[Torg] 0-15 (Tech Axiom, 1 of 4)

[Jones Jasyn]

As I mentioned, I am trying to finish the bare minimum of design work that will allow me to run a new Torg campaign. To that end, I'm finishing and posting my 21-scale axiom charts. This is the Tech axiom.

Any comments or complaints about the old Torg axiom or the Tech axiom in general would be welcome, as I would like to implement those now, rather than putting those off into the indefinite future.

With the exception of such comments as need be implemented, this will be the version posted to my site.

Comments made the last time this chart was posted (Oct, 2006) have been implemented (mainly involving flintlocks and domesticating animals).

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When originally published, the Torg role-playing game included charts for the four axioms: Magic, Social, Spirit, and Tech. These charts covered the general path of advancement for the axioms, but were incomplete. This is a revised and completed Tech axiom.

By design, each axiom level roughly corresponds to a specific historical period. To aid gamemasters and players in placing the benchmarks in historical context, the name of the appropriate time period is given along with the benchmark.

Technological Axiom

The Tech axiom regulates tools that depend on the laws of physics to function. All tools of this axiom work according to "scientific" principles. This axiom doesn't determine (or change) the physical laws of a cosm (unless otherwise specified, all cosms have identical physical laws). Instead, the Tech axiom governs the degree to which those physical laws may be used and the knowledge that can be gained about physical laws. 

0 [Pre Civilization] Natural objects such as rocks and sticks may be used as very simple tools. Such tools cannot be refined or modified, but must be used “as is”.

Fire can be domesticated but not created.

1 [Stone Age, before 8000 BC] Fire making is invented. Natural materials like stone, wood or bone can be refined into small, primitive tools through processes like knapping, whittling, or hardening with fire. Later, advanced stone tool making is possible. 

Composite tools, which combine two separate unliving components into one tool, are possible. Examples include spears with stone points and axes (which are essentially clubs with a rock affixed to the end).

Lashing and knot-tying are possible, and simple lean-tos made from lashed wood (or other natural materials) are possible. Rafts and small river craft, made from lashed logs, appear.

Selective breeding of animals is now possible (given sufficient Social). Armor made from animal products possible.

2 [Neolithic, 8000-3500 BC] Agriculture invented, but still practiced largely as a dietary supplement to hunting and gathering. Calendars based on easily visible phenomena may be invented. 

Simple fired clay pottery can be created. Arithmetic is possible. The wheel or axled rollers first used for transportation. Fishing vessels (four or more beings, muscle powered) appear. Maps may be created.

3 [Bronze Age, 3500-1200 BC] Metal is first smelted, tools may be made from first copper and then later from alloys like bronze. Metal hand axes and daggers are state of the art weapons. Bows are possible, but only with enough punch for small game. 

Potter's wheel appears, plow speeds agriculture. Glass, cloth, wine, beer invented. Seaworthy ships are possible but still muscle-powered. Oil lamps invented. Kiln-fired bricks used in buildings. Silk may be harvested for fabrics.

Medicine and astronomy as organized sciences are possible (given a sufficient Social axiom for sciences.) Sea vessels powered by more than one sail possible; first true transoceanic vessels possible. Concrete possible. Metal armor appears.

4 [Iron Age, 1200 B.C.-AD 400] Civil engineering possible; pulleys, block and tackle are available machines. Bridges, dams, aqueducts, tunnels, road technology extensive.

Hard metals such as iron are smelted. Use of hard metals is common, metal coins may become common (given a sufficient Social axiom for currency.)

Bows are powerful enough for use as combat weapons. Simple wind-powered vessels appear. Timekeeping devices such as sundials and water clocks appear. Astronomy fully developed. Wide-scale irrigation systems possible.

Plumbing is possible, serving to supply buildings with hot and cold water and carry away waste. Large buildings appear for first time. Locks and keys become practical.

Pharmacy and surgery organized sciences; healing herbs and simple drugs may be cataloged and produced. Lathes, paper, candles may be invented. Dying of fabric is possible. Place-based numbering systems (such as the decimal system) may be invented.

5 [Middle Ages AD 400-AD 800] Specialized surgery, such as cataract surgery, possible. Basic anatomy of living beings, with all vital subsystems, understood enough to diagnose and treat many ailments. 

Gears and screws possible, allowing exploitation of water power. Sugar can be refined, milling expands greatly. Magnetic compasses are possible but crude. The stirrupo first appears.

6 [High Middle Ages/Crusades, AD 800-AD 1400] Hard metal alloys such as steel become possible. Wind power exploitable with windmills. Rudders make boats more maneuverable. Clay and ceramic techniques refined to the point that porcelain is possible.

7 [Renaissance, AD 1400-AD 1600] Inks refined, making book printing (block printing) possible. Acids, mechanical clocks, magnetic compasses possible. Gunpowder may be invented; cannon are possible as are crude firearms (matchlocks and wheellocks), including muskets. Small hot-air balloons may fly.

Alcohol denatured for use as a disinfectant. Primitive analgesics may be refined from plants. Biology develops categorization of animals by function rather than appearance. Glass mirrors are invented. Corrective spectacles possible, but not terribly effective.

8 [Age of Sail, AD 1600-AD 1750] Cut-glass process invented. Telescope, microscope may be invented. Steam power possible but very crude and inefficient. Metal plates used for printing; printing press possible. Barometers invented; crude weather prediction begins.

Principles of ballistics understood and exploitable. Primitive rifling possible. Basic mechanics of physics understood. Probability theory and calculus invented. Magnetism and electricity connected.

9 [Industrial Revolution, AD 1750-AD 1820] Metallurgical advances allow precision machined parts; Industrial Revolution may begin. Efficient steam engines possible if energy source better than wood available. Pocket watches, bifocals possible. Large hot-air balloons can be built. Flintlock firearms possible.

Velocity of light recognized as finite. Gravitation and tides understood. Plant extracts and essences possible; inoculation invented. Anesthesia introduced into surgery.

10 [Civil War, AD 1820-AD 1870] First electric batteries possible. Steamboats, telegraph, crude calculating machines, somewhat portable electric generators appear. Railroads are possible. Easy to ignite matches, sewing machines, reaping machines, vulcanized rubber invented. Photography on metal plates possible.

Thermodynamic laws established. Bacteria recognized as transmitters of disease. Cell structure explained. Evolutionary theories first developed.

Rifling improved greatly. Artillery pieces now very reliable; as explosive shells are refined, they replace rifles as prime killer on the battlefield.

11 [Old West/Victorian, AD 1870-AD 1910] Single-action revolvers, repeating rifles, hand-cranked machine guns, recoil-operated machine guns are possible. Tungsten steel invented. Internal combustion engines possible.

Bicycles,  telephones, hydrogen airships, gliders, submarines practical. Syringes first used for injections. Antiseptic surgery developed. Photosynthesis understood. 

12 [WWI, AD 1910-AD 1935] Radio voice transmission possible. Crude, flimsy airplanes can fly. Automobiles reliable enough to replace animal-drawn transport. Sonar invented. Brain surgery successful. Automatic pistols and submachine guns possible. Movies, including "talking pictures."

Radioactivity understood. Discovery of relativity possible.

13 [WWII, AD 1935-AD 1960] Tanks become an effective tool of war, metal-skinned aircraft with jet propulsion, radar possible. Electron microscope, vaccinations against viral diseases, antibiotics, television, polymers and artificial fabrics, large mainframe computers, helicopters, ball-point pens appear. Nuclear power and bombs possible. Antimatter discovered.

14 [Cold War, AD 1960-AD 1980] Orbital spacecraft, lightweight automatic weapons, wire-guided munitions, integrated circuits, transistor radios, organ transplants, crude artificial hearts and other organs, gene synthesis, "test-tube" babies, 400,000 ton oil tanker, primitive space stations, first home computers, global computer networks, space shuttle, neutron bomb, robot probes to other planets, heavy Kevlar suits.

15 [Modern Day, AD 1980 +] Doppler radar, genetic engineering, cloning proven possible, solar power, compact disks, computer-controlled aircraft, fire-control helmets, laser-guided munitions, large skirted hovercraft vehicles, permanent space station, limited fusion power, primitive “bionic” prosthetics, lightweight Kevlar vests. Mapping human genome possible.
--
Jasyn Jones
jasynj (at) gmail (dot) com

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson

Check out my Torg webpage, Storm Knights:
web.me.com/stormknights/