pre-modern times when some aboriginal groups were approach- individual differences in armour and ing a proto-agricultural stage of devel- weaponry between sedentary and opment!) nomad cultures was minimal. CONCLUSION However, once gunpowder was So, there you have it. Seven broad rules discovered and gunpowder weaponry to guide you in the first steps of civil- gradually perfected, they were isation creation (or civilisation recon- swamped. struction!). Only those population dense cultures More detailed information, and that could pay for these expensive “crunchier” rules, are provided in the new weapons – and which, not following sections ... Farm, Forge and coincidentally, had large enough Steam. specialised workforces to develop and construct them – were competitive. The nomads, who can do none of these things, became overnight also rans. Or changed into something that was competitive – usually by becoming the dominant ruling class over a sedentary civilisation (the Magyars in Hungary and the Manchus in China). – 23– –23 – FARM

S E C T I O

“Don't pray for the rain to stop; pray for good luck fishing when the river floods.” – Wendell Berry, Farming: A Handbook N “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), 34th US President “You can make a small fortune in farming - provided you start with a large one” –Anonymous “Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” 2 –Will Rogers (1879-1935) FARM, FORGE AND STEAM THE PROBLEM WITH FARMING Most people think food comes from the corner store (or supermarket) and have THE MARGIN OF little or no understanding of how it is produced, or how many people are SURVIVAL involved in producing it. Calculations from the early 18th A modern first world farmer can pro- century show that around 1.5 hectares duce enough food, per capita, to feed of “average” agricultural land was fifty (yes, 50!) or more people; even a needed to support a single person, collectivized soviet era second world allowing for the needs of crop rotation. farmer could produce enough food for The yields gained from the principal twenty or more people. crops, cereals such as wheat and barley Modern mechanised, chemically for the most part, were extremely poor assisted (fertiliser and insecticide) compared to modern results. agriculture is massively productive. The margin was so thin that a single Most of the world does not enjoy these bad harvest was hardship but two con- advantages, and their farmers are secutive crop failures were a disaster. much less productive. Plague. Flight. Even cannibalism The majority of the world is still at Famine was a recurring problem even subsistence levels of agriculture, just as in the richest agricultural regions – the they were in pre-modern times average European country could expect to suffer from a general (i.e. Which means that these farmers nationwide) famine one year in ten, but produce barely enough to feed it could be as often as one year in four. themselves, have enough seed grain left for next year’s crop, and have a tiny Localised famines were as common – surplus. Typically less than 1/10th of and as devastating, given the primitive the amount needed to feed a person. state of transportation technology. In a good year. TAXATION IN KIND On average, pre-modern societies could Taxes and rents (whether paid in kind expect famine at least four years in or in money) were fixed and came off every ten in any given province sized the top, regardless of the state of the area. Oh, and the low level of transpor- harvest. tation technologies in pre-modern times meant that moving grain from In an average year a peasant would regions of plenty to regions of famine have enough to feed their family, for simply wasn’t a realistic option. next years sowing, and a little over. In a bad year? The same Until the great advances in scientific tax was paid. agriculture began to really get under way in the 17th century, for most of the So, paradoxically, any world, this was the state of affairs. It food reserves that took around nine or ten full time existed were control- farmers to produce enough food surplus led by the urban to support one non-farmer. populations! From this tiny surplus all of the ruling In famines large class, warriors, priestly class, and all numbers of starv- the non-farming specialists (smiths to ing peasants would scribes, masons to courtesans) of pre- descend on local modern societies were supported. towns in desperation, begging for food. – 25 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

Recurring famine in Asia it could be SHIT AND HISTORY ... terrifying – national or local famines Artificial fertilisers are only available could be so bad that survivors were in modern times, mainly as a result of forced to resort to cannibalism – as industrial development resulting often as three or four times a century. from the Industrial Revolution. Even the more primitive peripheries of Manure was limited in availability by Europe could suffer greatly – the AD the limited availability of fodder for 1696-7 famine in Finland reduced pop- the animals that produced it – low ulation there (perhaps by emigration as productivity meant only limited num- much as starvation) by 25%-30%. bers of domesticated animals could be Cannibalism was not unknown even in kept. Human manure was used in relatively well off western european some parts of the world (mostly Asia) countries, but was never as widespread but was looked upon with great as it could be in asian famines. suspicion and complete disgust in other parts (especially Europe). But lack of food was not the major problem. In the most widespread fam- But the only way to make it more ines starvation was overshadowed by productive was to use more manure on disease as the major cause of death. it, and the only source of manure was from livestock. Under such circumstances, death could result either from major epidemics that The problem was that they couldn’t tend to arise in hunger-weakened pop- raise more livestock because that re- th ulations or simply by contracting a quired more pasture and, by the 17 “normal” disease that a hunger weak- century AD, they had run out of suita- ened immune system couldn’t fight off. ble pasturage. It was simply more pro- ductive to grow more crops on newly The problem was compounded as epi- cleared land than it was to increase demics were only rarely of one disease, production by a greater use of manure). multiple concurrent outbreaks seen as “one” epidemic were common. AVERAGE CROP YIELDS In Roman and pre-roman times the EUROPEAN FAILURE average crop yields across the range Wheat exhausts the soil in which it is grown were on the order of 2-3:1, or grown to the extent that it cannot be between two and three kilos at harvest grown in the same field two years in a for every kilo sown in average years. row unless artificial fertilisers or large From the harvest totals you had to first quantities of manure are used. subtract the seed needed for next years And that was where whatever manure crop, leaving 1-2 kilos to feed not only was available was the farmer and his family, but the en- used on the tirety of his societies non-farming spe- wheatfield exclus- cialists. A very thin margin. ively – so an acre However, improvements in agricultural of Wheat would techniques and technology meant that, produce twice the from the around the 11th century AD, yield of an acre of yields had improved to a ratio of 3-4:1. Barley, the rev- erse of the modern By the middle of the 13th century crop situation. yields made another sustained jump to a yield of 4-5:1, but only in France and The dilemma fac- the UK (reaching to Germany and Po- ing pre-modern land by the 16th century, but the rest of farmers was that Europe as late as the early 19th century). to produce more food they had to It was this major jump in productivity either bring more that enabled the massive urban growth land under cultiv- rates of the later middle ages and ation or they had which gave rise to the expansion of to make the land towns and cities on a scale not seen more productive. even under the Roman Empire.

– 26– –26 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

More food = more people = bigger cities TIME TRAVELLERS ... Time travel stories are popular genre By the beginning of the 16th century the choices, but do they stack up? UK and the Netherlands made the next big productivity jump to a return of Drop a single character or a small 6-7:1 (only achieved by France, Italy, party into a pre-modern society and Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Scan- they probably won’t over-stretch the dinavia in the 18th century). local food supply. The final pre-20th century improvement But drop a whole town? Especially occurred in the UK and the Nether- one without extensive farming assets, lands from the middle of the 18th centu- into that same pre-modern society ry, when productivity jumped to a 10:1. and the picture changes lethally – as the local food supply is overloaded. The 20th century brought mechanisa- tion and industrialisation processes to Unless the inhabitants can survive agriculture, boosting yields to 20:1 by till they can grow crops – or steal it. the middle of the century and 40:1 by century’s end. Climate change also played some role – periods of more stable or less stable BETTER TECHNOLOGY? weather helped along/retarded crop There is an ongoing and vigorous yields as a whole. debate as to why agricultural output Also important was the introduction of improved so dramatically from classical foreign (non-native) crops into Europe times onwards. which offered improved yields or which Older theories imply it was entirely due grew on land previously though to be to the introduction of the heavy mould- marginal or useless. board plough and the three field system Europe also had a significant advan- of crop rotation while more recent argu- tage over China and Asia because they ments counter the importance of these. used marginal land for raising stock, an Certainly improved ploughs (requiring extra source of protein meat-averse larger teams of oxen, creating more asians did not have and using land manure which boosted crop yields by that, in asia was unsuitable for growing itself!) were a factor in some areas and the staple crop, rice. not in others. GROWING INFORMATION The three field system did provide extra To confuse the issue completely there is forage for the larger plough teams, but considerable evidence from medieval only with certain soil types. Europe that monastic orders that It seems that there were a whole host of owned and directly managed small things, minor tweaks, that, when agricultural lands were able to achieve all taken together, added up to this yields of at least double the expected substantial improvement. maximum (i.e. a return of 8:1).

MAXIMUM EXPECTED CROP YIELD Yield in per kilos of sownkilo seed

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0 Classical 1000 A D 1200 A D 1500 A D 1700 A D 1950 A D 2000 A D 3457102040

– 27– –27 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

The assumption is that the increased CROP YIELDS AND SOWING DENSITY yields were because the monks were The problem with determining crop capable of keeping better records and yields for a given time and place is had the capital available (from be- that there are, until the medieval quests by the faithful) to experiment period, few, if any, records of such. with improved farming techniques. Even medieval records are scattered If the techniques proved to be superior, and incomplete – so the picture we records proved it, and allowed other gain from them must also be tentative. monasteries to learn the same lessons. One possibly significant factor is that Temporal landowners, even wealthy the typical broadcast method of sow- ones who had the capital, rarely had ing crops (taking a handful of seed the literate staff to manage their and casting it outwards in a semi- widely dispersed holdings who could circular motion, to fall randomly on benefit from such knowledge dispersal. the ploughed field) was also asso- ciated with a lower density of planting TRANSPORT per acre than modern cropping. At least as important as the other problems – was transportation. At some indeterminate time and place, probably during the medieval Until the invention of the railroad and period, this changed to a higher den- steam locomotive in the 19th century sity of planting per acre – but still not there were only two ways in which any to modern levels. sort of food could be transported – by land or by water. The obvious result? The same amount of land could now produce more food. Water transport was greatly preferred, and sea transport was greatly pre- The gradual development of agricul- ferred to river transport. tural machinery – the seed drill, for example – meant that crop density LAND TRANSPORT per acre (and yield per acre) could be Land transport involved the use of boosted proportionally. animals, either as pack animals or to draw wagons. And these animals A big result from a simple, change! inevitably consumed food themselves. fodder disappeared and animals had to Worse, since land transport over any be fed from stocks of hay and grain distance and many agricultural and which were finite. industrial processes required animal This simple fact, availability of green power, those animals had to be fed, and fodder, was one of the key reasons, for every hectare of pasturage and every example, why pre-modern military op- kilo of grain provided them was erations ceased in autumn and could effectively a hectare or kilo less not begin again until early spring. available for the human population. SEA AND RIVER TRANSPORT A rule of thumb was that animal drawn Sea transport was much less costly, conveyances carrying food would con- you could transport grain between sea- sume the same amount of food as they ports thousands of klicks apart for less could carry in 200 kilometers of travel. than it would cost to haul it by land for In spring and summer this could be a couple of hundred klicks. minimised by using oxen which could River transport was more problematic do useful work entirely on green fodder than sea transport. Suitable rivers con- available anywhere. necting areas of shortage with areas of Even horses were more economical plenty were not common and the because they could be weather that affected the crops of one fed on green fodder area could result in low water levels in supplemented the river access that would render an with grain. otherwise suitable river unusable. But come autumn Worse, the whole length of the river and winter and was subject to interference and inter- the supply of green diction by land based forces whereas for

– 28– –28 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM seaborne trade only the ports at each end could be easily interdicted. FROM THE MECHANISATION RICE BOWL The final improvements in agriculture A hectare of paddy have all been either through more prod- field will produce uctive crops or more labour efficiency. around 3000 kilos (about 39 Hectolit- The real bonus started during the 17th ers) of rice per an- century at the same time that pop- num, but some ulation increase and improved tech- weight is lost in nology kicked off the Industrial the processing (un- Revolution. like wheat or barley), Even though industrial productivity of so actual food grain was low even compared to the 18th and production is c. 2100 kg. 19th centuries, improved tools dramat- Rice has important advantages over ically increased the productivity of cereals commonly grown in Europe. agricultural labour. Firstly, it can be grown repeatedly on Since population growth had already the same plot of land, year in, year out, caused the conversion of all suitable with no need for crop rotation. Second- land to farming, this meant the number ly, you can get two, possibly three, of people needed to feed the existing crops per growing season! population plummeted. The downside is that it requires lots of The excess rural population were water and this limits where it can be readily soaked up by the cities as cheap grown (all those terraced hillsides are labour and the cost of undertaking all very recent developments, born of sorts of industrial expansion and exper- desperation) and the fact that it imentation also plummeted. requires much more intensive human The innovations that resulted from this intervention in all stages of its growing. improved farm output considerably, Rice (aquatic as opposed to dryland they also provided a vast market for rice, and aquatic rice is the productive manufactured goods and for the food form) was a latecomer on the agricul- needed to feed the increasing number of tural scene, only appearing (probably industrial workers. on the Indian subcontinent) around The result? 2150-2000 BC and reaching China (by sea) within a century or two. A population/productivity explosion that continues even today. Before that time (and after, in northern China) Sorghum, Millet and Wheat AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY ... were the staple crops. One hectare of average farmland produced three hectoliters of wheat These early varieties of Rice were slow from one hectoliter of seed (about 230 to mature, only producing a single crop kilos per hectare) – average food con- a year. Fast maturing Rice was only sumption was approximately 3 hecto- developed after the 11th century AD. liters per person per year. Strangely enough, Japan adopted Rice Therefore, 1 km² of average farmland based agriculture even later. could produce 23 metric tons of It didn't arrive there until some time in wheat, of which 7.7 tons has to be the 1st century AD and did not become reserved as seed grain for next year’s the dominant crop until the 17th crop. century! The remaining 15.3 tons could feed Prior to that? around 65-66 people for a year. Millet, Barley and Wheat were the In a good year. staples and, of course, the Japanese When a 3:1 yield was considered population was quite low compared to “normal.” what was possible after the introduction and spread to dominance And not allowing for spoilage. of rice aquaculture. – 29– –29 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

THE ASIAN MARGINS ... THE NEW WORLD Lands not easily suited for rice The two major food crops of the New aquaculture were mostly ignored and World, maize (corn) and potatoes, were sparsely populated until asian unusually productive compared to any populations reached the limits that of the old world crops. could be supported by existing lands. Their introduction to Europe, though Then they went to massive efforts to slow, allowed population growth be- convert marginal land (by terracing yond that sustainable with improved hillsides for example) before the and more productive traditional crops. introduction of new world crops made dryland agriculture attractive. Despite the conservatism that meant European farmers were slow to accept ORIENTAL CONSEQUENCES these crops as viable and, even when The adoption of rice aquaculture they did, slow to accept them as suitab- provided a more productive and secure le for anything other than animal feed. crop base which allowed for larger non- MAIZE farming populations (and for larger or Maize was probably the last of the simply more numerous cities), but major food crops transformed from a there were serious consequences. wild ancestor by man, the long and The most obvious was that the peasant complex process (see (A)Maizing Orig- farmers who grew the rice were almost ins) probably beginning some time in completely consumed with working it the 2nd-3rd millennium BC, but probab- (it is very labour intensive to cultivate) ly not being recognisably complete until unlike european peasants who had free some time in the 1st millennium AD. time between sowing and harvest. Originating in central Mexico, maize This meant that the european world cultivation spread slowly north and had a much larger labour pool available south, and was, for example, in the for non-agricultural pursuits on a sea- process of being climate adapted to the sonal basis than did the asian world, northern parts of the eastern seaboard partly or completely negating the nu- of north america when the first euro- merically larger populations that could pean explorers and settlers arrived. be supported in the east. Unfortunately, the whole domesticat- The other major problem was that the ion and acclimatization process was so massive success of rice aquaculture slow that it did not allow time enough turned the asian populations away for the development of cities and civilis- from using marginal lands at all while ations outside of mesoamerica, though european populations used them as trends in that direction are obvious. intermittent croplands or, more com- Maize has some admirable qualities to monly, as pasturage for meat and fiber recommend it – the plant is quick grow- bearing animals that supplemented ing and the grain is edible even before their agricultural production. it ripens fully, and the kernel may be In times of real, severe, multi-year fam- stored for long periods ine, asian communities had none of the Yields are very high, a return of 70-80 cushion these marginal lands provided kilos per kilo of seed sown being the European communities and were there- minimum in even the most marginal fore much more likely to be forced (semi-arid) areas, and yields of 150 to the extreme of cannibalism for kilos are a bare minimum for good land. survival. Where incomplete climatic adaptation These factors meant Asian pop- had been achieved, yields were lower, ulations were less flexible and but still attractive. less productive in non-agri- cultural areas than the populace In perfect conditions, yields of up to 800 in the european world. kilos return on a kilo of seed were re- corded in pre-modern times. The major drawback is that it is an inadequate food by itself, the meso- – 30– –30 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

19th century, though then it quickly (A)MAIZING ORIGINS The Teosinte plant – proved to be the became a staple, along with a little ancestral form of Maize by modern milk and cheese to supplement it. DNA testing – is so different from its Potatoes were adopted slowly and with descendant, and so obviously unsuit- great reluctance, despised even by the able (in its primitive form) for agric- desperately poor unless faced with ulture of any sort, it is still a matter starvation. Despite the fact that land of considerable scientific argument supporting only a single person if used not only as to how long it took to be to grow wheat would support two people transformed into Maize by selective if potatoes were grown instead. breeding, but how it was transformed. americans had no suitable large scale CONCLUSIONS source of protein, though varieties of If farming was so obviously superior to beans and squashes were grown in a a life of nomadic hunting and gather- permaculture arrangement with it. ing, why was it not developed sooner, and why was it developed sooner by Apart from game birds and animals, some cultures than others? fish, and the Chihuaha dog, the meso- americans had no real source of animal The fact is, to a hunter-gatherer who protein, so the Spanish were taller and has no concept of agriculture and no stronger than the local indians (on av- idea of how to develop it, it isn’t erage) because they had significant “obviously superior.” quantities of protein in their diet. The peoples who did develop it (rather Maize was grown in some parts of the than acquiring it from someone else) Balkans and Venice as early as the 16th had no idea that they were doing so. century, but it did not become a major They did not simply sit down one day food crop until the late 18th century. and say, “Hmm. Let’s invent agricul- Even when it did “catch on” it was as a ture!” food for livestock and the poor. Peasant They had no idea at all that that was farmers sold their wheat crop, fattened where their actions were leading. It up the stock they intended to sell on it, just happened fortuitously. and ate maize flour. PROTO-AGRICULTURE It was as slow to catch on in Asia, only The late neolithic “hunter gatherers”, adopted (again by the poor) in the 18th century AD when the limits of suitable at least in the “Fertile Crescent” where land (even counting hillsides that could agriculture first developed, already had be, with much labour, terraced) had a sedentary, settled, lifestyle. been reached and the expanding They lived in what would later become population had to feed itself from land some of the richest farmland around. totally unsuitable for rice aquaculture. The land was rich in wild plant foods POTATOES and had an abundance of wild game Potatoes probably originated in the that enabled proto-villages to come into Andes, possibly at high altitudes. being without the need for farming to be invented! Certainly they were a commonly grown food crop by 2000 BC, especially as they The development of these proto-vil- could be grown at the high altitudes lages was the watershed in the develop- that where maize would not grow. ment of agriculture. Despite high yields and an ability to So sedentary town life grow in marginal land, European far- pre-dated and led mers were even slower to adopt it than to the develop- they were to adopt maize, though gar- ment of agricul- deners grew it for its decorative flowers ture, and not the (as they did with tomatoes, which were other way around thought to be poisonous!). as most of us would have It did not become a widespread euro- guessed. pean food crop until the late 18th/early – 31– –31 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM The earliest domesticated crops were But, probably, it was mostly because those that had a single gene, mutant the really good improvements required variant that made them suitable for other developments to be made before domestication and human intervention they were possible, let alone feasible. in their growth cycle – but which was For example, Scythes are far quicker to actually deleterious in the wild version. use for harvesting than Sickles, but For most grass-descended crops they are also less precise and lead to a (wheat, barley etc.) this was a mutation small, but significant, wastage of the that prevented the stalk just below the crop being harvested. ear shattering when the seeds were As long as the productivity of agricul- ready to be scattered. ture was extremely low, any level of If the stalk did not shatter, the seeds wastage was unacceptable. would not be spread. But the mutant Then, of course, a Scythe required more form, where the stalk does not shatter, iron than a Sickle, and was thus more is better for farmers. leaving the grains expensive, and only became affordable on the stalk where they are easily har- when better technical means for pro- vested rather than fallen and scattered ducing iron and steel were adopted. on the ground. Harvesting machines, even horse- These early proto-farmers, by the sim- drawn ones, are even faster and more ple fact that they tended to gather the efficient in their use of manpower. seeds of the plants with the mutation preferentially (since they were easier to But they require mass produced preci- gather), were actually, without know- sion machined parts and lots of iron, ing it, selectively breeding for the muta- and the infrastructure for all that to be tion to become dominant. And that is, of available. course, exactly what happened. These were simply not available to the UNSUITABLE TOOLS early agriculturalists, and the technol- But, even so, the technology available ogies that made them possible required for harvesting, processing, and storing hundreds, or even thousands, of years the grains gained from this process of change, development, and invention took longer to develop than the selec- before they could become available. tive breeding did. AGRICULTURAL DETERMINISM ... Crude, unsuitable plough designs, So, was the development of agric- broadcast sowing, hand held sickles for ulture inevitable? harvesting, labour intensive threshing and winnowing, and marginally The evidence that is available to us suitable methods of grain storage seems to strongly suggest that the were gradually developed, and answer is yes. then remained substantially Everywhere that human beings settl- the same until the “Agric- ed where it has proved possible to ultural Revolution” of the lead a settled, agriculture based, life- th and 16th century (in 15 style, this lifestyle was either fully Europe, at least), some 7- developed or there are (or were) signs 8000 years later. that the local people were moving in Partly this was because that direction. the solutions that were So, yes, eventually, even without adopted and gradually trade and colonisation spreading the improved worked. most useful crops beyond their areas Partly it was be- of origin, it is likely agriculture would cause it wasn’t neces- have developed everywhere it was pos- sarily obvious that sible. alternatives were possi- Of course that development process ble, or needed, or, in- would take much, much longer in deed, would prove to be some places than in others because of better or more economic. the poor basket of potentially domes- ticable plants and animals available. – 32– –32 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM AND GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD For most of the pre-modern period, In fact, the rural poor (including most cereals and vegetables have formed the peasant farmers or serf equivalents) overwhelming bulk of humanity’s diet didn’t eat the wheat they grew, it was for the simple reason that agriculture sold at the local town market to raise provides 10-20 times the food output the cash needed for payment of taxes or per acre than does stock raising. for the purchase of those things that That said, however, until European even the most self-sufficient farming population started to push the absolute family simply could not make. limits of land availability (and the Alternately, if money taxes were not absolute limits of pre-modern agricult- levied then taxes in kind were at a ural techniques) and “wild”, uncult- preferential rate for wheat). ivated, land filled up around the 17th BARLEY BREAD century, meat (from domesticated stock Barley was the cereal grain of choice for or wild game) formed a small, but still making the daily bread of the typical significant, part of the diet of all but the peasant or urban working poor. very poorest. It was also the main crop used for Asia was a different matter entirely feeding horses that were required to do since Asian societies basically ignored heavy work, especially those used in the possibilities of raising stock on land warfare (either for cavalry mounts or to unsuitable for conventional (in their carry supplies), and a bad harvest of case, often rice) farming and left those that crop could considerably reduce the areas uninhabited and unused. possibility for campaigning (in the A well fed modern male requires more northerly parts of europe, how- around 3500-4000 calories per day to ever, Oats tended to replace Barley). maintain good health. THE COST OF A CRUST This sort of caloric intake was probably In good times, the cost of a kilo of bread achieved by the upper classes and well- was an hour’s labour. to-do in pre-modern times, it was not achieved by the lower classes on a If the cost rose above this level, an sustained basis (if at all). ordinary rural peasant or urban worker could economise and survive with some But the rural and urban poor probably little difficulty. survived on no more than 2000 calories per day. If the cost of rose above two hours of However, this figure does not include labour, hunger be- wine or beer, so the dietary deficit was comes a spectre, possibly not as huge as it seems. but most people Still, chronic malnourishment could (even the poor) (and did) have serious consequences for would not starve to populations as a whole (as detailed death (though elsewhere). death rates from disease would rise CEREALS & BREAD as malnutrition In pre-modern times Wheat was rarely begins to comprom- grown by itself, it was normally found ise immune systems). being cultivated alongside fields of Real famine, and other cereals – especially Spelt, Oats or likely starvation for Barley, and Millet. many, is reached when three hours or – 33 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM more of labour is required to purchase a kilo of bread. OTHER STAPLES European diets, though largely based At this point, there is an on cereal grains in their several forms increasing likeli- (bread, gruel, brewed drinks etc.) were hood of an outbreak supplemented by staple vegetables of one or more major such as Pulses, Lentils, Beans, assorted epidemics as hunger varieties of Peas and Chickpeas. stressed immune sys- tems become increas- SEAFOOD ingly less able to cope with Though the Romans and Greeks ate bacteria and viruses that are large quantities of seafood, this was endemic in the local environ- mainly confined to the Mediterranean ment or which have been introduced, and, though important, was never a fortuitously, from elsewhere. staple, the small and enclosed middle Though these figures obviously apply to sea simply couldn't provide the quantit- societies using the eurasian agricultur- ies of seafood needed. al crops and dietary preferences, the In any case, the lack of an acceptable same cost thresholds that determine airtight storage technology combined the level of hunger or starvation would with the slow speed of land transport apply regardless of what society is be- meant that fresh fish was never seen ing examined. far from the coast. The only difference would be in what Even salt fish was not much further the “meal equivalent” of a loaf of barley travelled, unless shipped up a major bread in that society was. navigable river or canal. FAMINE GRAINS With the collapse of the Roman Rice was actually well known in pre- Empire, fish lapsed in importance in medieval europe, imported from the western, non-mediterranean, europe, Middle East, and, after a hiatus during becoming mostly a poor man’s food. the “Dark Ages”, it reappeared by the This did change as the medieval period 14th century (at the latest) and was actually cultivated fairly widely in progressed because the Church inc- parts of the Iberian peninsula, the reasingly enforced Fast Days (around northern Italian plains and parts of the 166 days a year by the late Middle Balkans – but it was never more than a Ages) on which meat or poultry could not be consumed, so fish became the famine grain. accepted alternative. Recipes for “famine bread” include a Even so, it was not until the discovery mix of Rice and Millet flour. and exploitation of the Newfoundland Other flour substitutes used in times of Banks from the end of the 15th century famine included ground up Chestnuts that there was a sufficiency of fish on and Buckwheat, and famine breads the European market. often had a high sawdust content to In Asia, Fish was more commonly con- provide bulk, and were often so tough sumed than meat or dairy products but, that they had to be cut with an axe and even so, per capita consumption was soaked in water for several hours low, perhaps an average of 6 kilos a before they could be eaten. year in many places. During the medieval period, at least, the price of a loaf of bread was often SALT fixed, and enforced strictly, but the Salt is vital to both animals and hum- weight varied according to the price of ans – perhaps more so for humans as it the flour from which it was baked. has always played an equally vital role in the most common processes of food preservation. For the most part this meant that hu- mans have always been fast to exploit any available rock salt mines in a given area and, where these do not exist or – 34– –34 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM are inconveniently far away, they will Sugar Beet, a sub- often resort to evaporative production stitute suitable to of salt from sea water. the Western Euro- In Europe there was often a political pean climate, was dimension to salt production. The vast known by the end th century. bulk of the evaporative salt production of the 16 was concentrated in or around the However it was not Mediterranean, yet the output of these widely grown until industries were increasingly largely the middle of the 18th consumed, from the Medieval period century. Only really onwards, by the fishermen exploiting taking off after the Napole- the northern seas to produce salt fish. onic Wars when advances in agriculture (and a lot of selective The trade in salt was so vital that it breeding) made it economically viable. was allowed to continue even between mortal enemies and even in wartime. PEPPER Pepper was known even in pre-Roman SUGAR AND SPICE times, and was always a great drain on Originally the only source of “sweet” the precious metal stock of the Mediter- things in europe and most of asia was ranean world, so great was the demand. honey. However, once the Portugese opened up This was expensive for the simple rea- the direct routes to the Indies in the son that the harvesting of a hive (whe- 15th century it became more and more ther in the wild, or one kept in a man- common until it lost its “fashionability” made structure) almost always result- and, with a decline in prices resulting ed in its destruction. from sufficient supply, became a spice This changed after AD 1860 when the widely available to all but the poorest. invention of the removeable frame hive COFFEE allowed non-destructive harevsting as Coffee is first recorded in Aden around well as the ability to check for disease. 1470 AD, having originated in Ethiopia For this reason, beeswax was also some considerable time before. expensive and, since the best sources of It spread throughout the Muslim world light were beeswax candles, these were with amazing rapidity, almost every- also expensive and generally used only where by the late 16th century. by the rich. It did not start to penetrate the SUGAR CANE european world until the very end of Sugar cane is native to the Bengal coast the 16th century, but, again, the spread in India and did not arrive in Europe, was rapid. It had colonised all of christ- and then only as a medicinal, until the endom by the end of the 18th century. 10th century, via Persia, which, in turn, acquired it probably by sea trade, with TEA China around the 8th century AD. Tea was known and grown widely in China by c. 400 AD, but did not reach It was grown in Egypt by the 10th Europe until the opening of trade to the century, so much so that cane residue Indies (Indonesia) in the early 17th was used as a fuel to smelt metals, century allowed european merchants to especially gold. trade with Chinese merchants at that It was “discovered” by the Crusaders in intermediate meeting point. the 12th century, from whence its cult- However, it did not really begin to be- ivation rapidly spread to Cyprus, Sicily come commonly available until the lat- and the Iberian peninsula. ter part of the 17th century, and did not Sugar did not have a major dietary become widespread until the early 18th impact until the 17th century when it century ... and did not become the na- reached the West Indies and Americas tional drink (almost!) of the British and the massive production achieved Isles until the later 18th century. there made it more common in Europe, though penetration was spotty until “recent” times. – 35– –35 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

CHOCOLATE The main problem with wine before the Chocolate is, of adoption of bottling and corking the course, native to bottles in the 17th century was that the mesoamerica, but containers (dovetailed and hooped it did not reach wooden casks) commonly used (since Europe until the 17th century, Roman times, at least) were not fully and didn't really become widely airtight, allowing the wine to go sour. popular (except in Spain) until Prior to the storage of wines in wooden th the 18 century. casks, the storage method of choice was TOBACCO the pottery amphora, and though some Tobacco was first seen by amphorae may have been provided Columbus being smoked by with a semi-airtight seal (pine resin, natives in Cuba in 1492, which may be the origin of Retsina) and arrived in europe as a inside and an airtight seal at the neck, botanical curiosity soon this does was not universal. after, It was in use (as There was no certainty that any wine Snuff) as a medicinal by the stored in such containers would not go late 17th century. sour the same way that wine in Chewing and inhaling were, ordinary (unlined) amphorae would. initially, the main ways it This may explain why the Romans was consumed. Pipe smoking abandoned amphorae for wooden casks. did not becoming popular until Some Roman sources hint that ancient the late 17th or early 18th centuries, and vintages were known of and enjoyed, cigarettes were only invented (in the though there is argument as to whether New World) in the early 18th century, these were really what we would and only became common during the understand to be “wine” today). Napoleonic wars. Typically “old” wine was sold for 1/10th Interestingly, governments throughout the price of the current year's vintage. Europe and Asia tried to ban its use almost as soon as it appeared, with a Before the agricultural revolution be- notable and ongoing lack of success! ginning around the 15th-16th centuries, the output of vineyards was not partic- Of course, a suitable alternative was ularly high and, since agriculture itself soon found, and governments either was a marginal pursuit, relatively little taxed the trade directly or sold govern- land could be economically put under ment backed monopolies in it to make the vine. it an attractive economic proposition. But with better technology and prac- THE DEMON DRINK tice, yields rose and, of course, more All but the most primitive cultures land could be spared for vineyards, and have had some form of alcoholic drink so production – and consumption – rose for a very long time and, if not, they dramatically. generally have some other drug that By the Renaissance the common people enabled them to feel better about their of the mediterranean world were drink- often dismal lives. ing an average of around 100-120 liters per year (though, of course, not of the WINE best vintages!). For the Mediterranean world of the classical and medieval period, the BEER beverage of choice was wine, normally Beer is almost as old as Wine, being fermented grape juice (sometimes fer- first discovered by the Sumerians mented date or palm juice), rather than around 5-6000 years ago, and brewed brewed drinks (Beer or Cider). from yeast mixed with Wheat, Oats, In China, wine grapes were first Barley, Rye, Millet and even Spelt, though always mixed with some other imported during the 2nd century BC, but the first definite mention of element for flavour (such as poppy European style wine does not occur seeds, aromatics of various sorts, honey, sugar, bay leaves and more). until the 7th century AD.

– 36– –36 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

Hops were not an ingredient before the EARLY BRANDY DISTILLATION ... 8th century (first mentioned in Germa- This involved the use of open vats of ny) and did not reach the Low Coun- wine being boiled while sheepskins tries until the 14th century and the were hung above them, wool side British Isles only in the 15th. down. For most of the classical and medieval The alcohol, having a lower boiling periods Beer was either unknown in point, would evaporate first and then the lands where viticulture flourished be recovered by removing and press- or was seen as the drink of the poor. ing the sheepskins from time to time. In those lands not suitable for wine No wonder early brandies were rare grapes, the status of Beer was higher, and expensive! though still seen as inferior to wine technique in the 9th century, and the (which was imported for the wealthy). knowledge spread to southern Italy as th CHINESE “WINE” early as the 12 century (but only as a There is no ancient Chinese word for medicinal, aqua vitae [“water of life] “wine,” and the word normally used distilled by Apothecaries). when referring to it actually means Spirits were entirely a product distilled “distilled or fermented.” So most from wine (that is, the products were ancient Chinese texts that seem to Brandies in modern terms) until at mention “wine” are actually referring least the 16th century. to beer, cider, or distilled liquor. Spirits did not reach France even as a CIDER medicinal until the 14th century. Cider was known from ancient times, Spirits only became common in the 16th but was very different from a “modern” century, more common in the 17th, and cider, made by boiling fruit pieces were only widely consumed from the (typically apples or pears) in a vessel 18th (as a result of increasingly efficient with fermented juices. distilling techniques).

These early ciders were extremely ICE WINE popular and Charlemagne passed laws The steppe nomads of central asia to punish anyone who harmed an apple discovered that wine could be “fortified” tree because of the value placed on by being frozen, the water-ice was rem- Perry (the older term for cider). oved, leaving a much higher alcoholic Cider (or Small Beer) made from Cider content, probably some time in the 3rd Apples originated with the develop- century AD. ment of Cider Apples in the Biscay The Germans discovered “Ice Wine” in region of France in the 11th century. the 1700’s – in grapes frozen by an It spread slowly, only reaching early(ish) freeze. Brittany a century later, where the Pressing frozen grapes produces only idea of pressing the apples for juice to 20% of normal, but it is concentrated, ferment was developed, and then to the sweet and can have up to 14% alcohol Low Countries in the 14th century and by volume (2% more than the 12% for Normandy in the 15th-16th centuries. “normal” wines and 4% less than the It was also seen as a drink for those too 18% expected in Fortified Wines). poor to afford wine. SPIRITS Distilled alcohol was first discovered in China some time during the 7th century, probably as an unexpected development of alchemical research or perfume distillation, though whether this was based on distillation of wine or of some brewed beverage is not certain. Islamic alchemists seem to have independently discovered a distillation

– 37– –37 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM ALL IN A DAY’S WORK FARMING: THE BASIC RULES

What can we learn from the Rule#10: The overwhelming majority information presented in Farm? How of pre-modern farmers are subsistence can it be used to update an existing farmers. Lack of capital, human and background – or designing a new one physical, means that they are generally from scratch? unable to undertake even the most ba- Rule # 8: In pre-modern times, farming sic steps to increase the productivity of is an extremely precarious pursuit, and their land. there is no way of ensuring security of The fact is that the low yields of pre- food supplies. modern times were not inevitable. Until the development of improved There was nothing inherently limiting farming technology even the avail- about the technology available – but ability of extremely productive crops the vast majority of the population (such as quick maturing rice or maize) were subsistence farmers who had could not ensure that there would be neither the physical capital nor the enough to eat everywhere. education needed to take advantage of Famine, sometimes to the point where even these basic improvements. massive population reductions occurr- A BALANCING ACT ... ed (on the order of 20% or more) and Rule #9 is true – the rich don’t care if even to the point of cannibalism and the poor starve, but there is a mass suicide, were a regular occurrence balance. The “lesser orders” do have a and could not be guarded against in place – they are, after all, needed to any significant way. do the scutwork and grow the crops that can be taxed to feed, clothe and Rule #9: The rich don’t starve. And otherwise look after the rich. don’t care if the poor do. If too many die – or flee – then the The way of the world is that most land rich will be somewhat discomfited. is owned, or taxed, by the rural nobility They may have to pay higher wages, and gentry and the well-off urban reduce taxes and rents (slightly, and upper and middle classes, and when temporarily, of course), or even (with there are food shortages, these classes extreme reluctance) grant some legal may have to forego their normal levels concessions on status or rights. And of consumption, but they won’t starve. they won’t like doing it one bit. The poor rural and urban workers? They’ll claw back any concessions as They starve or die of the diseases that rapidly as they can. They’ll make sure commonly stalk the starving. the concessions are as localised, limited, and short term as possible. Or they become revolting. If the peasants are revolting? No And if they revolt, the well-to-do crush concessions. No quarter. No mercy. them with the greatest of brutality as Not to the rebels. Possibly to the an “object lesson” so that no other cowed survivors – but only once they peasants will be tempted to do the same. have been taught their place. Some of the wealthy may (and Of course, the rich can’t simply kill all probably will) provide modest the rebels – that would be counter- material aid to small productive. But wiping out an entire numbers of the poor village here or there? No problem! (alms) but they won’t be going Wat Tyler, for example, didn’t survive hungry themselves, his leadership role – and neither did thank you very much. most peasant leaders. – 38 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

THE TRANSPORT PROBLEM ... Even the upper classes often weren’t Land transport was the limiter for much better placed. They may have famine relief – at least until the had the physical capital, but they invention of the steam locomotive. lacked the educational background to be able to grasp the concepts for Why? Well, land transport in pre- even basic improvements to be modern times was based on muscle implemented. power. That meant that the owner of the muscles had to be fed – Those groups in a society who had whether a human porter, a pack both physical capital and educational animal, or a draught team pulling backgrounds needed could, and some sort of wagon or sled. did, regularly achieve crop yields twice the average The result was a practical limit as expected in the period up to the to how far food could be carried – 16th century. at some point the amount consumed by the porter/draught However, even these groups did animal would equal what they not have enough additional could carry. resources to spread these improvements to the less favoured in Worse, the number of draught society. It took millennia for these animals that could be supported in resources to be gradually any region even in non-famine accumulated – but, by the 16th times was limited by the simple century the “take off” point fact that they had to be fed either had been reached and the same crops that humans ate or there was an accelleration in whatever it was that they did eat agricultural yields unlike anything had to be grown on land that could that had been achieved before. not be used for growing crops for humans. Rule #11: It doesn’t matter if there’s an Steam locomotives changed all abundance of food somewhere else if this. They didn’t consume food. there’s no economical or practical way They didn’t require agricultural of getting it here. Famine can be an land to be set aside for their intensely localised thing as well as be- maintenance. ing widespread. They “ate” coal – and coal was a The abysmal level of transportation far more concentrated form of technology in the pre-modern period energy than wood (which required meant that many famines occurred in farmland to be grown anyway) and quite limited geographical areas within coal could be mined in such large a “nation.” quantities by such small numbers There was often plenty, or at least of miners that the food required to sufficiency, in other areas but the cost support steam locomotive tech- (both in money and in resources) of nology was minimal in comparison transporting the food from those areas to the benefits it brought. to the area that was afflicted was Of course, steam engines, their almost always prohibitive. underlaying technology, the tools The only real exception was for those needed to construct them, and the areas close to a seaport – sea infrastructure needed to support transportation being the only real the technology and tools needed to economic option. But even this was construct them were probably not limited – the large scale infrastructure possible at all significantly before of ports and ships suitable for and the 1800’s – or a similar level of intended to carry grain and foodstuffs technology, infrastructure and was limited. support in a created background. What it almost always meant was, Still, they changed the face of again, that the rich survived while the history ... poor suffered. Famine no longer needed to be a common occurrence. – 39– –39 – FORGE

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” Duell, Charles Halliwell (1905-1970), US Commissioner of Patents “What, sir, you would make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her decks? I pray you excuse me. I have no time to listen to such nonsense.” Napoleon (1796-1821) to Robert Fulton “In questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.” Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress. Julius Robert Oppenheimer, US Physicist (1904-1967) “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” Richard Feynman, US Physicist (1918 - 1988)

S E C T I O N

3 FARM, FORGE AND STEAM FROM THE FORGES OF THE GODS The key element in the advance of civi- The theory is that ground up copper lisation, apart from agriculture, was ores were being used as glazes and that the discovery and gradual mastery of the high temperatures accidentally metals, but this was a slow and uncer- smelted the metal, and that things tain process and it took many millennia went from there (the theory that it before the age of metals could, at last, started with rocks around a campfire be succeeded by the age of machines. has been discarded as the tempera- tures achievable, 600-700ºC, are not THE AGE OF METALS enough to smelt copper (1200ºC) Metals were initially used for decora- whereas a pottery kiln easily achieves tion. Neolithic technology was perfectly temperatures exceeding 1400ºC). suitable for proto-agricultural and pro- These developments just “happened” to to-urban lifestyles. occur where existing cultures devel- Only when these proto-civilised socie- oped high temperature pottery kilns ties reached a “critical mass” social (Sumeria and Egypt), so the connection complexity and sophistication that this seems reasonable around the end of the began to change. 6th millennium BC. THE FIRST METALS THE COMING OF BRONZE The first metals used were obviously Copper, by itself, is far too soft for use those that required the least processing in tools intended for extended or heavy – which meant mainly gold (available use, and it was only towards the end of as nuggets and “dust” in alluvial depos- the 4th millennium BC that metalwork- its) and copper (which is also found as ers in the near east made a series of “nuggets” under some circumstances). discoveries that changed this. Neither were really useful for anything Some copper ores contain arsenic and a other than decoration (they are far too copper-arsenic alloy is considerably soft), and they were in limited supply stronger. So, despite poisonous fumes, anyway. arsenical copper spread widely. USEFUL THINGS With the benefits of alloying having been firmly established, ancient metal- However, neolithic peoples eventually workers seem to have experimented discovered how to fire pottery (probably with others. They eventually stumbled by accident) and, in turn, developed across tin which, alloyed with copper, pottery kilns which achieved tempera- reduces the difficulty involved in cast- tures high enough to smelt copper ore. ing copper, reduces the melting point of This, in turn, probably by accident, led the alloy to around 950ºC, and produces to a great increase in the availability of an alloy, Bronze, that is many times metals more suitable for day to day use, harder than copper alone, especially starting with the discovery of copper. when heat treated.

THE BRONZE AGE ... Archaeologists estimated that the native production of Bronze in Egypt during the “Bronze Age” was on the order of four tons per year. This meant that most of her requirements had to be imported from elsewhere. In contrast, the eastern Alps probably produced four times as much per year. – 41 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM This development took time, a long time, and, as it turned out, depended on a massive supply of cheap fuel. But by the time most of the wrinkles had been worked out, as we have seen above, supplies of the cheap fuel of the classical and medieval world, wood and charcoal, were rapidly being exhausted. To give an idea of just how rare iron was, the entire Roman Empire in the 1st century AD probably produced no more than 20,000 tons of iron a year! THE PROBLEM WITH TIN Even at the beginning of the 18th cen- The first tin-copper Bronzes appeared tury european blast furnaces were only in the ancient near east c. 3500 BC and, used intermittently because of prob- despite the expense of tin (even today it lems in acquiring enough suitable fuel costs eight to ten times what copper and transporting it to the furnace site. does), there were soon major Bronze industries in Sumeria and Egypt. It is estimated that each such installa- tion produced no more than 150-200 Not only was the expense of tin a signif- tons per year (about two tons per firing icant factor, the fact that there are no per day, meaning that the furnaces sat known significant deposits found any- idle for most of the year). where in the area was also important. Even as late as 1800, worldwide pro- There is evidence of alluvial tin depos- duction of iron and steel was only its somewhere in the middle east, but slightly over a million tons, and only no-one has found the main ore bodies. exceeded two million tons around 1840. Deposits exist near Aswan, Egypt, but were unknown in ancient times. In the 1970s Europe alone produced 720 million tons of iron and steel! It is thought tin had to be imported from as far away as Cornwall and, pos- Its weight and the lack of cheap trans- sibly, Hungary, even Asia (Burma, port also limited its spread, a problem Thailand or even, possibly, China). not overcome till the late 18th/early 19th century, with the increasing spread of This led to the collapse of the civilisa- steam powered ships and locomotives. tions of the eastern Mediterranean when the Sea Peoples disrupted the tin STAR METAL ... trade c. 1200 BC. Bronze was replaced The earliest known iron implements what by “obviously” inferior iron. actually predate the “iron age” by several thousand years and have IRON been dated to 6000 years ago (i.e. About 4000 BC) in finds from as far Only in the 16th and 17th centuries with apart as Sumeria and the Nile Valley. the adoption of coal as an industrial fuel and increased mechanisation of The high nickel content of these industrial processes did iron and steel artifacts indicate their non-terrestrial start to become ubiquitous. origin. They were from meteorites and the metal could not be, at that The Iron Age began c. 1500-1200 BC time, be gained from any other source. (probably in Anatolia, with the Hit- tites), but this simply meant that peo- Around 3000 BC a scattering of iron ple had learnt to smelt and work iron, artifacts begin to appear in the near not that it came into widespread use. east that are not meteoric in origin and it is thought that these were Part of the problem was that iron and probably chance products of copper steel production required the develop- smelting. ment of entire new technologies to be exploited efficiently, technologies that Certainly, the technology of the time simply didn't exist it was first figured was not up to reliably reproducing the out how to, quite inefficiently, smelt it. necessary conditions, and was not able to do so until around 1200 BC. – 42– –42 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM UNSUITABLE AT ANY PRICE BOG IRON ... One of the reasons for the late domi- One of the common sources of iron in nance of iron and steel was the fact that northern european countries in pre- early smelting methods were only mar- modern times was bog iron. ginally suitable. It is likely to be found anywhere that Melting iron requires a temperature in mountain streams run into peat bogs. excess of 1537ºC, much higher than The iron is concentrated partly by the that achieved in any pottery kiln. fact that bogs are acidic and partly because two of the common What you get at temperatures lower anaeorobic bacteria found in such than this is threads or droplets of pure bogs concentrate the iron as part of iron mixed in with the slag at the bot- their life cycle. tom of the furnace and this has to be beaten and worked free from the These bacteria leave an oily, “bloom” of slag and iron by repeated iridescent, film on the surface of the heating and hammering. water to show the presence of the concentrated nodules that they create. Other problems were that this Wrought Iron was softer than bronze (even when These nodules, around the size of a cold worked), didn’t hold an edge well. pea, can be easily harvested by simply It also oxidised by rusting all the way cutting and folding back the peat through on exposure to the slightest turves – and the best part is that this amount of moisture (bronze oxidises is a renewable resource! with a patina that is airtight and pre- The processes continue as long as the vents more than surface corrosion). bog is there – and the “harvesting” of Some improvements were gained in the the ore can take place about every reheating of the finished ingot, as even generation (20-25 years). an addition of 0.1% carbon “steels” it, Of course, a given bog probably won’t and “steeled” iron is far harder than produce more than around 40-60 kilos Bronze. of iron – and the fact that they were Of course, this was normally only a thin an important source of iron shows layer of “steeled” iron over a wrought just how little iron was actually iron core, rather than true steel. produced in pre-modern times. STEEL The Hittites seem to have discovered, by accident, how to turn iron into Steel (with 0.2-1% or more carbon), by work- ing it in a bed of charcoal and not let- ting it cool down until finished. Steel was far harder than Bronze and held an edge far better. They also dis- covered that cold working steel made it even harder (though brittle). The Romans made the next important technical contribution, they found out how to temper steel, only slightly reduc- ing its hardness while making it far less brittle than untempered metal. The west only developed a means of producing liquid iron, cast iron (2% or more carbon), quite late. This was because the bellows used in western furnaces were of the vertical accordion type which could only deliver a draught of air on the downstroke.

– 43– –43 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

TECHNOLOGICAL BLIND SPOTS ... So, why didn’t the Chinese make more of their early mastery of cast iron? There doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason. Western historians have suggested that the centralised and monolithic Chinese State and Chinese society may have been the reason(s). The argument suggests that, with no significant outside competition, and with a tradition of centralised control, the state organs saw no need for large scale production of iron. All they saw a need for was enough The earliest models were also physi- iron so that every peasant could have cally limited in size as it has to conform the appropriate tools – like comm- to the height of the (normally single) unist apparatchiks and central plann- user pushing the bellows up and down. ing, there was no room for individual decisions or for competition. It was only when vertical bellows were coupled to a camshaft and a water or Innovation was seen as dangerous to windmill that the needed quantities of the social order – which, of course, air to liquify the metal could be was seen as nothing short of perfect achieved, around the 14th or 15th centu- by the bureaucrats who ran things. ries AD (coming into general use even The mass production of cast iron was later – at the end of the 18th century). an innovation and, so the theory goes, it was banned for that reason. ORIENTAL IRON In Europe, the argument continues, Things were very different in the east the many small, competing, principal- where they used the horizontal box bel- ities meant that no State could afford lows which provided air on both the “in” to ignore any useful (or potentially) and “out” strokes, and also allowed un- useful technological advance if it limited scaling upwards in size. wanted to survive – and, in any case, if it did, then the inventor merely had They also started to use coal (and, per- to move over a border to somewhere haps, coke) as an industrial fuel much that was far less picky. earlier than in the west. These factors enabled the Chinese to make massive Such arguments are very eurocentric castings in bronze and also develop cast but may have a germ of truth in them. iron as early as the 5th century BC. Which begs the question, of course, as The Chinese were thus producing iron to why the europeans didn’t pick up items (e.g. buckles and ploughshares) on the asian Box Bellows on which by mass casting and were able to relia- asian cast iron technology was based. bly produce large quantities of steel at Even if they didn’t invent it, there least 1800 years before Europe could. was enough contact between europe Unfortunately, they largely abandoned and asia for key ideas such as print- the whole idea, and, certainly, anything ing and gunpowder to be transmitted resembling mass production. between the two (though the local implementations may well have been WOOTZ WORKS entirely independent) – so why didn’t In India a third method of making steel such a simple, basic, invention with was developed, the “wootz” process such obvious advantages make it? (sealing up small pieces of wrought Perhaps the theory of cultural “blind iron, wood and other plant matter in a spots” and technology cut both way? small crucible and heating it for several And Europe could be as blindly hours until it melted). ignorant as Asia? Seems likely.

– 44– –44 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM The process distributed carbon evenly Access to the mining galleries was through the ingot(s) so created, creat- down circular shafts no more than 1-2 ing superior consistency to anything meters wide and up to 200 meters deep. created by blacksmiths working with These primitive methods meant many wrought iron, and as good as the chi- ore bodies had to be ignored as their nese metalsmiths could create (though rock matrix made them uneconomical it only produced tiny quantities). to mine. All too often, these were the Wootz (Indian) steel was known of, and richest bodies of ore. much desired, in the Mediterranean world from at least the 3rd-4th century PUMPING IRON BC, when it is recorded that Alexander A less obvious problem, but one with the Great received 100 talents of Indian more far reaching and long term ef- Steel (about 570 pounds, or 258.5 kilos). fects, was the lack of any effective and cheap pumping technology. It was possibly independently discovered in the middle east in the 10th This meant once an ore body dipped century AD but, for reasons that are much below the local water table and not fully understood, was lost or could no longer be drained by gravity, abandoned by them in the 17th century. the mine could not be drained easily. It was independently rediscovered in And would normally be abandoned. the UK, at Sheffield, in the 18th century. The ancients gradually developed a whole series of pumping techniques us- MINING ing waterwheels, archimedean screws Another key problem faced by early (found in several large Roman era civilisations and their metalsmiths mines) or treadmills, but, even so, they were the limits of mining technology. could not economically lift water more than 20-30 meters. The most obvious problem was, with no explosives to break up ore bearing rock, This further limited the sites that could miners had to use hand tools, tools be mined and, as “surface” deposits made of wood and bone, then of copper were exhausted over the millennia, and bronze, and finally of iron and made the problem of finding an ade- steel, which could only cut through quate supply of metals a significant one. about 20 cm of hard rock per day. This problem could not be overcome The easiest method was to find ore until a reliable source of high power bodies either in soft rock, which could density could be provided to power wa- be easily removed with hand tools, or in ter pumps – which required the devel- a highly fractured rock matrix which opment of improved metal working could then be further fractured by techniques and more plentiful fuel sup- building fires at the tunnel face. plies to the problem. A fire left burning overnight would The solution? The Atmospheric Engine heat and crack about 30 cm into the of Thomas Newcomen (see the Steam rock face. Though miners threw water section of this book for details) in the on the heated rock face, this was not to 18th century AD. assist in fracturing, it was to cool it down so that they could start work! By the 5th century BC at the latest, more advanced technology ... iron tools instead of bone or stone, for example, were being used to assist in the process, but it was still primitive, hard, and difficult work. Because of the difficulty of removing the rock, shafts, though generally squared off, were rarely more than 1- 1½ meters high and a meter wide, and were often so shallow that miners had to dig while they lay on their sides.

– 45– –45 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM A REVOLUTION IN AN OBVIOUS SOLUTION The obvious solution was a powered METALLURGY machine, but the existing power “Necessity is the mother of invention ...” sources of wind, water or human and/or animal muscle were inadequate. – Plato, “The Republic” The answer was, of course, the steam By the end of the Renaissance, Europe engine. But that required large quanti- was facing a metallurgical crisis. ties of cheap fuel (coal) and cheap and Economically recoverable mines were strong metal (iron). being exhausted and it was increas- What was the problem it was meant to ingly difficult to find the fuel needed to solve? Lack of fuel? Lack of metal? process the metal that was being mined. It seemed as if stagnation was Looks like a circular problem, you inevitable. couldn’t solve any one part because you’d have to solve all the others first! With the benefit of hindsight we know the components for a solution were all So maybe hindsight is missing some of in place, though no-one discovered the the problems? right combination. Nothing is ever as THE COAL PROBLEM simple as it seems, except with the benefit of 20:20 hindsight! Why was coal not being considered as a solution for a cheap industrial fuel? Unfortunately, the problems that had to be overcome required solutions that There were several reasons: some, to do were complicated by the problems. with mining, mentioned above, but there others. To smelt the ore needed required in- creasing amounts of fuel, but the fuel of Most coal has a significant sulphur con- choice was charcoal, and the forest pri- tent and, if used in ironworking, this meval of the classical and medieval makes the iron it is used to smelt brit- eras were but a fading memory in west- tle and useless. ern Europe. Worse, coal is much softer than char- coal, and tends to collapse into a In England, laws against burning trees slumped, cloggy, mass at the bottom of for charcoal to fuel blast furnaces un- the furnace, choking and requiring ex- less they were coppiced (plantation pensive work to be removed. grown) were being passed as early as the 16th century.. COKE ADDS ... The solution was another “obvious” one, A replacement fuel was badly needed, use coke (coal partly burnt in a low but the “obvious” choice (which was, of oxygen atmosphere, just like charcoal). course, not obvious), coal, could not be mined in the quantities required be- But it took around a century from the cause economically recoverable depos- first large scale use of coke (in the Beer its of coal were being exhausted as well! industry, for drying hops) to its adop- tion by Abraham Darby of the UK as a To access this fuel, and increase the fuel for the smelting of iron (1707-9). availability of metals, some sort of eco- nomical pumping mechanism had to be Exactly why no-one before him had put discovered. the ideas together is unclear – except in noting that 20:20 hindsight is a won- derful thing. But it was a major step along the road to the Industrial Revolution.

OLD COMMIE JOKE “The USSR has huge machines that dig coal and iron from the ground which we then send to huge factories to be made into huge machines to dig coal and iron from the ground.”

– 46– –46 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM METALS AND INDUSTRY THE PRIMACY OF STEEL!

What are the lessons of Forge? And how This only starts to change around the can they be used to update or improve end of the medieval period, speeds up a campaign? through the renaissance, but only really starts to end at the very Rule #12: Never underestimate the beginning of the industrial revolution. power of human stubbornness, sticking with “what was good enough for grand- Even in Asia, where more advanced pa” unless faced with dire necessity. technology was developed, it was ab- andoned because it didn’t fit the social That seems to be the overall rule. and political realities of a centralised, Inventions were, as often as not, unitary, and inward looking state. ignored. Even when (to us) they were obviously better than whatever it was Rule #14: Despite expense and that existed before their invention. (relative) rarity, the search for metals and the ways in which they were recov- This quirk, anomaly, or whatever you ered and smelted was the major driving want to call it, cannot be force behind the development of overall overemphasised. Of course, it shouldn’t improvements in technology. be used as an all encompassing excuse for simply nixing all progress, either. Demand for metal drove development of mining technology: better tools and The key was the cost. An invention that techniques, for example, which, in turn, cost more to produce and maintain drove demands for more metal. (often forgotten, though vital) and use than whatever it would replace won’t Smelting the ores required huge be readily adopted until that situation amounts of fuel, and led to deforest- changes. Which may not be for ages ... ation (having an impact on agriculture) and shortages, which led to demand for Rule #13: The “age of metals” was re- new sources of fuel, which led to dem- ally the “age of small amounts of expen- ands for more mines, and more metal. sive metals” for most of history. Moving the ore, fuel, and finished Metals were rare, expensive to mine metal around meant that improve- and smelt, and, therefore, used only ments in transport were required, where they had to be. meaning more and better tools and, Most everyday items were made of inevitably, more and better metals to nonmetals: wood, leather, fiber, stone, make those tools. bone and the like, held together with Greater demand led to the exhaustion fastenings of the same materials. of easy to mine ore bodies and forced Think ploughs with blades not much the move to less easily mined sources, bigger than a Bowie knife costing as which required more and better tools, much as a modern tractor . which required more metal. Or a Roman Legionary’s weaponry and And, as these newer mines reached the armour being equivalent to the cost of limit of pumping tech- a Humvee or Offroad truck, or a good nology and existing chunk of a M-113 APC. power sources it led Or a medieval Knight’s “lance” (the to the development of Knight, his Squire, and several the first new power mounted Sergeants, with all their source in millennia. armour and weapons) as being the Engines based on equivalent to the cost of an M-1 Abrams mechanical power tank. from steam.

– 47 – STEAM

S E C T I

“Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful, and valued because they confer power; O they are hated because they are hideous, and loathed because they impose slavery” “With the introduction of agriculture mankind entered upon a long period of meanness, misery, and madness, from which they are only now being freed by the beneficent operation of the N machine.” Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) “A tool is but the extension of a man’s hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. He that invents a machine augments the power of man and the well-being of mankind. “ Henry Ward Beecher “Men have become tools of their tools.” 4 Henry David Thoreau FARM, FORGE AND STEAM WIND, WATER AND HEAT ENERGY IS POWER

Until quite recently mankind has only HORSES AND HORSESHOES had three basic (and limited) sources of Horses have quite fragile hooves – directly productive energy available: one of their biggest vulernabilities. muscle energy (from humans or ani- In the wild, when their hoof has been mals), kinetic energy (from wind and worn down, and the foot becomes water) and (theoretically) heat energy tender a horse will move away from (from wood, charcoal or coal). rocky or hard terrain to grassy or soft In practice, only the first two provided terrain until the hoof has regrown direct and actual mechanical work, and the foot is no longer tender. heat energy was only used passively. For domesticated horses, the situat- MUSCLE POWER ion was more problematic. Human beings aren’t a very useful en- In the very earliest civilisations, it ergy source. Depending on a variety of may not have been as great a diff- factors they can’t provide a sustained iculty as roads were often little more output of more than 0.03-0.04 HP. than dirt tracks which did not cause excessive wear and tear on the hoof. Horses, however, provide a sustained output of between 0.3 and 0.55 HP. This may explain why the very first recognisable metal horseshoes start Of course, human muscle power has an to appear in Roman times, as early as advantage over animal power (and also the 1st century AD, because of the over wind and water power) in that it hard surfaced all weather roads that is versatile and self directing. the empire built in great numbers. Humans tend to remain the prime en- These early horseshoes were actually ergy source as long as, relatively more like sandals – in fact they were speaking, their energy cost is less than called hipposandals – and were strap that of the alternatives So it has been on plates. Recognisably modern style that, until very recently, the bulk of shoes that were nailed to the hoof civilisation’s “power output” has been were available as early as the 8th-11th provided by human “engines.” centuries AD, but were mostly of cast This gave them an advantage even Bronze rather than Iron. over animal power, as the low produc- Iron horseshoes did not dominate the tivity of pre-modern agriculture meant field until the 13th-14th centuries AD. there was a limited surplus available for feeding working animals. Horses were a luxury that few could afford for unproductive tasks (mounts HORSEPOWER PROBLEMS in warfare or for personal transport, for The problem was that, although horses example), and not many more could did around 5-7 times the work of a man afford even for produc- they also ate 5-7 times as much. tive tasks. So their wasn’t an obvious economic And it is only after bet- advantage in using horses. ter technology allowed more economical use of In fact, it wasn’t really possible until horses that they become improvements in agricultural technol- common as work ani- ogy (at least in part dependent on in- mals, replacing oxen. creased use of animals for powering it! Catch 22!) and the agricultural sur- So think ox drawn pluses it created led to a consistent and ploughs and waggons sustained drop in the cost of feed grain, for the most part.

– 49 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

For example, even at the beginning of WATER ENGINES the French Revolution, estimates are The earliest water wheels are that there were about 3 million oxen to mentioned in Greek sources of the 1st around 1.7 million horses, and of those, century BC, though it is possible the about 1.5 million horses were used in idea may have originated much agricultural pursuits ... and this pro- earlier, possibly in China. portion seems to have been reasonably These early wheels were mounted on universal for Europe at that time. a vertical axis, with the wheel submerged completely in the flowing WIND/WATER MILLS water (imagine a modern water Even though both wind driven mills turbine, sans casing) and were not and water driven mills had been known very mechanically efficient, develop- of in europe and the middle east (and ing, at most, ½ hp. in asia) for a long time (from classical Greek times for the water wheel), the These were replaced by the horizon- real revolution in their spread and use tal axis wheel in the 3rd-4th centuries did not occur until the 11th century and AD – the first type introduced being was limited (initially) to Europe. the undershot wheel where the bott- om of the wheel only was immersed Neither of these types of engines were in the water flow. particularly powerful, 2-5 HP for a wa- ter wheel and 5-10 HP for a windmill The major problem with this design (for designs standard through to the was that it required a continual flow of water at a set level. If the water 16th century), but they were far more powerful than any other single source level dropped below that, the wheel available. was left high and dry. The earliest designs were also rather WATER MILLS inefficient, being able to convert, at The big advance was partly in convert- most, around 25-30% of the flow en- ing the very earliest horizontal water ergy of the stream into mechanical wheels into vertical wheels, achieved in energy (increasing to 70% with 19th the mediterranean world by Roman century designs – where they utilised times at least, but mostly because the artificial dams and mill races to wheel was then harnessed to gears that increase seasonal reliability). turned the attached device (initially a grinding stone for grain) five times A solution to the problems of the un- faster than the wheel itself. dershot water wheel was the overshot water wheel which required a sluice The use of water wheels to do some- to feed water onto the top of the wheel. thing other than sim- The earliest examples may have app- ply grind grain, eared in the Roman Empire of the 5th however, was the ma- century AD, but they did not become jor development common in medieval europe until the where medieval Eur- 14th century. opeans advanced over the Romans was in This required a dam somewhere up- how they converted stream and a drop equal to the dia- grain mills to a vari- meter of the wheel, but it could work ety of other uses – in- as long as any water at all flowed – if dustrial uses. sited well and with a good vertical Once this develop- drop, an overshot wheel could rou- tinely be around 75% efficient. mental leap had been made, water wheels Modern turbine style “water wheels” were soon adapted to first appeared in the early 19th cen- provide power for a tury and had low efficiencies, but whole variety of di- rapidly improved and, by the middle rect industrial use of the century were as efficient as (such as for driving horizontal axis waterwheels. Imp- trip hammers, aiding rovements raised this to 92% eff- ironworkers; or pow- iciency by the end of the century! – 50– –50 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM ering pulp mills) or indirect infrastruc- MILLSTONES AND TEETH ture use (driving pumps to de-water The original invention of the water mines, or to pump water from rivers to mill was for the grinding of grain into supply a town). flour – done with large, flat, stones, one of which rotated by the mechan- From very early on in the Middle Ages (according to the Domesday Book of ical power provided by the mill wheel. 1086) there was around one (1) water This was simply a larger scale mill per 400 people in England, but on version of the hand quern (mill) and, the very eve of the industrial revolu- like the original tool, mill ground tion, at the end of the 17th century, the grain was full of grit from the ratio was around 1 mill (wind or water) grinding action of the mill stones. per 30 people throughout Europe. Even if you avoided breaking a tooth WINDMILLS APPEAR on a large piece of grit in your bread, then the cumulative wear and tear on Windmills were a much later invention, teeth was such that most people had originating in muslim Iran probably in worn them down to the gum by the the 7th century, and certainly by the 9th time they reached their late thirties century, but these early mills were (perhaps even earlier). powered by horizontal sails. The use of finer grained, and much Some time during the 12th century, in harder, stones for grinding grain southern europe, this design developed reduced the wear and tear, but only into a vertical sail, greatly increasing the replacement of stone with metal the power they could generate. grinding equipment completely The new design was supported by a removed the problem. single post, and the whole unit had to Just remember that the next time be rotated when the wind shifted, by you dig into something made with hand. “stone ground flour!” Despite these drawbacks, the design spread rapidly, if erratically, though post mill structure, it was proportion- faster in in northern than southern ally easier to move. regions (which explains Don Quixote's perplexity with his encounter!). It was not until 1745 when the fantail was invented, a small windmill at the While Windmills were more expensive rear of the cap that would turn gears to (and more maintenance intensive) to turn the vanes into the wind if and run than watermills they were impor- when the wind shifted, automatically. tant for several reasons. The obvious one being that they could be built even This transforming invention did not in locations where there was insuffi- spread outside europe except with euro- cient running water for a water mill. pean settlers and colonists. They certainly replaced the man- or Like the water mills, windmills were animal-powered treadmills that had used to run millstones and grind grain been used in such areas before the in- when they were first invented, and troduction of windmills ... rapidly. later were used to power other machin- ery, especially pumps in the Nether- In the early 15th century the post mill lands (to keep the polders drained). was replaced by the more efficient tower mill where only the cap at the top They were not as widely used in indus- of the mill rotated to catch the wind. trial applications because, unlike water wheels, they could not be placed close Because this design could be built into (because of the diameter of the a permanent structure on fixed founda- sails) to power large scale ma- tions it could be built much higher, to chinery and, because catch the wind better (and, of course, they were often with larger diameter sails) and gener- sited in places ate more power than the older design. where access However, the cap still had to be turned was difficult manually if the wind changed – but (hilltops, for since this was much smaller than the example). – 51– –51 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM WOOD AS FUEL LIMITS TO THE INFINITE Other ancient civilisations were ham- Until the 18th century, pered either by an almost total lack of the primary source of available wood (such as virtually tree- fuel for fires and less Egypt, though the Egyptians still forges throughout used charcoal as a fuel for cooking and the world was industry, and were hampered by their wood, or its deriva- shortage), or by a lack of suitable tive, charcoal. woods, or both. Wood was also a vi- However, even the bounty that europe tal structural mate- began with was not limitless, and even rial – from housing the vast forests of northern europe (even for stone or were being exhausted by the late medi- brick structures) eval period. through transport (carts and ships were By the 16th century the forests of the almost entirely constructed of wood). Baltic states were being tapped as the last european reserve of the large trees Where metal was used, it was kept to a so important for ship construction minimum. The so-called “Iron Age” was (keels needed to be made from, and more accurately an age where iron was masts were preferably made from a available, not where it was ubiquitous. single log, which meant an old tree). The vast forests that covered much of One of the key advantages that the pre-modern europe were an important Royal Navy had over its French and advantage over most other eurasian Spanish competitors was that the societies (which either had few or no Royal Navy ensured that they control- forests, or which had exhausted them led access to those vital Baltic forests, in their first steps towards civilisation); while denying access to their enemies they provided fuel for cooking and heat- and potential enemies. ing as well as industry and also pro- vided materials for housing, This control was never seriously chal- shipbuilding, machinery, and other vi- lenged, and was a key asset that en- tal technologies. sured the resilience of the Royal Navy and the merchant marine in time of Pre-classical greece, before the cultiva- war, tion of the olive tree (which was both a result of and an accellerant of deforest- One of the reasons for the British set- ation fuelled erosion of the thin rocky tling Australia was the belief that there soils common there) became a staple of were large supplies of good quality local agriculture, was a land of forests, large trees suitable for use by the Royal not of barren hillsides; the flag of Leba- Navy and the merchant marine. As it non sports a giant cedar tree, because happens, most of the trees at the early in classical times its landscape was settlement sites proved to be termite dominated by whole forests of such gi- eaten and unsuitable. ants and was not the treeless terrain of modern times. FOOD OR FUEL One of the problems that all the Charcoal was always the preferred fuel major civilisations eventually came over raw wood, it was lighter, burned up hard against was the choice hotter, was more or less odour free between producing fuel for industrial (though care had to be taken not to use and domestic purposes or growing it in a sealed space, as a charcoal fire food for a burgeoning populace. could kill with the carbon monoxide it produced) Trees grew on good farmland – so the choice was stark. It was also more mechanically durable (its hardness made it more suitable for Food? Or fuel? use in smelting metals, not collapsing Eventually the adoption of coal as a into the soggy mass of bloom and fuel solved the problem – coal mines cinders that a coal fuel furnace did. take up little farming land (and pollution was about the same). – 52– –52 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

COALFACE PROBLEMS Another problem was that much of COAL the coal available had a high sulphur Coal was known in ancient times, but content which made it useless for was not mined and was definitely not many the industrial processes. used in any industrial projects. High sulphur coal is useless in most Where it was available it was simply steps of iron and steel making (not to because there were surface outcrops mention the fact that soft coal is a (often on exposed cliff faces on the mechanical problem in blast furnaces coastline where the coal knocked off that hard coke is not), contaminating and washed up onto local beaches by the product and rendering it useless; wave action was referred to as “sea and it tends to add unpleasant fla- coal”). vours and odours in brewing and food It was only adopted as an industrial production industries. fuel quite late, in a limited way from th th TRANSPORTING THE FUEL the 11 –12 centuries, but on a major The bulky nature of the material meant scale only from the 17th–18th centuries. that wood as fuel was ideally located There were many reasons for this late close at hand to the industries (or adoption – mainly convenience population centers) that needed it. Forests tended to be much more geo- The cost of transporting wood by land graphically widespread than coal de- more than around 30 klicks was gener- posits, so could be more easily accessed ally prohibitive. by local communities, and, additional- Sea or by river transport was a differ- ly, were much more likely to be near to ent matter. a navigable stream or river that could be used to transport them to communi- Huge “floats” (log rafts up to 250 feet ties that were some distance away. long) were found in Poland (supplying In fact, even when the other limitations western europe) by the 14th century, of coal had been more or less solved, it and France by the 16th century, and are not an american invention. was the cost of transport that meant that coal was more expensive than the The situation in China was much the increasingly scarce alternatives of same from around the 14th century. wood and charcoal. FUELLING THE FURNACES And, of course, mining was expensive The situation was becoming critical, compared to forestry. and vital industries were being crip- pled. It was common for blast furnaces So it was only when the great primeval to be left idle (despite the increasing forests of Europe were being exhaust- importance of iron as the industrial ed, and there was a vital need for a revolution speeded up) for as much as replacement fuel for wood and charcoal, nine weeks in ten (and commonly three that coal began to be used. weeks in four) because of difficulties in Only once it began to be used more accumulating the vast quantities of commonly were developments made fuel needed for their operation. that enabled it to be used in more and It could take months, even years, for more industrial processes, replacing the supply chain needed to provide the charcoal and wood for needed fuel to be set up even after a most purposes. furnace was constructed. In europe those ar- The fuel requirements were immense – eas that were conven- a single blast furnace of average size iently co-located with required the clear felling of around coal deposits were those 2000 hectares of forest. Eventually, the that tended to be the en- demands were simply insupportable, gines of the rapidly devel- and an alternative fuel to wood simply oping industrial revo th–17th had to be found. -lution of the 16 centuries. That alternative, obvious in retrospect, was – – 53– –53 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM Tyne valley (from northern England) burning wood generated around 4-5 coal was shipped in vast quantities to million hp (3-3.75 mW), water wheels London and the rest of the UK and as generated 1.5-3 million hp (1.125-2.5 far as Malta as early as the 16th century! mW), 50 million workrs generated around 900,000 hp (675 kW), windmills COKE ADDS LIFE ... 0.375-0.75 million hp (280-560 kW), It was not until the impurities could be and sails generated around 235,000 hp removed from coal and a harder form of (about 175 kW). the basic fuel could be produced in coke that coal really took off as an industrial Asia relied far more on manpower, less fuel, and this did not occur until the on animal power, and less on wind and early 17th century when coked coal was water mills, which gave europe a long first used in the Brewing industry. term economic and competitive advant- age. The europeans simply had more Despite this development, it was not power available. used widely, if at all, in the iron indus- try until the last quarter of the 18th century, an all too typical example of STEAM POWER social inertia preventing the adoption Soon after, an improved power source of a (in retrospect of course!) far supe- to run pumps to drain mines was solved rior alternative. by a Thomas Newcomen’s atmospheric engine (so called because atmospheric With the adoption of a fuel that was and not steam pressure caused the pis- available in (comparatively) inexhaust- ton to work). ible quantities, coal and coke, western europe was poised to make the leap into By 1712 the first example was draining a true mechanical and industrial revo- a mine at Dudley, Cornwall, to an un- lution the like of which had not been precedented depth of 50 meters below experienced anywhere in the world pre- the water table! The engine had a 48.26 viously. cm (19”) diameter cylinder and a 182.9 cm (6’) piston and worked at the rate of Even so, the creation of the necessary 12 strokes a minute – and each stroke underlaying and yet interconnected in- raised 45.5 liters (10 gallons) of water, frastructure and industrial pre-requi- developing around 5½ hp (about 4 kW). sites was a slow process, only being completed, in europe at least, in the AN UNSAVERY MATTER early 20th century and only truly reach- Thomas Savery had already patented ing the take-off point with the develop- any engine using fire (the Patent was ment of the first new power source ever, active from 1698-1733). Even though the steam engine, at around the same his design was impractical,unsafe, time (being a pre-requisite for and a and bore no resemblance at all to product of cheap coal) as coal was Newcomen’s engine, the company adopted as a common industrial fuel. simply declared that their Patent covered Newcomen’s work. PRE-STEAM STATUS So Newcomen had to form a partner- Before the invention of the steam en- ship with the Savery Company and gine, the sources of power that were this is one of the initial reasons for available (described above) generated the slow spread of the Atmospheric power in the order of importance: anim- Engine. Or he could take them to al power, burning wood, water power. court – with no certainty of winning. manpower, wind power and sail power. The first models constructed cost Europe immediately £1000 and made 6-8 strokes per prior to the invention minute, but Newcomen managed to of the steam engine improve this to 10-12 strokes per had a population of minute with time. around 145 million, Newcomen was neither credited for with yearly power the invention by the Savery syndicate output supplied by during his lifetime (they pretended about 40 million ani- he didn’t exist, selling “Savery mals (about 10 mil- Engines”) and received little reward lion hp or 7.5 mW), (compared to Boulton & Watt). – 54– –54 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

RACTICAL ROBLEMS CYLINDRICAL PROBLEMS P P One of the reasons why Newcomen Even then, 30 years later (1742) there engines were so slow to catch on was were exactly three operating, the one in to do with their cost – yes, they were the UK and two more on the continent, a cheaper way of dewatering mines, hardly a revolutionary change! but the cost of the engines could be It was only in the next thirty years (to prohibitive. 1772) that sixty more were built, mostly The problem was that there was no in Cornwall, to pump mines dry (mostly extant precision machinery capable of because coal was nearby or could be boring or finishing the large bore brought in cheaply by sea). cylinders that they required – they Part of the reason, but only part, was had to be finished by hand polishing. because the engine was grossly ineffi- Even then, leather gaskets were cient: less than 1% of the heat energy needed to ensure a tight fit between generated was converted into mechani- piston and cylinder. cal energy, and so it chewed through The problem of cost was only solved coal like it was going out of fashion. accidentally when some French artill- It was only economic when situated ery officers examining a Boulton and right at the pit-head of a coal mine or Watt engine mentioned the contin- where a coal mine is very close by. ental practice of casting solid cannon A Newcomen style atmospheric engine and using water powered boring with a bore of 30 cm and a stroke of 150 machines to ream them out to some- cm could pump over million liters a day thing resembling absolute tolerances. for £1 worth of coal; a team of two Once this method was adopted, the horses (in two hour shifts) could pump initial capital cost dropped only a quarter of that and cost more. dramatically, and, coincidentally, It was also ill suited to turning the made steam powered precision up/down motion of the donkey beam machinery an affordable reality. into circular motion, which meant its The ideas behind Newcomen’s engine use for anything other than pumping had been around since the days of the was severely limited. Romans and, more recently, had been developed (or redeveloped) by scientists Still, by 1777 there were 75 Newcomen such as della Porta (1606), Guericke engines at work in the Cornish mines alone, so the problems they dealt with (1672), and Papin (1695) working with the properties of vacuums. were obviously more important than the costs associated with them. But Newcomen, an ironsmith, put them all together and made them into a prac- These new ma- tical working machine (there is no evi- chines, the first dence that he was directly aware of any truly new source of of the above). His role in the develop- power to become ment of steam was almost stolen by available for thou- Thomas Savery (see previous page) and sands of years, was only acknowledged years later, al- paved the way for the improvements most by accident. in metallurgy and The big advantage with Newcomen’s mechanics that engine was that it was simple. made Watt’s steam It worked on low pressure steam that engine possible – did not compromise the mechanical and, by doing that, strength of the poor quality iron then allowed for the de- available and transmitted the power velopment of preci- generated through a slowly moving sion machines that beam that required nothing in the way enabled the devel- of high tech materials or even precision opment of the in- machined parts. ternal combustion engine some years It did have limitations, though – down the track.

– 55– –55 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

ATT S THE OLUTION W ’ S ? WATT’S THE PROBLEM? James Watt was a university Even though the Watt engine was technical instrument more economical of fuel, it was maker and, when repair- expensive to run because the Boulton ing a model of the and Watt (which ran from 1785-1800) Newcomen Engine, which allowed them to charge not figured out some only a flat fee but also a percentage of simple ways to the cost of the fuel savings it allowed improve the design. (a good chunk of money right there – He used steam at and an ongoing expense). about the same This meant that that Newcomen pressure but improved engines were still being built many heat efficiency by providing a separate years after the availability of Watt condenser to one side of the piston: this engines, especially as better meant that the cylinder remained hot transport (rail lines and steam ships) and that only the condenser had to be reduced the cost of coal. cooled. In fact, at least one was still being This meant a Watt engine required used to pump water for the city of only 1/3 rd the coal of a Newcomen London’s water supply until the engine! It was such an advance that, 1950’s (converted into a standard within 10 years of its introduction only Watt-style engine by the addition of a one of the 75 Newcomen engines in condenser, of course)! Cornwall was still operational. Watt kept tinkering and, in 1782, intro- duced a double acting steam engine, one that used steam on both the up and down strokes of the cylinder, and now completely relied on the expansive power of the steam (at 0.7 kg/cm or 10lb/sq. in.) to do the mechanical work. He also figured out the mechanics of turning the up/down motion of the piston stroke into rotary motion, making it eminently suitable for powering machines in factories, and not just for pumping water. As the spread of the Watt engines allowed for improved precision mach- steam into a turbine, the first practical inery to be built, and for better quality model being demonstrated in 1884 and, iron and steel to be produced, it was not by 1888, they were being used to drive long before later inventors managed to dynamos in electrical power stations. build improved designs that operated at higher pressures and which were INTERNAL COMBUSTION therefore more powerful and smaller With improved metals and better and (starting with Trevithick in 1801, with more powerful precision machinery and an engine working at five times the machine tools it was possible to develop pressure of a standard Watt engine). improved machines in turn, which led to the development of improved engines. Eventually, Trevithick high pressure steam engines were developed into dou- COAL GAS ENGINES ble, triple, and quadruple expansion The first internal combustion engine designs that extracted the last possible that was a commercial success was amount of energy from the steam that constructed in 1860 and was based on was generated by the engine. the design of a standard steam engine, and used an open flame alternately Eventually, engineers developed steam exposed and shuttered by a slide valve engines that used steam to directly to ignite a gas-air mixture. create rotary motion by squirting

– 56– –56 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

The Lenoir engine had the piston PETROL ENGINES attached directly to the edge of a In 1883, a German, Daimler, flywheel, and the flywheel powered developed a liquid petroleum whatever machinery was attached. powered internal combustion engine which ran at 900 rpm, Even though over 150 were in use compared to the 200 rpm throughout Paris by 1864, it was not a of the Lenoir and Otto particularly successful design as it did engines, thus de- not compress the gas/air mix and consumed a great amount of gas for veloping much more power for its weight, the power developed (no more than and using a conven- 200 revolutions per minute). iently portable fuel. The next practical step was to develop In 1890 another German, Diesel, a four stroke engine, achieved by Otto developed a compression ignition in 1876 (though there was an earlier engine which did not require a com- French patent which had never been plex electrical ignition system and developed and which had expired). which could run on heavier, less refin- The Otto engine used only one quarter ed, and cheaper fractions of crude oil. the fuel that a Lenoir engine required The Diesel engine enjoyed much for the same amount of power, but greater initial success, especially in which still ran on coal gas. large scale applications (locomotives, In 1878 a Scottish engineer developed shipping etc.), than the petrol engines a two stroke engine, the Clerk engine, of the time. which was much simpler (requiring However, it was the liquid petroleum many fewer parts), but the downside engine that enabled the leap into the was that it ran much more roughly skies and the first new form of and used more fuel (still coal gas at transportation technology for this stage) than a four stroke engine. millennia. INTERNAL COMBUSTION VS STEAM The huge advantage was that Likewise, he age of the internal internal combustion engines were combustion engine rapidly replaced largely capable of operating without that of steam, but could not have constant human intervention and occurred without the changes that the supervision, certainly for hundreds steam age had begun. or thousands of hours at a time. Steam engines required constant supervision to be run safely. The consequences of am internal combustion engine malfunction were fairly minor – for the most part, the engine simply ceased to work. Steam engine malfunctions were much more dangerous, and more often than not resulted in dangerous explosions which, even if they killed no-one, could severely damage or destroy the engine itself.

POWER TO WEIGHT The Otto gas powered internal combustion engine of around 1880 massed 267 kg per kW of power generated (/440 lbs/hp) – an improved Daimler petrol powered internal combustion engine of 1900 massed around 5 kg/kW of power generated (9 lbs/hp) – a development achieved within only 20 years. – 57– –57 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM ENGINES OF INDUSTRY THE POWER TO REMAKE THE WORLD

What lessons can we learn from Steam? Or, alternatively, they will have second And how can they be used to update or hand armour available. You know the improve a campaign? deal, “One owner, low mileage, slight slagging where the flaming dragon’s Rule #15: As late as the 18th century breath charred the unfortunate wearer!” the main source of industrial power around the world was muscles. Over- Which will, of course, require several whelmingly animal muscles in europe sessions to be properly fitted to you and and european colonies. In Asia the which doesn’t come with any sort of dominance of animal power was less warranty at all! pronounced, but still dominant. Similarly, you can’t walk in off the What this means is that almost street and buy a suit of ready-made everything that is made or grown is clothes unless you buy second hand. made or grown by hand. What you do is go to a tailor who will measure you up and then make the What tools exist are overhwelmingly clothes on order. hand tools (for example, the potter’s wheel or the spindle for spinning There are some exceptions to this: thread into cloth). pottery of all sorts, for example, is always in demand for domestic and Hand-made doesn’t mean shoddy or industrial use and is produced in large inadequate. What it does mean is that amounts. the items will be far more expensive than we inhabitants of an But, in general, only raw materials or industrialised, machine-dominated, unfinished products are available in society can fully grasp. bulk (and that term is only relative to the time!) A common problem in role playing game “civilisations” is a failure to Rule #16: Water and Wind powered understand this. The products are, all machines were always a supplementary too often, simply thinly disguised var- power source, though they could supply iants of the modern world, with knights higher density, continuous, power that and dragons layered over the top. muscle power could not. Hand made means, as a general rule, The next most important pre-modern that very little that is expensive is power source was the water wheel available “off the shelf” – and, if it is, which only started to be used to gen- then most likely it is either second erate power for something other than hand or is available only in small grinding grain into flour in the early quantities. middle ages (the 11th-12th centuries on). For example, it would be rare to be able Even so, things remained largely hand to be able to walk into an Armourer’s made, and the water mills were nor- workshop off the mally used only to provide brute force street and in applications where human muscle purchase, off the was inadequate or too slow (or both). shelf, a full suit of Windmills were well behind water armour. mills in importance and overall power You would order output because of reliability issues. it, and wait many Water flow is generally less fickle than months for it to be the winds. made, most likely Mills were the precursors to modern completely from industrial plants as far as their cost is scratch. – 58 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM concerned. Mill owners were, unless Rule #18: Take anywhere, high densi- completely incompetent, rarely poor ty, versatile power supplies were quite men. The capital required to build and, late to develop but, until they did, in- considering the inadequate materials dustralisation was only marginally mills were built from, maintain a mill practicable. was not inconsiderable. The invention of a practical steam However, they were limited in utility, engine, the first take anywhere, high not particularly versatile, and could not energy density powerplant in history, generate the sort of power needed for a was delayed by the need to develop the real level of industrialisation. metallurgical technology such a In fact, given the inadequacy of the machine required, because the materials available (wood, stone, and theoretical underpinnings of its oper- ceramics with very little iron or steel) ation had not only to be developed and for their construction, it is unlikely that understood, but widely disseminated. later developments that made water Most of all, however, it was delayed by power so useful in modern times would the lack of a perceived need and the have been possible without modern high economic cost of construction, materials (lots of iron and steel and support and operation. other metals). Once these issues were resolved, Rule #17: Wood has to compete with however, the adoption and develop- food for growing space, so there is often ment of steam power enabled massive a choice between eating and having fuel increases in the productivity of labour for cooking, heating and industrial ap- in all fields, and the development of plications. This becomes a greater a new sources of power that furthered problem as populations increase. these developments, even accelerating It is a truism that, whoever made the the rate at which they were achieved. earth, they aren’t making any more! In Rule #19: As power generating ma- other words, farmland, even marginal chines became larger (and more expen- farmland, is in limited availability. sive) and capable of generating more As populations increase, as they power, there was a move away from inevitably do as they become more and craft production to what progressively more adept agriculturalists, this means became large scale production (if not that there is increasing competition for necessarily mass production) in concen- what is available ... and firewood grows trated facilities – factories. on the same sort of land. Yes, the factories of the early Industrial This puts pressure on prices – of food Revolution were “dark, satanic, mills,” and of fuel. Choices have to be made – but they also increased the productivity unless an alternative fuel source that and the living doesn’t require scarce farmland can be standards of the found ... whole population quite massively. Coal or Oil are the obvious alternatives, and coal is generally the easiest to mine It is only looking and requires the least technology and back from our mod- capital to access. ern, materialistic, times that results Other, more modern, alternatives in the impression (solar or nuclear power, for example) they were indes- are simply not technologically cribably awful and practicable in a pre-modern society. worse than any- Though, of course, if the pre-modern thing preceding. society is based on forms of magic, this may change things. And, after all, those factories and Of course, if you do have magically the changes they augmented high energy density power supported laid the supplies, then you do not have a pre- very foundations of modern society for very long at all! the modern world.

– 59– –59 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

Rule #20: Nothing remains static. HOUSEHOLD MATTERS Change is a constant. Pre-modern households were notably lacking in contents – especially those Even in societies that seem to have of the poor (but the rich were only been static, even anti-progress, the comparatively better off). Even the evidence is plain ... change continues. poorest third world rural villager is Just at a slower pace. likely to have more possessions than Societies that, consciously or otherwise, the pre-modern poor. attempt to limit social and tech- The dwelling, probably made of infer- nological change are on a slippery slope ior materials, was small mostly bec- to, at best, marginalisation and loss of ause they couldn’t afford the materi- independence, at worst, complete dev- als for anything bigger. The contents? astation and total destruction by societ- ies that have not made such a decision. A crudely woven sack to contain some straw used for bedding. A cauldron or You simply can’t ignore the world pot in which all the food that wasn’t around you. Sure, you can try and, for roasted over the fire was cooked. One a time, you may seem to succeed. But it or two pottery jugs or containers. A simply isn’t a viable long term option, wooden or bone spoon – perhaps one as both China and Japan found out. for each person in the family, perhaps Ultimately, this makes almost all role not – for eating with. Wooden plates playing game “civilisations,” well, and mugs – perhaps enough for each unbelievable. family member, perhaps not. They all seem to be in a state of denial Perhaps a simple stool, but probably of reality and complete social and tech- not more than one. A simple wooden nological stasis. At best, they would be chest – probably more a box than a developing magic as technology – not chest – in which the family’s few remaining the same for millennia. possessions would be kept. Clothing? One set. Most of which was worn all the time, except on the hott- est days of summer. No night clothes – and probably no blankets, you sim- ply slept in the clothes you had worn all day. Each adult probably had some sort of utility knife – used for everything, including eating. Windows, if any, would have, at best, wooden shutters for use inclement weather. Doors would rarely have metal hinges, let alone a lock of any sort – they probably swung on leather hinges and were “locked” by the sim- ple expedient of propping a wooden pole against it from the inside. The farm and domestic animals? Quartered in the family house and, if the family were well off, they might have a separate room – more likely there was a simple stall formed from a corner of the one room dwelling. The Industrial Revolution changed all that. The poorest citizen of a modern industrialised nation has more possessions than all but the wealthiest pre modern nobles would have possessed, and lives in greater overall comfort.

– 60– –60 – INVENTIONS

S E C T I O

“A tool is but the extension of a man's hand, and a machine is but a complex tool. And he that N invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well-being of mankind.” – Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) “The greatest inventions were produced in the times of ignorance, as the use of the compass, gunpowder, and printing.” – Johnathan Swift (1667–1745) “To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. “ – Thomas A. Edison (1847–1931) 5 “The greatest misfortune that ever befell man was the invention of printing.” Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) , British Primer Minister. FARM, FORGE AND STEAM CULTURAL TECHNOLOGY WHY DIDN’T THEY JUST ...?

When one looks at past history it is easy to find any number of inventions MONEY that were within the grasp of this or From the very earliest times, even that culture much earlier than the when mankind lived in small nomadic actual date of adoption. Inevitably the extended families, there was probably question arises, “Why wasn’t xxx a need for some form of trade, the ex- invented sooner?” change of goods and/or services. The answer is often fairly simple. As humans moved from a nomadic soci- If you remember that we are looking ety relying primarily on hunting and back at history knowing already that gathering to a sedentary or semi-seden- the invention in question is not only tary society relying increasingly on possible, but will actually work and, abundant wild plant and animal food more importantly, will be a huge eco- resources and, eventually, on the do- nomic benefit it is easier to consider mesticated plant and animal species, things from the point of view of the the scope for trade between individuals people actually alive “back then” when and communities expanded rapidly. none of those things were true. Such trade required a way of determin- Or, to put it another way, perfect 20:20 ing the value given and received by the hindsight is a wonderful thing. It just isn’t helpful for a real perspective. BARTER IN THE MARKETPLACE Barter is the simplest form of eco- SOME PROBLEMS nomic activity – the direct exchange Inventions might not be thought of goods or services for other goods or possible, or there could be an services with no intermediate step alternative that served well enough so using symbolic exchange (money). there was, without perfect hindsight, no Even in the 21st century many people need for a replacement. around the world engage in barter Even when an alternative was known it transactions as an everyday activity might be that it wasn’t obviously better. – and, as often as not, cash money plays little role in their lives. Finally, even if the conceptual leap was made, and its superiority was obvious, The obvious problem with barter is the lack of supporting infrastructure that it is a rare case where the buyer (or the cost of creating it) and seller have an exact match – needed for the new in- mostly the buyer will have something vention could be the that the seller does not want (either problem. because they already have enough or because they do not want it). Ideas were not al- ways quickly ident- There was no perfect solution to this ified and adopted, problem – the seller could take what and the reasons the buyer has to offer and hold it to seemed pretty trade onwards to someone else who good at the time. does need it, or the seller could try to trade what they have for something So let’s consider that the seller wants. some key ones (other than Agricult- Multiple levels of exchange are ure, which is dealt possible and, indeed, likely. with in Section #2). In modern day terms? Think CCG swap meets! – 62 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

GRESHAM'S LAW parties involved, especially where Gresham’s law states that “bad there was a disparity in the money drives good money out.” amount of goods and/or services on one side More simply it means that in an econ- as compared to the omy the appearance of a debased other. form of coinage leads to the hoarding of older issues with a higher bullion In other words, content. there had to be a way of determining Since the issuing authority (the gov- value. And a way of storing value in a ernment) has issued the debased concentrated form. coinage because of its lack of bullion, this is often accompanied by attempts Until the Industrial Revolution, the to accept only older issues in pay- primary means of carrying on economic ments to the government while the activity throughout the world was Bar- government offers payments in de- ter, even in those countries in western based coinage for its debts. Europe and Asia that had money based economies. This worsens the economic crisis as people hoard the more valuable older In effect, even in pre-modern money coins even more. based economies a significant portion of economic activity, while carried out in The situation may even end with the terms of the monetary value was still in government seizing tax (and other the actual form of goods and services. In debts) in kind (in the form of goods or fact, barter remains dominant in the forced labour) at rates set by itself large subsistence sectors of Third (which tend to be firmly in its favour World economies even today. and which tend to worsen the eco- nomic crisis even further). Part of the reason for this was simply The law also applies to modern that, prior to the invention (and adop- “token” currencies that are not di- tion) of token currencies (i.e. with have rectly convertible – such as those of no inherent value) there was never an the former Soviet bloc prior to the adequate supply of what was deemed collapse of communism. “precious” to fuel a money economy. The Russians had a saying that This perennial shortage led to a recur- showed they were well aware of the ring cycle of inflationary pressure lead- manipulation they were being sub- ing to the debasement (admixture of jected to – “They pretend to pay us base metals to reduce the amount of and we pretend to work.” precious metal) of whatever a country’s bullion coinage metal was. In such instances, the black market value of currencies from economies Or, alternately, it led to economic col- where they are directly convertible in lapse as the limits of credit that could the world economy is vastly higher be supported by the amount of bullion than the “official” rate of exchange as coinage available was reached. Or both. stated by the government. EARLY MONEY Worse, items that are scarce (either The very earliest forms of money naturally or imported from hard started to appear in the 8th-7th centu- currency countries) are often not ries BC, more or less at the same time purchasable for the local currency, in east Asia and Eurasia and consisted requiring special coupons or hard of lumps of metal either cast in the currencies – adding further to the shape of a common barterable item cynicism of the citizenry. (east Asia) or crudely stamped with the In any case, periods where states symbol of a barterable item (Eurasia). suffered from such problems tend to This gradually developed into a true be more common in the past or, in coinage stamped with engraved dies modern times, under totalitarian or from strips or sheets of bullion (gold or autocratic regimes. silver) or, for small change, from a base But it isn’t new. metal (most often copper or bronze).

– 63– –63 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

Most sizeable states had more than one HOW MUCH DO COINS WEIGH? Mint and might sell the right to mint According to a popular fantasy role coins to private contractors. playing game, all coins, weigh in at th The engraved dies with which coins 1/10 of a pound. were stamped were works of art – as Imagine attempting to carry around they were a ready medium for propa- any amount of money where coins ganda glorifying the state or its ruler! weigh more than an ounce apiece! It’s obviously impractical – unless you’re COINAGE IN USE a game designer, it seems. Gold coins tended to be used to settle Historically, the average bullion coin inter-state debts, silver coins were in circulation weighed in at around mostly used for every-day debts, and copper or bronze (or base metal) coins 1-5 grams; base metal coins could be were used for small change. somewhat heavier. But precious metals were valuable be- So, for a standard avoirdupois pound cause they were rare – and, because (c. 453.6 grams), a 5 gram coinfits 90 they were rare, they had uses other coins per pound. than directly economic ones. For a troy pound (c. 373.24 g) you get c. 74 coins – and for a Roman librum Hoarding of precious metals in the form (327.45 grams) you get around 65 of objets d’art and the like sucked up as coins. much as 75-80% of all available bullion, depending on the time and place. A huge difference from a mere 10 coins per pound. And more so for GOLD AND SILVER coins massing less than 5g. In ancient times, the ratio of silver to gold was around 12:1 (with modern Larger, higher value, coins did exist, production and recovery technology, but were relatively rare and were silver is worth much less today). normally commemorative issues. This was often used as a basis for the through clearing “banks” and this was relationship between issued coinage of copied by the Carthaginians (in the silver and gold – but it was an approxi- western mediterranean). The system mate ratio, not an immutable one. withered away under the Roman Em- pire, as they preferred payment in coin. Speculators could make a considerable profit by moving the appropriate coin- The only other way of transferring age from one place to another. money in classical era Europe was to finding a merchant owed money by an- MONEY AND CREDIT other merchant in a city you planned to Because of the historic shortage of bul- travel to and “buy” the debt, or you had lion, from the very earliest city-states to actually carry coinage or other porta- in Sumeria, developed instruments of ble valuables with you. credit to assist their limited, but still Such credit transactions were gradu- important, money economies. ally reborn during the medieval period However, these in western europe, mainly as a function credit instruments of the regrowth of international trade were normally lim- through the huge medieval Fairs. ited in their geo- Gradually, some “fairs” developed to be graphical scope – entirely about the settling of credit ac- mostly no further counts and the payment of exchange than the larger cit- bills, in a process resembling the clear- ies in bordering ing of cheques in more recent times. states. Over time this slowly developed into The Greeks devel- Bills of Exchange or Bankers Bills oped a primitive which could be bought in one location version of credit and then cashed at another, for the full around the 2nd cen- amount at an associated merchant- tury BC, allowing banker or at a discount rate elsewhere. for transactions – 64– –64 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

HOW MUCH BULLION WAS THERE? Prior to the discovery of the New ASIANOMICS World and the eventual opening of South Asia and the Indian gold and silver mines there, the stock subcontinent developed so- of precious metals in Europe is esti- phisticated credit trans- mated to have been around 2000 tons fer and banking services of gold and 20000 tons of silver, too and, certainly by the barely adequate for what passed as a medieval period, they monetary economy at the time. were much more sophis- ticated and their geo- Between the beginning of the 16th graphical scope much century and the middle of the 17th the wider than the European Spanish fleets officially brought equivalents. around 200 tons of gold and 16000 tons of silver to Europe – increasing The web of financial services that the stock of coinage in circulation and developed spread as far west as the also ruined the Spanish economy be- Islamic nations of the middle east, as cause of the way it was spent. far south as the islands of Java and Sumatra, and as far north as China. A BOOK OF ACCOUNTS Accounting even predates the inven- In fact, one of the reasons for the suc- tion of money – records of goods ac- cess of European trading relations with quired by barter, intended for barter, Asia was access to the much more so- or produced for local consumption phisticated banking and credit ar- needed to be kept for large estates in rangements on the spot which, added to even the earliest times, if only to the European military and technologi- determine the ration issue “wage” for cal edge, gave them a huge comparative the workers employed by estates. advantage. However, early accounting systems PAPER MONEY were crude – mere lists of items China may have adopted recognisable bought and sold – and were of little paper banknotes as early as the 2nd value in calculating whether an oper- century BC, though what came of this ation was running at a profit or a loss. early experiment is not known, except Double entry book-keeping, the that paper money did not appear again foundation of modern accounting until the 6th century AD it was defi- practice, did not arise until the 12th nitely in limited use, though it did not or 13th century in northern Italy, as enter widespread use until Kublai a result of the increasing volume of Khan began paying his soldiers with it international trade resulting from in the 11th century. the first Trade Fairs of the era. However, paper money was never ac- cepted at face value, and almost from BANK NOTES the first traded at 1/5th the value of By the 17th century these Bills of Ex- actual copper or bullion coinage, declin- change developed further (in the UK), ing through the life of each issue (which as Bankers Notes issued by the Gold- were not necessarily made each year), smiths (backed by the gold they had on By the middle of the 15th century con- deposit from private individuals) in tinued abuse of paper money by succes- London from around 1640. sive imperial administrations, printing By 1666 one Goldsmith had £1.2 mil- more and more money to meet debts lions worth of these notes in circulation. without having the taxation resources to back the paper up, and the massive The formation of the Bank of England inflation that this led to (paper money in 1694 formalised and centralised this was worth 1/300th or less than the face important function and gave the Brit- value) caused the Chinese to abandon ish an considerable economic advan- paper money till they re-adopted it tage over the less forward thinking through european influence. states of the continent. Inventing something first isn’t always Indeed, it is almost certainly why Brit- a guaranteed road to success! ain repeatedly defeated France.

– 65– –65 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

THE SECRET FORMULA GUNPOWDER ... A more common early mix is 15 parts The discovery of black powder dates to saltpeter, 3 parts sulphur and 2 parts charcoal. Other mixes were used at the 9th century AD, almost certainly an accidental byproduct of alchemet- different times, usually reducing the ical research (attempting to turn base amount of saltpeter, which tended to metals into gold or discovering an be the most expensive component. elixir of youth), when Chinese The materials are finely ground and records show that they were man- carefully mixed, and, in this form, ufacturing it using charcoal, they are called “meal” (or serpentine) sulphur and saltpeter. powder. Meal separates into its It was known by muslim scientists components over time and often has in the middle east, possibly as to be re-mixed before it can be used. early as the 11th century AD, cert- For this reason, in Europe at least, ainly by the 13th century, almost early gunpowder was often mixed on certainly transmitted along the the spot from the components until a Silk Road from China. better form of gunpowder, corned It seems likely that knowledge powder, was developed. of black powder reached Europe and even developed ways of setting up either directly from China or via saltpeter “farms” with composting the Islamic world, some time in the heaps of manure in attempts to produce 13th century also (saltpeter was the volume required. called “chinese snow”) In fact, a method of manufacturing This initial four century lead gunpowder chemically from Chile Salt- meant the Chinese were using peter was not invented until the 1860’s, cannons by the 12th century in the US, and under the impetus of the AD while the europeans didn’t Civil War there. Before that it had to be reach that stage until the 14th. gathered from natural sources, mostly in India, and then refined (which gave But the europeans soon sur- the British Empire a considerable but passed them. By the end of the little known military and political ad- 15th century european made vantage until then. cannon were technically super- ior and were employed more effectively GUNPOWDER POLITICS in combat (which is as much to do with Another factor in the speedy Asian attitudes to warfare as anything). development of gunpowder weapons in One of the reasons for europe’s slow- the west was the political situation. ness to develop black powder may have Western Europe consisted of many been a paucity of saltpeter. Human competing and antagonistic politico- waste was not seen as a valuable ferti- economic units of small to middling size liser as it was in the east, but as some- where survival depended on such thing unclean and to be disposed of. things as improved technology. Saltpeter was normally gathered as And it was also a place where inventors crystals found under dung heaps, so could take their inventions across the this was an important limitation. border to another, more co-operative, Thus, gunpowder was very expensive in principality if they were not favourably the west. As late as the 16th century received in their first choice! gunpowder to provide 400 shots for all The artificer who constructed the giant the Venetian Republic’s cannon (both cannon that breached the walls of Con- land and sea based models) cost more stantinople in 1453 had first offered to than a year’s gross tax revenue! work for the Greeks, but had been re- Most european nations eventually jected by the Emperor as too expensive! instituted a system of government lic- Surely an example of false economy. ensed contractors who had the right to go anywhere and dig up or dismantle In China, however, the existence of a anything (e.g. dungheaps or cellars) in unitary state which had no civilised (to order to collect the needed saltpeter, Chinese eyes) competitors who to – 66– –66 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

THE EARLIEST CANNON ... These were giant Bombards such as ... AND CANNON Mons Meg (50 cm bore, 5000 kg, The other important problem was not firing a 250 kg stone ball) and the to do with the explosive per se, but with German Pumhart von Steyr (60 cm the best method of using it. bore, firing a stone ball of 800 kilos) The Chinese originally used it in paper in the first half of the 15th century. bombs (crude grenades, later fired from It is thought that the Bombards were catapults) and “fire arrows” (bamboo so large and fired such large shot tubes filled with gunpowder and metal because the early gunpowder (still scraps, fired from bows, not as rockets). “meal” or serpentine at this stage) The next step was bamboo tubes was also unreliable in composition spewing burning powder as a crude and, therefore, propellant power. flamethrower, or, possibly, a sort of Artificers relied on the mass of a shot crude flaming projectile/fire bomb, rec- rather than on its velocity to do dam- orded by the 12th century AD, which age until the introduction of better developed into crude metal cannon by gunpowder formulae. the 13th century. By the second half of the century, This four century development process these giants were only a memory. then stalled, and did not pick up again. CANNON AND CULVERINS THE WESTERN DRAGON Cannon had short(er) barrels and The first recognizable cannon appears were intended for close range work – in western european art in AD 1320 mostly siege work; Culverins had and is basically an iron pot. longer barrels and were intended for Within a 133 years this crude weapon battlefield work, having somewhat had come of age. By 1453 the French longer ranges than cannon. defeated the English (and their famous The longer barrel of the culverin, Archers) in the last battle of the however, was not the reason for their Hundred Years War because French increased range; it was due to the cannon outranged them. way bronze artillery pieces were cast. In the same year, the 1100 year old Casting was done breech-down in a walls of Constantinople fell to massive pit, and this meant that the metal in siege guns cast on the spot by a reneg- the breech of the long-barrelled cul- ade artillerist who had offered his verins was under more pressure, and skills to the Christians, but was rej- was therefore denser and stronger. ected because they couldn’t afford him As a result Culverins could take a (a classic case of false economy!). larger powder charge and this gave It was as much gunpowder and cannon the increased range. as it was steam power and iron found- Culverins could take a charge 80% of ries that then spread european dom- the weight of the ball being fired. inance throughout the rest of the world, Cannon were restricted to a charge of even to Asia, and even to the home of 66% the weight of the ball being fired. gunpowder, China. Gunpowder, or the idea of it, may have threaten its survival meant that there come from China via the Silk Road or was less interest in innovation. the Islamic world, but it was European Asian thinkers saw war as a disaster to artificers who developed and improved be avoided at all costs, so developing the technology, and who more and more destructive weapons quickly surpassed that did not have the same cachet. of the Chinese origin- In the west war was seen as a basic ators. factor in international relations, to be Better powder form- exploited regardless of the human cost. ulae. Better guns. Therefore developing more effective Better modes of weapons was a much higher priority. employing them

– 67– –67 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

CHEAP IRON OR DEAR BRONZE EXPLOSIVE IMPROVEMENTS The first cannon used in europe were Meal powder (see The Secret Formula actually made in the same way as over) was not really suitable for large barrels were (hence the name for the scale military use because of its ten- main part of the cannon), wrought iron dency to separate back into its const- bars were welded together around a ituent components, so european art- wooden form, then reinforcing bands ificers searched for a better solution. were welded around the barrel so Early in the 15th century AD they formed. came across one – mix the powder This was not a particularly reliable with water (later with spirits of method of construction, the barrels had wine), compress into a cake then, inherent weak spots all along the welds with extreme care, grind the cake into and the wrought iron used was very granules. susceptible to the acidic nature of the Granulated powder, Corned Powder, gunpowder residue. would not separate into its comp- Worse, it was inconsistent in quality onents, the granulation improved the and would eventually burst, but when it combustion rate of the powder, great- did it did not burst consistently. ly increasing power, range and acc- It might simply blow a hole where the uracy. weak spot was, but it was much more The fineness of the grains determined likely the whole thing would catast- the use – coarser grains tended to be rophically explode in all directions. used in weapons with long barrels, finer grains in those with short Early wrought iron cannon simply were not consistent – they might catastroph- barrels. ically explode after a single shot, or FEEDING THE GUNS after a hundred. You simply couldn’t A 50 pound “Half Cannon” (i.e.firing estimate it reliably. a ball weighing 50 lbs, c. 22.7 kg) required a “crew” of 3 master gunners This weakness was rapidly recognised, and 15 assistants. It could fire 45 and cast bronze guns were developed. shots per day and consumed 680 kilos These were much less likely to explode of gunpowder in doing so. catastrophically, typically blowing off a Punto Bianco (“point blank” – the piece of the muzzle or barrel, much distance at which a white aiming more survivable than the catastrophic mark at the center of a target could be explosion normal in iron barrelled guns. seen along a straight barrel) was c. Unfortunately, bronze guns cost at 228-273 meters. least ten times more than iron guns. Maximum range, with barrel at 45° Though they could be recast if they did elevation, was c. 3185-3640 meters. explode, or if the owner wanted to mod- ernise his artillery park, or simply if he The “Half Cannon” weighed 3175 kg wanted to rework the weapon to make and required a team of 14-15 oxen or it safer. draught horses to move it. It wasn’t until better casting tech- It cost 781 ducats naked (unmounted) niques and better quality control was and 812 ducats with carriage available for iron that more (but not (infantry pay was c. 1 ducat per quar- absolutely) reliable iron guns became ter; an arquebus cost c. 1 ducat). available in the 16th century in Sweden The new way of war was not cheap. and the UK. – various 16th century manuals. These guns were still liable to catast- rophic explosions, but much less so than previously. And they were still 1/10th the cost of a Bronze gun. This gave English monarchs a huge advantage against their continental enemies. – 68– –68 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

MOUNTING AND TRANSPORTATION The Koreans found a way around this The very earliest artillery pieces were by reinventing their writing system, mounted on crude wooden sleds const- abandoning the Chinese ideograms and ructed on site and normally trans- adopting an alphabetical system based ported to and from deployments by the on ancient sanskrit. The Japanese, simple expedient of slinging them from much later, did something similar, sup- a pole or poles carried by teams of plementing ideograms with alphabets. draught animals fore and aft. Of course, the Chinese did find a way of Gradually these were replaced by more overcoming this problem, and the permanent “mounts,” still not much solution was quite effective and more than wooden sleds, and these competitive with moveable type. were mounted on large wagons. The Chinese cut a whole page of text The really important development was and illustrations into a wood block and of the trunnion (pairs of lugs cast in a printed from this by inking it and cannon barrel at about the balance pressing paper onto it, even developing point), introduced in europe in the 16th mass production that made it competi- century. Trunnions allowed the wea- tive against moveable type presses as pons to be mounted on lighter, more late as 1911, when the new Republican mobile two wheeled field carriages government banned the system in the (though to begin with “lighter” and name of “modernisation.” “more mobile” were relative terms!). THE SCRIBAL SYSTEM ... A skilled scribe could produce two PRINTING folio pages of text a week if all went “With my twenty-six soldiers of lead I well with the process. shall conquer the world.” But that was only the text – the – Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400-1468) ornate, coloured, initial capitals and the illuminated margins were done Printing was a late development, even by specialists once the text had been in China, where it first appeared as copied. early as the 7th century AD (and certainly by the 9th) and depended on – Then the book had to be bound by specialist bookbinders (once books a suitable material to print on, eff- had been invented, anyway – before ectively paper (parchment, specially they had they were glued together to prepared animal skin, was too exp- form long scrolls called codices). ensive and papyrus was too brittle and too rough). Most books were written on long lasting, but expensive, vellum or a large and literate enough popul- parchment – calfskin (though ation to make it economically viable. possibly sheepsking or goatskin). These were in existence in China at But each calfskin took a month or that early stage, but not, yet, in Europe. more (depending on the time of year) to be prepared, though it did provide ASIAN PROBLEMS several folio pages. China had a problem that could not be Is it any wonder books were easily overcome, the nature of the horrifically expensive? written form of the Chinese language. Unlike European languages where a small number of alphabetical characters could reproduce any word, Chinese consists of ideograms, every word required a separate symbol. The capital cost of such a moveable type press was prohibitive, it was done, once, for a few official functions, but did not catch on and was scavenged for the metal type and abandoned.

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THE GUTENBERG SYSTEM WESTERN ANSWERS The first european presses were There is still considerable argument as based on a wine or olive oil press – a to whether printing in europe was an flatbed held the type in a frame. independent invention or was Paper was placed onto this and a inspired either by stories of the platen screwed/pressed down from chinese methods (or by contact above. with chinese technology), but it doesn’t really matter (though the It took about a day to set a page of limited evidence available seems type and, with the very first models, to support it having been an Gutenberg could print only 16 sheets independent invention, and parts an hour (of course, this was on large were completely, unlike anything sheets, each of several pages). the Chinese developed). Only one side at a time could be Paper was being made in Europe printed on, so the whole page of type (Spain) as early as the 12th century had to be taken apart and then reset AD, but then spread of literacy only for each new sheet and then the began to reach the levels needed to printed sheets had to be redone on make such a capital intensive industry the other side. viable in the 14th and 15th centuries ... Gutenberg began experimenting in Thus, in the period from its invention 1438, commercial printing in 1450, in the 1450’s to 1500 it is estimated and printed the famous 42 line Bible that around 20 million books (called in 1453 (on parchment, not paper). Incunabula) were printed in Europe, Unfortunately, like many inventors, for a population of no more than 70 he was unable to realise the financial millions. rewards of his invention – at the The cost of a copy of the Bible, for ex- moment the 42 line Bible was almost ample, dropped from more than a years complete, his creditors stepped in and wages for a well to do Burgher (most seized two of his three printing pres- well-to-do people owned only one or two ses and and all the copies of the Bible. Books or Gospels from the Bible rather He struggled on for many years, and than the whole thing) to a week’s in- was finally awarded a substantial come, all within a century. pension by the Archbishop of Mainz Within a twenty years the scribal dom- several years before he died, partly as inance in reproducing texts that had a reward but mostly for political exp- lasted since the beginning of writing ediency (the Archbishop was begin- itself was no more, except on the per- ning to understand the possibilities of ipheries of europe and in parts of asia. propaganda that could be used either for, or against, him – and wanted In the next hundred years around 140 Gutenberg to be obligated). and possibly as many as 200 million books were printed in europe, for a THE BIGGEST BESTSELLER EVER ... population, at the end of the period, of Yes, you’re all saying “The Bible!”In a around 100 millions. sense, you’re correct. And the number of books printed Between 1518 and 1525 one third of continues to increase massively. all the books printed in Germany (about 330,000 of a total of 1 million Today? The international book trade per year) were by one man. runs off around ten billion books a year (in excess of 400,000 titles), not Martin Luther (yes, the “father” of including the 8-9000 daily and weekly Protestantism). newspapers and regularly or irregu- In modern terms? The US prints larly published magazines or many of around 2 billion books a year – so the privately published volumes. It also imagine a single author whose output doesn’t include the tiny number of represented six hundred and sixty six works (relatively speaking) “published” million books. only in one of the many competing elec- Year in. Year out. Seven years in a tronic formats. row. That is a best-seller! – 70– –70 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

BEFORE PRINTING The earliest evidence of proto-writ- SCIENCE OR CRAFT? ing, in the form of counting tokens Until the 18th century science (or what with symbols may be datable to as far passed for it) took almost no interest in back as the 7th millennium BC. the practical world or in the practical application of their efforts. Certainly the belief that writing almost spontaneously appeared from Scientists did pure research and were nowhere, more or less simultaneous- usually not interested in solving pract- ly, in Sumeria, Egypt and Harappa ical problems. That was the province of (in the Indus River valley) sometime mere craftsmen who, in turn, relied on between 3700 and 3000 BC is no lon- a grab bag of technical tricks gathered ger accepted. mostly by trial and error, and which spread even more slowly spread. There is increasing evidence of a long developmental stage dating back cen- Technological advances were not the turies, if not millennia, leading up to result of systematic research into (or to the appearance of heiroglyphics in develop) new ideas, new materials, or Egypt, cuneiform in Sumeria and the new ways of doing things. pictographs of the Indus Valley. ON THE CUSP OF CHANGE The Indus Valley script died out with This only started to change (and slowly) the Harappan civilisation and left no with the invention of printing, and only successors (Sanskrit is entirely unrel- in Europe (the Chinese never cottoned ated). Heiroglyphics lasted down to on to the possibilities of a mass market Roman times but also died out, mass reproduction technology). though some of the simplified picto- graphs survived in the script used to The majority of early printed materials write Coptic (now also extinct). were about religion or philosophy, and, while of academic importance in the Of the three original forms of writing, spread of ideas, creating the intellect- only cuneiform survived – and only in ual climate that led to the Reformation, as an alphabetic version which had they did not have much practical effect over thirty letter signs, but no vowels. on the everyday. The Phoenicians reduced the number However, the stage was set, and change of consonants and added vowels (22 was in the wind. It began with the first letters). The Greeks copied the idea “How To ...” manual, the “De Re Metal- and modified the letters (24) for their lica” by Agricola (Georg Bauer) in 1556, own language. The Etruscans adapt- covering everything known to that time ed the Greek alphabet (up to 26 lett- about the practical craft of mining. ers) and the Romans, in turn, adap- ted the Etruscan (down to 23 letters, Suddenly practical knowledge adding J, U and W in the medieval spread, compounded, mixed, mu- period). tated in an intellectual ferv- our that led technicians and Chinese ideograms are the oldest practical scientists to develop form of writing in east asia, appear- new and better ways of doing ing around 1600 BC – most likely the and making things – and new idea of writing, if not the actual and better things to make. scripts, travelled from the middle east to east asia along trade routes). In effect, printing and the cheap and speedy transmission of new Once the idea of writing is learned of, ideas it made possible primed the development of a script and of the pump for the intellectual writing can be amazingly quick – ferment that was the Reformat- Sequoyah developed an alphabetic ion, but also for the scientific, script for the Cherokee in a mere 12 technological, and industrial years, between 1809 and 1821. ferment that created the “in- It was so simple that anyone who dustrial revolution” could speak Cherokee could learn to and which laid the write with Sequoyah’s script in two very foundations for weeks. our modern age. – 71– –71 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM Dirt roads were just that: dirt, graded TRANSPORT if you were lucky, heavily rutted if not. All weather roads were mostly surfaced Until the introduction of steam engine with gravel: even the famous Roman in the 18th century there was one imm- roads were of this type; stone flagstones utable law of human civilisation: man- as a road surface were used compara- kind travelled no faster than it had tively rarely. since the domestication of the horse and the invention of the wheel on land, Civil(ian) roads generally followed the and no faster than sails could propel easiest and most ancient routes, you on water. winding all over the place and only occasionally following the most direct In effect the people, rich or poor, of the route between two points they happen- 17th century AD could travel no faster ed to connect. than the people of the 17th century BC. Military roads, on the other hand, were The maximum speed that could reason- very different. Wherever possible the ably be achieved, was 100 kilometers followed the most direct route, even per day, and this was limited to water where considerable construction work transport if it was to be economic. was needed to make it usable, and they Faster speeds were sometimes possible, also tended to run along ridge tops but depended on favourable local wherever possible, to reduce the chance conditions and also were normally of surprise. prohibitive in cost. STEAMLESS RAILROADS The limitations of available transport- The earliest railroads used horse ation were a huge drag to economic and drawn carts on stone or iron rails, technologic development and progress. and early urban trams were often LAND TRANSPORT horse drawn on iron rails – there is a considerable mechanical advantage Land transport was especially expen- in such arrangements even if not sive in pre-modern times as it involved using steam motive power. substituting animal muscle and power for human, and this meant that both So why weren’t they invented and the animals and their human masters used earlier? By the Greeks or the needed to be fed over whatever distance Romans, or even by the Egyptians or they were travelling. Sumerians? Animal drawn transport could not be Mostly because they weren’t really economically used over more than 250 required. The trade the ancients kilometers for the simple reason that carried on was quite limited the draught animals would eat as much compared even to that of the post grain as the load they could carry. medieval period and it was mostly carried by water transport. And all this assumed the existence of good, all weather, roads surfaced to Mostly, resources that weren’t close handle heavy traffic, something that to water transport weren’t exploited was almost nonexistent for most times unless there was no alternative. and places until, paradoxically, well By the early Industrial Revolution after the transport revolution begun period all of those easily accessible by the steamship and steam resources had been exhausted, or locomotive. were simply inadequate to meet the TYPES OF ROAD expanding needs of industry. There were basically So the development of cheaper means two types of road com- of land transport suddenly became mon in ancient times: important in a way it never had been the dirt and the all before. weather road, and two possible pur- And, coincidentally, the development poses that roads of better tools and construction meth- could fulfil, civil or military. ods, cheaper irons made horse drawn railways economically attractive.

– 72– –72 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM If the army they were designed for was cated and time consuming Lunar dis- basically an infantry based force they tance method, but the several hours tended to be all weather roads, but if it of calculations required (by was basically a cavalry based force they hand) made this impractical tended to be dirt (which is easier on a for regular navigation. horse’s hooves and cuts down on the Only with the invention of cost and frequency of reshoeing with an accurate timekeeping expensive iron horseshoes). mechanism, the WATER TRANSPORT chronometer, could Sea and river transport was much longitude be acc- cheaper but, until the development of urately determined the theoretical basis for celestial nav- and, again, this had igation, it was too dangerous to sail for to wait until precision long distances out of the sight of land. machining could allow for the invention of a sufficiently accurate one in the In the european world, these voyages 1760’s. were mostly limited to routes within the Mediterranean and Baltic seas, and, in asia, to routes such as China- CARVEL OR CLINKER BUILT? Formosa, or Korea-Japan. The earliest known ships (from the Mediterranean) were carvel built – Everywhere else even the largest ships the planks were laid edge to edge and hugged the coast and normally put in to joined with mortice and tenon work shore each night. and wooden dowelling. Only after the NAVIGATIONAL MATTERS hull had been built was an interior From the earliest times people had frame added. used the stars for navigation – or, more This method of construction was very accurately, for direction finding. But to strong – but it had two major determine position accurately was shortcomings. It was slow to build impossible, at best you could estimate and slow to repair. Still, this was the speed and direction and come to an method of choice throughout the educated guess. western eurasian civilisations till Currents, the direction of flight of after the collapse of the western parts birds, winds, bottom soundings, and of the Roman Empire. other practical observation methods The Germanic and Scandinavian supplemented any use of the stars, but civilisations utilised a different did not really increase the accuracy of method of construction, the clinker the position determined. built method – overlapping the Even though the Chinese knew of the planks and caulking (sealing) the magnetic properties of lodestone, and gaps with hammered in hemp rope used its use as a directional finder on and tar. This was generally fast, land, as early as the 3rd millennium cheap, and easy to repair. BC, it wasn’t until the beginning of the At first, they used this method with a 2nd millennium AD that anyone minimal internal framework rather thought of (or, at leasts mentions) using like that of the carvel built hulls of it as a means of finding direction at sea. the mediterranean, but they The invention of some basic tools for eventually found that it was even determining latitude (north-south faster to build a ship if the framework distance) really only began around the was built first and the hull planks end of the 1st millennium AD, and the then affixed. Sextant, the ultimate pre-electronics East eurasian vessels (such as the means of doing so, wasn’t invented Chinese Junk) were constructed until 1731 (and, of course, required differently – they were flat bottomed precision machining that could not and work was started on a bed of have been done before the industrial sandbags and structural strength revolution made it possible). was provided by inserting internal The Sextant even allowed the determi- bulkheads. nation of longitude by using the compli- – 73– –73 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM

WATERMILLS MATERIALS The main axle on which the A little considered problem facing pre- waterwheel of a mill turned was cut modern civilisations was the limited much longer than was required to range of materials available to them for reach the gearing that ran the any sort of construction – from a nail millstones. through a pair of shoes to a waterwheel The reason? Even greasing the axle and even a mansion. on the points of wear meant that the The most common materials were whole thing had to be unmounted naturally occurring: wood, stone, and moved in several feet each year leather and bone, supplemented by to bring unworn parts onto the points small amounts of metal (bronze, some of wear. brass, and iron/steel for construction). In general, the axle of such a mill Wood, leather and bone are all fairly could be expected to require complete obviously much less strong and replacement every 3-5 years. And, as permanent than stone or metal. But the burning of forests for charcoal what were the consequences of this? fuel for heating and industry proceeded apace, the availability of Well, for example, most of what passed timbers that were long enough and for “industrial” machinery was const- strong enough became increasingly ructed using wood as a key component problematic. (if not forming the whole of the machine), which, on average, meant The mill stone also required regular that the wooden components that were replacement, about every five years. under stress generally lasted no longer Yet the water mill was the major than 3-5 years, and often much less. source of mechanical power right Even when not under stress, the work through to the Industrial Revolution. environment often meant that a life For example, when William the expectancy of 5-10 years was as much Conqueror had his officials record the as could be expected for any other extent and wealth of his new domain wooden parts. they listed more than seven thousand So any form of machine or tool, and The cost of the continual replacement even most structures, were constructed and repairs was considerable. They key from materials that had a very short elements depreciated at a rate of 20% expected useful life. or more per year and the rest at a rate of 10-20%. Even dwellings and other physical structures, unless constructed solidly of Worse. The tools that were used to brick or stone, had the same problems. make key components of what passed And even brick and stone dwellings for “machines” in pre modern needed constant preventive mainten- times were also, more often ance and minor repairs to keep them than not, constructed from from decaying. materials that were just as ephemeral! And the Unlike today, the cost of all this was a tools to make the constant and massive ongoing drain on tools were most the productiveness of the economy. likely made from the Only the introduction of metal same problematic machines and tools, and of other materials, and so on modern, long lasting or extremely down the line. cheap materials has changed the This meant the situation, from the early industrial cost of anything revolution onwards. man-made was much higher than one would expect based on modern day assumptions..

– 74– –74 – CONSOLIDATION

S E C T I “Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even O whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river” N –Will Durant (1885-1981) “Civilization is drugs, alcohol, engines of war, prostitution, machines and machine slaves, low wages, bad food, bad taste, prisons, reformatories, lunatic asylums, divorce, perversion, brutal sports, suicides, infanticide, cinema, quackery, demagogy, strikes, lockouts, revolutions, putsches, colonization, electric chairs, guillotines, sabotage, floods, famine, disease, gangsters, money barons, horse racing, fashion shows, poodle dogs, chow dogs, Siamese cats, condoms, pessaries, syphilis, gonorrhea, insanity, neuroses, etc.” – Henry Miller (1891-1980) 6 “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.” – Barbara Tuchman (1912-1989) FARM, FORGE AND STEAM IT FITS LIKE THIS ... SOME PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

While the preceding sections deal with The other, less often cited, example many of the more practical problems would be the Roman state, founded as involved with designing and defining a a monarchy in 753 BC (according to civilisation, not all of the problems that legend), it managed to last until the potentially face a world design process mid 15th century (Constantinople fell to are covered. the Turks in 1453, but some outposts held out for another few decades). This section is intended to deal with some of those problems. Of course, it wouldn’t have been classed as a “mega-empire” for most of that UNIVERSAL EMPIRES period. Certainly, it was confined to A common civilisation “type” in many Italy proper until around the 3rd role playing games is the “universal century BC, when it was still a empire,” an all-encompassing, Republic, and didn’t really have a geographically compact, socially and mega-empire until Augustus more or technologically static, mega-empire less formalised things under the Prin- that dominates a whole region, cipate in the very last decades of the 1st continent, world, sector or sectors. century BC. Such empires are, almost routinely, At its greatest extent it lasted for said to be thousands of years old, and around 350 years before the western are, equally routinely, said to have re- portion was progressively lost to mained unchanging in social structure barbarian incursions in the 4th and 5th and technology for that entire period. centuries AD. Game Designers usually cite China as The eastern rump (often, incorrectly, a “proof” that their universal empire is called the Byzantine Empire) lasted for believable. another 150 years before progressively losing territory to the expansion of Sadly, this example, and the whole Islam and other barbarians, but only idea, doesn’t stack up against reality. really going downhill, and fast, from While Chinese civilisation is, indeed, the 11th century. very ancient, it is not the most ancient So, so much for Rome as a “universal terrestrial civilisation and, in fact, did empire.” not manage to “unify” what we in Seems like “universal empires” just modern times call don’t have much of a track record! “China” until AD 1644! LIMITATIONS Even if one looks at the So, what were the limitations that core areas, China was not meant neither the Chinese nor the really unified before the 6th Roman “universal empres” had real century AD at the earliest. staying power (at least compared to And the periods of fictional empires of the same sort)? unification rarely TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS lasted more than 3- The first thing that you’ll notice about 400 years, inter- both empires is that they are geo- spersed with long graphically compact. Communications periods of disunity and and transport technology available had division. an important impact on their viability. So much for the “Chinese While they were in their expansionist example” of a “universal phase, they had an edge, as their opp- empire.” – 76 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM onents had to react to them, and the slow speed of transport and communic- ations meant that this put the oppo- sition at a disadvantage. However, once they had settled into their consolidation phase they grad- ually and increasingly found that the very advantages that they enjoyed in their expansionist phase were now accruing to their opponents. the barbarians had an overall numeri- Size, and the potential strength of the cal edge, the civilised forces had an armed forces that a universal empire enhanced ability to negate that by a could field, was an advantage, but not variety of means (better/faster trans- an overwhelming one, especially as port, better logistics, better/faster com- their enemies became more numerous, munications etc,) persistent, and sophisticated. In fact, their very size could be an SOCIAL STASIS added problem. One common “trick” that game design- The Chinese, even though geographic- ers assume as a basis for creating ally concentrated, inevitably found that worlds for fantasy (and other) milieu is moving armies over land simply wasn’t the old “nothing changes because of fast enough, especially when being social conservatism” argument. reactive. Some sort of rigid caste system or The Roman Empire at least had the exclusionary and limiting social struct- ure is assumed to be the all-encompas- advantage of the centrally placed Med- sing answer to keeping a society unch- iterranean Sea which provided speedy anging over many hundreds, and, and cheap internal lines of communic- ation, though even that was not enough. possibly, many thousands, of years. The problem is that there is no historic- THE CUTTING EDGE The other problem faced by all pre-gun- al basis for this. None. powder states is simply that the milit- Rigid caste or social structures have, ary technology available doesn’t offer historically, not been all that rigid anyone a major technological edge. A when examined closely, there are al- sword is a sword is a sword, after all. ways “loopholes.” The usual advantage that a civilised Able men (and, in some places and state had against its less civilised (or times, women) are always able to circ- simply less organised) opponents was umvent the class or caste strictures and mostly better training and logistical raise themselves, or their children, up support. to a higher social or caste level. The problem is that the “edge” that PRACTICAL EXAMPLES these factors provided simply weren’t In India, usually used as a “prime” all that large, probably no more than example of social stasis because of its 20-30% overall. all encompassing caste system, the So civilised forces could be overwhelm- historical situation was nothing like ed, fairly easily, by barbarian forces most people think. Whole clans (and with a numerical edge that was the caste system was based on classify- brought to bear on them (which was ing clans within the overall structure) often not the case because of poor were able to move up the caste ladder command and control on the part of the by simply arrogating the status of the barbarians). higher caste to themselves. In fact, the real edge that pre-gunpow- Of course, the clan had to be in a der armies had over their barbarian position to make such a jump “stick,” counterparts was strategic – superior which meant that they had to have command and control and (hopefully) acquired the social and/or political or unity of command meant that even if economic wherewithal to empower such

– 77– –77 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM a move. While such changes could take This, in turn, means that any claims a generation or more, they did happen that they are so vastly different that and were relatively common. And it they would not follow basic human was possible for a clan’s social status to norms is, at best, unlikely and, at be effectively and permanently raised worst, downright unbelievable. within the course of a person’s normal Even magic must have rules! lifetime. The other option clans used to get TECH STASIS around the Hindu caste strictures was All fantasy world designers seem to to abandon Hinduism and adopt Islam, make the assumption that their societ- which is, of course, much more egalitar- ies are even more static in a technolog- ian. In fact, for many clans, this was ical sense than they are in a social one. one of the prime reasons for adopting Huge periods of their “backstory” Islam, its more flexible and egalitarian social structure. history is, well, technologically unchan- ging or, at best, vastly slower than was In western societies, of course, even at the case in the only example we know their most restrictive, there was always of – the real world. a means of advancement for those with wealth or ability. Always. IN THE “REAL” WORLD Taking the development of agriculture At best, the social “haves” will be as a start point (c. 8500 BC in the fighting a losing rearguard action Fertile Crescent) it took another 2500- aimed at limiting social mobility not at 3000 years to develop kiln fired pottery stopping it. This normally means that, and, soon thereafter, metallurgy in the while a lower class social climber will form of Bronze. Then it took another probably not be accepted (or not fully 2000 years to develop Iron. accepted), their kids ... or their grandkids are most likely to be But were the civilisations of the accepted. Neolithic and Chalocolithic (Copper Age) technologically static? Obviously UNIVERSAL EMPIRES ... AGAIN not, they did develop kiln fired pottery So, the case for social stasis by and metallurgy, eventually (and much design doesn’t work, either, more, besides, even proto-writing). unless you have a Universal Empire with no outside comp- How about the Bronze age civilis- etition. But that option doesn’t ations? Again, the answer has to be no work, either, as has been – they developed (eventually) iron. And shown above. in the meantime they developed or perfected many other things. Which, of course, means that those fantasy societies that BUT WAS IT REALLY STASIS? have remained socially static Of course, while these societies weren’t for centuries or millennia are, static, they were not exactly speedy in well, fantasy. their rate of technological development. FANTASTIC SITUATIONS The reasons for this are fairly simply That applies even to fantasy and equally obvious – these early civili- races. There is no reason to sations were tiny in terms of overall believe that any of the so-called population, and the proportion of their nonhuman races are any more populace that had the leisure time and likely to adhere to anything more physical/mental capital to develop new workable and permanent than and improved things was an even tinier human societies can. percentage of the overall numbers. In any case, most of the so-called This means that you can, reasonably “nonhumans” in fantasy games enough, have a quite slow pace of are capable of interbreeding with technological change. From stone age humans and producing viable and hunter gatherer to space age astronaut fertile offspring. Which means they in eight and half millennia is slow by are as human as, well, humans. some standards of measurement.

– 78– –78 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM But having “eras” of tens of thousands The basis of this problem (and of years where technology barely most like it) is a desire to “bal- changes, if it changes at all, well, no, ance” the “game,” the sad news that’s not possible based on what we is that life is unbalanced. know about how societies work and The most lethal or effective develop. weapons, or most useful technol- HOW SLOW IS SLOW? ogy is not always dearer than Does this mean that all civilisations less lethal or effective weapons will advance smoothly and rapidly up and more expensive technology. the technology tree? LONGBOW TACTICS Not at all! In fact, it is common, histor- In this particular instance, how- ically, for societies to reject or abandon ever, the designers have got it technological changes that, with bene- even more wrong than it app- fit of perfect 20:20 hindsight we see as ears on the face of it. being a major, and usually costly, mis- The thing is, the English Long- take. bow has such a fearsome repu- Some societies have made just such tation as it does not for its use as decisions and, when they do, they often an individual weapon targetted find that the long term consequences at a specific individual target, are devastating. but as an area effect weapon targetted at an area target. For example, China had a huge lead over europe in both ironworking and The average Longbowman spent gunpowder weapons – and blew it. his Sundays practising not to hit the classic circular bullseye target, They abandoned or marginalised both but in a set close formation of other technologies – and when european archers under the command of a explorers finally rolled around to master archer who would call elevation China, it was Europe that had the and deflection to the group for a simul- advantage – China is only catching up. taneous release at an area. COSTS AND PRICES This is the way the Longbow was used Another illegitimate trick that many at the classic battles against the designers use is to arbitrarily link the French. It was not a case of an individ- price of goods with their game impact ual archer picking off specific French rather than the actual cost of produc- knights that he aimed at at all. tion – and they often get away with it In other words, it wasn’t the weapon because players and game masters that was lethal as much as the training don’t know enough history to under- of the wielder and the tactical employ- stand what has been done. ment of it. The classic example of this “trick” is the As an individual point target weapon? massive over-pricing of certain missile Well, it was OK, but hitting a target at weapons in common fantasy games. any real range was a lot harder than in A COMMON PROBLEM Hollywood Robin Hood movies. For example, in one extremely popular You were probably better off with a FRPG, a standard English Longbow sword and shield, and if you could sells for 75 gold pieces, while a stand- afford it, with armour as well. ard Longsword sells for 15 gp. At least that was the case on a one to Come again? one basis between combatants of no particular outstanding skill or ability. A simple chunk of seasoned wood and some animal gut bowstring costs as THE ROMAN LEGIONS much as 4 pounds of iron/steel? Similarly, a Roman Legionary armed with a sword (either short Gladius or Given what we know about the cost of the long Spatha) was probably no iron and steel in the medieval world! better as a swordsman than a medieval In the real world the prices would be knight. reversed – more than reversed. – 79– –79 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM He might even have been less well technology continues to progress, even trained. As an individual. if (by some standards) slowly. The thing is, the Roman Legionary did Which is silly – the changes in question not fight as an individual, and a should be part of the role playing formation of Legionaries would almost experience, there is no reason to certainly outmatch a similar number of “protect” players from it! knights (as long as they were on foot, Let them take advantage of it (or be and fighting with sword and shield). taken advantage of by it!) – which is PROHIBITIONS rarely going to be cut and dried, just It is true that some societies, from time like it wasn’t in real life. to time and place to place, attempted to So, be careful with costs and prices. restrict access to some weapons – with Don’t change them arbitrarily from a notable lack of success. what they were. The Knight’s sword of medieval europe was supposedly restricted to knights. But there wasn’t all that much advant- age in a Kinght’s sword compared to a standard one, so what was the point? The double swords of the Samurai were likewise restricted in Japan, but non- samurai could use swords, and non- samurai armies could and did win battles – the samurai tried to stack the decks, but it was really pointless. Likewise, the Japanese attempted to legislate firearms out of existence, but the rest of the world wasn’t interested in this legal theory and eventually real- ity forced its way on them regardless. The Pope attempted to ban the use of the Crossbow against all but the Inf- idel, and failed miserably. The weapon was just too good to ignore. Other societies and civilisations have tried to limit the spread of certain types of goods by sumptuary laws (limiting how much certain social classes can spend on clothing, weapons, transport etc.) These are universally ignored. Worse, they almost always lead to corruption as those with the money, but not the status, bribe those in charge of enforcing the law! Think Prohibition.

WHY? The sort of fiddling that you will usually encounter is an attempt to deal with the fact that, as this whole monograph has, hopefully, been showing, human societ- ies are not sta- tic, and their – 80– –80 – FANTASIES

S E C T I O N

There are two sides to reality. There is what is, and there is what people believe. Seldom are they 7 exactly the same. – L.E. Modesitt, Jr. The Magic Engineer FARM, FORGE AND STEAM ALL FANTASY SHOULD HAVE A SOLID BASE IN REALITY.

– MAX BEERBOHM (1872-1956)

That has been the purpose of this entire Catapults will lead to a better under- book:- to give a basis of reality for standing of mathematics and physics created societies and civilisations in and, since these are logical and consist- role playing games. It doesn’t matter, ent, will lead to the primacy of such ultimately, whether those societies are technological means of battering down for fantasy or science fiction or for hist- castle walls. orical games, the same rules apply. Of course, even for magic that is not In a very real sense, magic is simply powerful, consistent, or logical enough another form of technology and will to do the job by itself, the use of magi- affect the fantasy world you are cally enhanced or created missiles in creating in similar ways to the way the mundane catapults is a certainty. real world was affected by scientific or Or if magical ability isn’t widespread technological developments. enough in the population then there By definition, for any game world that will either be an economic incentive to exists, magic has to have some intern- find and train more mages (if this is ally consistent logic. It cannot simply possible at all) or to, again, find a way be arbitrary and inconsistent – if it to supplement this magical shortfall were, then the game would be unplay- with mundane technology. able because of that very fact. Noble leaders and warriors aren’t going to be interested in excuses, they will MAGITECH want any effective way of taking that The obvious pattern of human hist- enemy castle. Any way. orical advancement has been to develop As we have seen, things don’t just technological means of improving our stand still for hundreds, let alone control of the environment and to make thousands or tens of thousands of years! our lives easier. Magical abilities will have important The existence of magic in a world does impacts in other areas of military not in any way change this. endeavour – create food/water spells will have important effects on logistics. ... IN WARFARE Armies (small ones, at the very least) If magic is amenable to some form of will become more mobile than most logical development and control, then pre-modern armies could be and will, magic will either replace much of the likewise, be able to campaign during technological advances that took place winter when, historically, the lack of in our world or will supplement them. fodder for horses was a major problem. If magic is not amenable to some form Such spells will also have an impact on of logical development and control, the ability of castles and cities to with- then there will be a continued de- stand sieges, or of fleets to stay at sea mand for the development of tech- And these are merely some of the nology to do those things that magic possible effects of logical developments simply cannot do (or cannot of magic in the realm of mass warfare, reliably do). beyond the usual individual focus of For example, if magic can- most fantasy magic systems ... ench- not batter down castle anted swords, magically accurised walls, then there will missile weapons, (al)chemical weapons, still be a demand for scrying spells for improved intelligence, technological means fireballs or other area effect spells that to do just that. act as magical “artillery,” and more! – 82 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM Coincidentally, such a change means ... IN AGRICULTURE that the likelihood of a continued All those “plant growth” or “crop existence of an unsophisticated, enhancement” (and even weather decentralised, basically control) spells that seem to exist in feudal politico-mil- most magic systems will have a greater itary structure for a importance than might seem obvious. society is very low. If they are amenable to development With increased revenues and enhancement they will provide a and larger populations, magical but consistent means of enhan- the trend towards a cing crop yields. centralised bureau- Enhanced crop yields, as we have seen, cratic state would mean better health, a stronger econ- seem to be inevitable. omy with more possibilities for special- Again, social and techno- ists to exist, and a larger population. logical stasis is unlikely in All of these things mean that it is the extreme under such circ- unlikely that such societies could fall umstances. into the grip of social and technological stasis for any length of time. ... IN HEALTH The existence of healing and cure In fact, these possibilities mean that disease spells also means the likelihood technological advancement will likely of considerable change if they are log- be faster (or magical advancement will ical and consistent. be) in such societies. There will be an inevitable trend to CAVERNS AND FORESTS develop them into a form capable of What about the Pointy Ears and Big wide use throughout the populace – Beards? Does magically enhanced and this will have an major impact on agriculture make them more feasible? infant mortality and population growth. To a degree. Faster population growth will have an Elves can probably live in forests in impact on the development of improved much larger numbers than would magical and mundane technology, just seem possible on the face of it. With as it did historically. magically enhanced crops (based on, The availability of magical means for for example, Maize) you could expect the combating of disease will also have to get 800 kilos per kilo of seed which important implications beyond mere makes even the small forest clearings population growth. that exist in most forests able to support modest populations. Any society which possesses (or which can gain possession of) such magical Thing is, even with such a change, a abilities becomes more or less immune forest won’t support the numbers to the sort of disease based conquests that will be needed to defend it that destroyed the Mesoamerican and against the encroachment of peoples South American empires. with access to vaster areas of productive farmland. Of course, arguably, the Aztec and Inca equivalents of a fantasy world would Dwarves and their caverns could have no exposure to epidemic diseases, likewise be supported by magically just as was the case in the real world, enhanced underground crops (or by and, therefore, no need to develop crops grown on small patches of level spells to counter it. ground in and around their caverns), but aren’t going to be competitive If spells are “miracles” provided by di- with proper agriculturalists. vine favour, however, all bets are off – and conquistador types aren’t going to In short, even with magic, Elves and get the free ride that they did in the Dwarves simply won’t be able to real world. compete with humans in the longer term unless they become like humans In fact, the interpenetration of geo- in their range and habits. graphical disease pools will likely have

– 83– –83 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM a much reduced impact in a magical The same spells would, presumably, world than in the real world. make the separation of the ore from the The arrival of new diseases (such as the rock matrix much easier as well: the Bubonic Plague that hit Europe in the rock being converted to mud but the ore being left. This would be applicable, at 14th century) will be unlikely to have an impact in a world where magical aid the very least, for those metals that can render such diseases impotent. appear in a metallic form in nature – gold, obviously, but also copper and tin. The existence of spells of regeneration and repair will also have an impact, Purify spells could also, one presumes, though it will likely be more limited, be developed to “purify” things other there will be fewer physical disabilities than food and water: purify ore would be an obviously help- ful spell for miners! No need for nasty Fewer cripples, fewer blind or deaf environmental pollutants in the smelt- people. Overall, magically enhanced ing process, and probably not even a medical practitioners may be able to need for huge quantities of fuel for utilise “technology” in some ways more those processes, either. advanced than that which we enjoy today! Where heat is required, the use of summoned and chained elementals ... IN INDUSTRY would be a useful and economic means of supply for industrial operations. The existence of spells that make pro- specting for metals (and, presumably, Steam engines, for example, could be a other raw materials) easier will have combination of a fire and water an impact on the availability of those elemental in a magically warded raw materials – as will spells such as structure, or wind turbines could be “create air” which will allow deeper enclosed and powered by wind mines even with primitive technology. elementals in a similar structure. Variant spells that allow explosive Magically enhanced materials will lead gases to be transformed to non explos- to given architectural and engineering ive gases, or which provide warnings feats being possible much earlier. about the buildup of explosive gases The use of magical automata will also will also be helpful. have an important impact on the Of course, the availability of flameless manufacturing of key items and the “Permanent Light” spells make the is- construction of key buildings, reducing sue of explosions considerable less of a their cost and making them more problem. available as a result. Transmute spells This will almost certainly have a such as “Rock to knock-on effect reducing prices across Mud” will make min- the board, though, perhaps, not as mas- ing, even with pre- sively as the mundane industrial revo- gunpowder techno- lution of our world did. logy, vastly easier. N UMMARY The digging of adits I S (tunnels to drain In short, magic will enhance and water from mines accellerate mundane technological by gravity) will change unless is its completely un- become easy and predictable and totally illogical. In economic, making which case it will be replaced with (or mines that would will, at best, be supplemented by) normally be below technology at about the same rate of the water table and, change that occurred in the real world. therefore, impossible to dewater possible in those situations where gravity draining is possible.

– 84– –84 – BIBLIOGRAPHY

S E C T I O N

For books are more than books, they are the life The very heart and core of ages past, The reason why men lived and worked and died, The essence and quintessence of their lives. – Amy Lowell, “Boston Athenaeum” 8 FARM, FORGE AND STEAM ANNOTATED SOURCES FACT OR FANCY?

For those of you whose interest has THE HUMAN WEB been piqued by what you’ve read so far, by J R and William H McNeill, 2003, the following pages contain an anno- Norton Books. tated bibliography for some of the more Subtitled “A Bird’s eye view of World important books that were used, over History” and by the author of Plagues the years, in the research for this book. and Peoples (see above) and his son. The list is not, and could not be, comp- Just as PnP argues that the impact of lete – much of the information that diseases on human history has been makes up the basis for FFnS was gath- much greater than most historians ered in small bits and pieces, dribs and have understood, THW looks at the drabs, from many books on a wide vari- interconnectivity of human societies ety of unrleated subjects. One fact here, and experiences and their history. a tidbit or two (or even three!) there. Suffice it to say that the “web” motif is However, if you are interested in learn- a recurrent underpinning – the basic ing more about how civilisations work, argument is that civilisations have develop, and change over time then the grown and prospered in a direct relat- books listed are a good starting point, ionship to the exact degree in which especially their bibliographies. they have integrated themselves into PLAGUES AND PEOPLES larger and larger groupings through by William H McNeill, 1977, 1998, trade and cultural contacts (and, of Anchor Books. course, this is a development of the My copy of the original 1977 edition thesis that underpins much of Plagues was so worn and yellowed (acid paper, and Peoples as well, but there it is unfortunately, like almost all modern limited to disease pools – here it is an paperbacks), that I shelled out the $$$ underlying principle of everything). for a new copy of the latest edition. The intent is similar in some ways to McNeill’s thesis is that diseases have that of Jared Diamond’s books (rev- had a far greater impact on human iewed elsewhere), but, unlike his, is not history than (almost) any earlier based on geographical determinism, historians had suspected, and his but on a more structured historical arguments have been influential. thesis. The introduction contains an excellent Which is not to say that the arguments layman’s explanation of the are perfectly structured or completely evolution and ecology of convincing – there are some flaws but, diseases and the mech- overall, I believe that McNeill and anism of their inter- McNeill are onto something that bears species transmiss- greater examination. ion, while the foll- THE GUTENBERG REVOLUTION owing chapters by John Man, 2002, 2003, Review deal with the imp- (Headline Book Publishing). act of disease in An interesting examination of the specific historical “discovery” or invention of printing by epochs. Johannes Gutenberg, arguing that the A must read if you whole idea was home grown and owed want a deeper und- little or nothing (directly, at least) to erstanding of this the east asian methods of block print- important, but largely ing. Argues strongly for the genius of ignored, aspect of history. one man, Gutenberg, being the driving

– 86 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM force behind its development. THE INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE The book examines the milieu in which WORLD by Reader’s Digest, London, 1982. Gutenberg developed and implemented his ideas, his probable intent in doing Subtitled An illustrated so, and the way in which his invention guide to man’s practical did more or less the exact opposite of genius through the what he intended, and how it changed ages, this book covers in the world in ways no-one at the time reasonable detail the most could have predicted. important inventions from Printing has probably been the most prehistory to its date seminal invention of the last several of publication – often adding mat- millennia for the simple reason that it erial as to how the accelerated and expanded the way in invention was further which new ideas and inventions could developed from its initial be disseminated and utilised ... which stages into its final (as of the makes it the underpinning of the mod- 1980’s, anyway) form. ern world in a way in which most people simply overlook. This book A useful reference work with a surpris- examines the early centuries after its ing amount of detail, though, of course, development and the beginnings of it does not cover inventions that were those seminal changes – changes that just being introduced or becoming imp- are still echoing down to the present. ortant as accurately as the next book. A fascinating examination of how Well worth tracking down second hand inventions develop and how they if you can. develop in ways completely unexpected JAMES DYSON’S HISTORY OF GREAT by their developers – or anyone else. INVENTIONS OUT OF THE FIERY FURNACE edited by Robert Uhlig, Constable and by Robert Raymond, 1984, Macmillan Robinson, 2001, 2002. Australia *. A useful addition to the Reader’s Digest The subtitle indicated the subject book The Inventions that changed the matter – The Impact of Metals on the world, updating things through to the History of Mankind – this is a end of the 20th century at the very least. companion book to an ABC (Australian The book also contains information on Broadcasting Commission) document- some inventions not included in the ary series of the same name that was former as well as additional informat- presented on local TV here in Oz in the ion on some inventions that are. early 1980’s. These two books usefully supplement While dated in some areas because of each other and are highly recommen- more recent archaeological discoveries ded, and this one should be easier to and historical research, it is still an track down! excellent popularisation of how civilisation developed from and in conj- THE RENAISSANCE AT WAR unction with the discovery of metal by Thomas Arnold, Cassel, 2001, 2002. working technologies. Part of the Cassel History of Warfare In a way, the book is an earlier version series, this book covers the develop- of Diamond et al and the recent spate ments of technology and tactics and of “theory of everything” books exp- how they affected the conduct of war laining historical and cultural devel- during the Renaissance (1450 to 1600). opments – but limited to one particular This is, of course, the period during technology and related areas. which Europe went from a society in * The book was evidently reprinted by which medieval technology – knights the University of Pennsylvania Press, on horseback, bowman, and peasant 1986 (possibly reprinted, 2000), as a levies armed with farming implements textbook for college courses. Check out (sometimes crudely converted into wea- Amazon.com or abebooks.com to see if pons, sometimes not) – was not only copies are available. dominant, but virtually the only, – 87– –87 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM battlefield technology to one which was be, they, too, had to be paid for at some dominated by cannon and gunpowder premium. weapons. The ability of nation states to organise In the limited space allowed for books the finances for such expensive toys, in this series, Arnold covers the and the dominance of trade and changes that occurred during this imp- industry that navies gave to a nation ortant transitional period from the an- state was the determinant of who cient to a more modern way of warfare would be the dominant world power for remarkably well, and the bibliography over a century to come. is quite comprehensive. GUNPOWDER WARFARE IN THE 17TH CENTURY by Jack Kelly, Atlantic Books, 2004. by John Childs, Cassel, 2001, 2003. Subtitled A History of the Explosive Another installment of the Cassel that changed the World, this book History of Warfare series, this one cov- makes it plain that making gunpowder ering, as the title indicates, the period is not as simple as mixing sulphur, from the late 1500’s to the early 1700’s, saltpeter and charcoal. but concentrating on the period 1601- It examines the problems in acquiring 1700. those materials (especially the salt- During this period the organisation of peter, a problem not really resolved warfare, at least in europe, was recov- until the 1860’s!) and in turning them ering from its decline during the period into a reliable military (combat) and after the collapse of the Roman Empire civil (engineering) tool. in the west and was becoming more It also looks at the origins of the inven- modern in its forms and equipment. tion, almost certainly in China (and This book, like others in the series, is probably transmitted to the west from an excellent survey and has an equally there rather than invented independ- excellent bibliography. ently), and how the Chinese managed to completely miss its utility and totally WAR AT SEA IN THE AGE OF SAIL By Andrew Lambert, Cassel, 2000, fail to develop this innovation in the 2002. way that western societies did and the long term consequences of this failure. Also from the Cassel History of Warfare series, this book covers the develop- An interesting study both in how the ment of warfare technology, tactics and importance of an invention can be al- strategy in the naval sphere for the most completely missed by one culture and adopted and improved to the great period from the late 17th century advantage of another. through to the early 19th century when steam finally began to replace sail. GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL In many respects the development of by Jared Diamond, W. W. Norton & Company, 1997, 1999. organizational regimes to handle the requirements of a more modern style of Subtitled The Fate of Human Societies, warfare was vastly more important in this book made a major splash when it the naval arena than it was for armies was first released – it wasn’t the first on land. book to ever make an attempt to explain why the world developed the Ships and their way it has. Why the West dominates equippage req- and the rest of the world is dominated. uired money in vast quantities It was different in that it didn’t explain and skilled man- this by hackneyed old racist ideologies, power in consid- but by looking at the matter holist- erable numbers ically. That was what was different, could not simply and controversial. be rounded up The problem is that historians have all from the country- to often looked very narrowly at the side like conscripts rise and decline of human societies – for the army could looking at the immediate causes of war,

– 88– –88 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM famine, disease without looking beyond It also shows, fairly the obvious and at the underlying. conclusively, that older Climate change from massive volcanic theories that writing came eruptions, resistance to disease in a into existence fully formed population, agricultural productivity in Sumeria (modern Iraq) and other matters. is almost certainly Diamond makes an attempt, and an incorrect – and that a interesting one, at trying to look at developmental process can these deeper reasons – and that is as be traced that leads up to much the problem as anything else. His it from simple pictograph- academic background is in Physiology ic representations. specialising in the evolution and AFTER THE ICE ecology of birds, which, of course, raised by Steven Mithen, hackles amongst historians – and you Weidenfeld and Nicholson, can probably guess how the story goes 2003. from there. Subtitled A Global Human It is likely he is wrong in key areas, as History 20,000-5000 BC, some specialists have argued – but it is this excellent and reason- equally likely that he has some ably accessible book covers interesting new approaches to history, the period before that of approaches that have not been Lost Civilisations of the examined before. Stone Age (reviewed above) in considerable It cannot be too highly recommended. detail. THE YEAR 1000 by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger, Showing the development of mankind Abacus, 2000, 2001. from groups of wandering hunter-gath- erers eking out a marginal (and not so Subtitled What life was like at the turn marginal, in some places) and nomadic of the First Millennium – An English- living to the beginnings of settled life, man’s World examines exactly what it the domestication of animals, and says, dividing that world up by the agriculture. months of the year and the events of most connected with those months. It is somewhere between a popularis- ation and a full blown academic treat- This is, of course, especially relevant in ment, leaning slightly towards the lat- a world that was still largely agrarian, ter, and can be heavy going in places, and living very much on the edge of but does provide an excellent overview survival. of the latest scholarship in the field of The picture drawn is one of a grim prehistory. Highly recommended. existence of grinding poverty and un- CIVILIZATION AND CAPITALISM, 15TH- remitting labour to secure the most 18TH CENTURY marginal level of survival – and the by Fernand Braudel, Weidenfeld & fragile and almost nonexistent islands Nicholson, 2002. of learning and knowledge scattered A magisterial study of exactly what it amongst islands of darkness. Really. says in three volumes. LOST CIVILISATIONS OF THE STONE Volume #1, The Structures of Everyday AGE by Richard Rudgely, Arrow Books, Life, covers society and the economy at 1998. the very lowest level, that of the individual and family, covering all sorts A good layman’s survey of the recent of details that you would be hard scholarship showing that, despite long pressed to find all together in the same accepted (and long unchallenged, and book elsewhere. equally unsupported) belief, the origins of civilisation were much earlier, and Volume #2, The Wheels of Commerce much more widespread, than hitherto examines the development of our mod- believed. ern market economy in an equal level of detail, and also containing much information that you would otherwise – 89– –89 – FARM, FORGE AND STEAM have to struggle through dozens or Not only are there rules for the design scores of books to find. and construction of weapons and Volume #3, Perspectives of the World, vehicles, there are chapters that allow ties it all together in an informative you to design intelligent races and non- and detailed overview of these three intelligent animals (or monsters) and, key centuries in the development of the importantly, whole broad stroke modern world. civilisations (on a social, political and economic level!) Personally I found the first two books the most use, as the third covers topics There are also plans to include some that many others that are mentioned basic design rules to allow the GM to here (and even more that are not men- determine a ballpark figure for actual tioned for space reasons) already do, construction times and costs for and, probably, the driest and hardest to anything you can design with the game. digest of the three. While it is intended for EABA, like The first two are well worth checking Guns, Guns, Guns and VDS, it will be out of the library if not purchasing! easy to use the rules to do the scutwork of designing and then translate the end GURPS WORLDBOOKS results into figures and formats more No bibliography of sources on the palatable for your house system of subject of history and gaming would be choice. complete without mentioning the large number of excellent historical world- Look forward to it. Buy it when its books that have been published over finally ready (and, no, I don’t get paid – the years by Steve Jackson Games. this is an entirely unsolicited “plug”). Though intended for use with GURPS, PROFANTASY SOFTWARE Finally, where would a civilisation GMs around the world, have found designer be without mapping software? them to be useful and accurate guides for gaming purposes, oftentimes prov- My program(s) of choice are by iding obscure bits of information not Profantasy – CCPro for the detailed widely known or widely mentioned in mapping work and Fractal Terrain for more academic oriented sources. creating whole worlds at the click of a mouse button. There are too many to list, but their number include – Aztecs, Middle Ages, Dungeon Designer, City Designer and Imperial Rome, Russia, Japan and the assorted Symbol Packs are also many more. especially useful for making your world more alive than the same old same old All are highly recommended, and make an especially good choice if you haven’t hand drawn maps. got the time to do a lot of specific Fractal Terrains even maps the climate research – Steve has always had a bands and weather patterns of each reputation for going the extra mile for world it creates, which is a great boon accuracy and its shows. to would be designers as well. Inaccuracies are rare, if they aren’t No other program (or suite of merely differences of opinion between programs) on the market offers the competing theories in the first place! same degree of functionality and utility, though there is a learning curve EABA STUFF! by Greg Porter, BTRC, 200x. involved (and an excellent mailing list that can provide online support). Soon to be released, Stuff! is intended to do for BTRC’s EABA game system Highly recommended. what the Guns, Guns, Guns and VDS (Vehicle Design System) do for the CORPS game system – and more. Pre-release drafts have shown that Stuff! will cover “design” in the widest sense possible.

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