The Ideas For Encyclopedia Post-Apocalyptica Thread

[Sir Ironside]

Diamond, do you think percussion cap guns might exist?

[Gulag]

Originally Posted by Sir Ironside

Diamond, do you think percussion cap guns might exist?

Its established that they do in Mexico in the least.

Percussion caps are made with a variety of chemical compounds that can be produced all over the place - its all a matter of finding a compound that is sensitive to shocks and does not react with metals. Wikipedia has a wide variety of chemicals and compounds that fit the requirements.

So its perfectly likely that a large number of enterprising chemists or businessmen are making percussion caps and cartridge pistols and rifles across Nourika.

[Emote Control]

If they have guns, they undoubtedly have grenades, even if they are just metal balls filled gunpowder and a cloth fuse. They will undoubtedly have cannons as well.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Diamond

And I've got to disagree with that. Sure, some people that survived were educated, but many more survived through sheer luck or brutality to others. Those that were educated - how useful is knowing about atomic theory? If it's not useful in the current situation they found themselves in, how likely is it that they'd bother passing it on to their children? And more to the point, would those children care? After all, they only knew the world as it was then.

There are certainly some areas where high technology lives on, but in how many places can it be replicated or even maintained successfully? I can think of only three: Chilango, the Adabaska, and possibly Matt's Vaults. And even there, much has been lost. None of those three regions/groupings is in a position to have spread knowledge far and wide.

Atomic theory or antigravity or AI may survive in legend and corrupted scrolls and books passed down through the generations, but it's just not common knowledge. Or even uncommon knowledge. The vast majority of cultures in Nourika live at early Rennaissance or pre-Ren levels. And there's no guarantee that technological advancement is going to follow the same route it did during our Rennaissance, post-Ren, and industrial revolution.

Besides the power plants and the knowledge to use them, along with Vault related things themselves (eg cold sleep) I'd say Vaults are more Mid-20th Century at a low level of production. Maybe even early with a few odds and ends that would be more advance.

[Emote Control]

Here is the rewrite of my Ancients And Religion entry.

The people of Nourika are not stupid -- but they are primitive, superstitious, and largely illiterate and innumerate. The truth of the Ancients -- that they were people just like modern folk, but with a vastly more advanced science and a far more developed economy -- is lost on all but a few scholars and savants. But anyone with eyes can see that the Ancients were different in some way, from their incredible structures, to the Skytraders, to the scars their weapons have left on the land. The people of Nourika have incorporated the fact of a gone advanced civilization into their worldview.

One example of this is in Nourika's oral traditions. The survivors of The Fall were a culture without an oral history or storytelling tradition. But they attempted to tell their children about the history of America, and these tales became the foundation of modern Nourikan minstrelry. Everywhere one hears tales of the mighty empire which once ruled all of Nourika, while the First American Civil War has become the tale of Linkun, a brave vigilante who freed slaves, overthrew corrupt lords of the manor, and so on.[1]

Nourikans also, by and large, believe in a system of magic similiar to traditional Chinese medicine. But again the fact of the Ancients has been incorporated in. The roads and rails of the ancients are believed to follow the natural energies of the earth, while bits and pieces of optical computers and nonbiodegradable litter that had not been hauled off to nanorecyclers when The Fall shut down the power are believed to have healing power or bring good luck. Still other Ancient sites are believed to be cursed -- a belief with some foundation in reality, as radiation and pollution linger in many of these places.

Meanwhile, cults and monastic orders exist everywhere which literally worship the Ancients. This is most obvious in the Great River states, with their worship of the Fifty-Five. But the Core and the Batmen are other examples. Some of these cults have preserved remains of the psionic training disciplines of the Ancients, and a few practitioners actually gain parapsychological powers, which only serves to reinforce belief in the Ancients supernatural nature.

Nourika's more 'traditional' religions of Islam and Christianity also have incorporated The Fall into their outlooks and believe The Fall to the judgment of Jesus or Allah, as one prefers. A common theme in sermons is to beware sin -- look what it did to the Ancients! Learned theologians debate exactly which sin brought the Ancients down -- was it their creation of new species [2], the production of soulless abominations, [3], or their creation of new moons and suns for trivial purposes, [4], a clear usurping of God's authority as established on the second day of creation.

Those few locations which have preserved some true Ancient knowledge, such as the NJR or the Mexican states, are accordingly viewed with great suspicion by their neighbors. Many natural advances in technology are viewed with great wariness, even seemingly simple developments in maritime technology or mining, because of fear of bringing on another Fall, however unlikely.

[1]Everyone had such strong reactions to Glenn Beck causing ACW2 I decided to remove that.

[2]Genetic engineering and the EEV.

[3]Artificial intelligence.

[4]Light bulbs.

[Diamond]

I like this bit a lot:

Nourikans also, by and large, believe in a system of magic similiar to traditional Chinese medicine. But again the fact of the Ancients has been incorporated in. The roads and rails of the ancients are believed to follow the natural energies of the earth, while bits and pieces of optical computers and nonbiodegradable litter that had not been hauled off to nanorecyclers when The Fall shut down the power are believed to have healing power or bring good luck. Still other Ancient sites are believed to be cursed -- a belief with some foundation in reality, as radiation and pollution linger in many of these places.

Especially the part about ancient roads/rails being viewed as a sort of ley line network.

[Emote Control]

Thank you, Diamond. What about the rest of it?

[GBW]

Thought I'd put in a link to an apocalypse idea I had, maybe help give someone an idea.

http://counter-factual.net/upload/showthread.php?t=9443

[Diamond]

Yep, that's more the 'starting condition' I think I want to start from this time around, if that's okay with you, GBW.

[GBW]

Originally Posted by Diamond

Yep, that's more the 'starting condition' I think I want to start from this time around, if that's okay with you, GBW.

Go for it.