• From: Buffalo, NY
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Topic: Any Engineers in the house?

OK, this is a stab in the dark smile

I finished the third book in my "Saga of Nowy Poland" last month. It's a series about two modern day college kids who find themselves in an unknown fantasy-ish world with the decedents of Poles who left our world around the year 1000 CE. I've deliberately tried NOT to have the story devolve into bringing modern tech into this society, mostly by not having our two heroes know how. They know what is possible, but not how to recreate it. Changes have been minor, if profound (hand washing, canal locks, some political changes). I want to start playing with that, but in a somewhat organic way. Over the weekend I visited the Henry Ford museum, including Greenfield Village. As I was walking from Edison's workshop to the Wright Brother's home, I had an idea: what if the next book was about a Polish Edison? A "Wizard" of Nowy Warsaw? Someone who could take the knowledge of what CAN be done, and using what is around him work toward it? How many centuries of technical development can be skipped just by knowing what is possible?

Damned if I know. Hence, this cry for help. While I can research, dick around, and write around what I don't know (I'm very skilled at that), I'd love to find someone knowledgeable in things mechanical, perhaps chemical, to help. Be my scientific advisor. Payment, at most, will be the adoration of forwarded fan letters and a physical copy of the eventual book. If you're interested, drop me a line. You can find the first three books at http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/series/a-leader-born/

Last edited by Invid (2014-10-15 22:20:55)

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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

My advice would be to look at a 101 awesome science tricks for kids type book and see if anything looks useful. Also research on Tesla, Edison, Newton, DaVinci... Certainly steam engines and probably some electricity generation could be made with sufficient manufacturing skills. A lot of it depends on the available materials. Presumably they would have copper.

Definitely calculations relating to navigation and projectile motion could be done. That could give someone a distinct advantage in some scenarios.

There is also medical stuff like ibuprofen from willow bark or penicillin from bread mould.

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  • From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

I'm no engineer, but I know that the things that make the biggest difference in a developing society are communication and venture trade. Historically, the inventions that made those possible are:

  • paper (1100s in Europe)

  • magnetic compass (1300 in Europe)

  • printing press (1450)

  • carrack sailing ship (1400s)

But you could shake up history quite a bit just by introducing a few modern ideas. Just teaching everyone to read and write makes a huge difference. The idea of interchangeable parts and an assembly line make mass production possible. Fiat money and fractional reserve banking would allow much faster growth in trade.

And I'm kind of fascinated by modern-done-primitive inventions. A telegraph network made of mirrors (day) and oil lamps (night) would allow fast communication between cities. A water-wheel driven elevator (or paternoster) would make a tall building practical.

Last edited by Zarban (2014-10-16 02:58:41)

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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  • From: Chicago-ish
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

Degreed.
Audiobook version would work better for me in getting familiar with your world, but I'll have a look.

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  • From: Red Deer, AB
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

Zarban wrote:

I'm no engineer, but I know that the things that make the biggest difference in a developing society are communication and venture trade. Historically, the inventions that made those possible are:

  • paper (1100s in Europe)

  • magnetic compass (1300 in Europe)

  • printing press (1450)

  • carrack sailing ship (1400s)


Going off of this, I would say definitely dedicate some time to watching through Crash Course World History, at least the stuff regarding the early/mid history stuff. John does a really good job of going into a lot of this in a really easy to understand way that also tends to look at the larger picture of how various developments and interactions affect the various societies in a region.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P … 2FB1EF80C9

And they're also just starting World History 2 which might have some good stuff that could help.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P … ONGX3zoY4M

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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

I just remembered the Time Traveller's Cheat Sheet.

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  • From: places where photons don't go
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

I'll weigh in and mention that the main barrier to a lot of modern technological applications wasn't knowledge and ideas, but instead metallurgy and manufacturing. People have know about things like electricity and steam power for a long time, they simply couldn't apply them to something practical until people figured out how to create stronger and better materials with greater precision then was possible back then.

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  • From: Red Deer, AB
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

That's very true, I'll echo the episode of the new Cosmos, regarding the major advancements that happened once they actually had proper refined glass for making telescopes and microscopes.

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  • From: Buffalo, NY
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm aware of metallurgy and manufacturing limits, one reason I was hoping for an advisor on such things. After some time thinking on it, I have my characters and basic structure, but the science is still in the air. I do have the two children playing with some Tinker Toys their father invented, though, so that's something smile

I write stories! With words!
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  • From: Chicago-ish
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

Finished reading the trilogy. Can't really see a way to critique it without spoiling, but I enjoyed it. I had several sessions of, "can't put it down, sleep can wait."

Here's just a few on topic things that pop to mind as I type them:

If you can make plate armor, you can make steam engines. That might explode at any moment.

Drawing metals into wire can help with mastering electricity. Generators, wet cell batteries, capacitors, etc.

Heavier than air flying machines seem obvious, presuming a high-specific energy fuel source and engine. Airships are low tech. Submarines as well, it's keeping the crew alive that's the problem.

Last edited by drewjmore (2014-11-10 21:42:12)

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  • From: Buffalo, NY
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I found my advisor, and posted a first chapter to the new book (If I don't treat things like a TV show and post as I write, nothing gets done). The idea of hot air balloons will probably come up eventually, probably for military usage. Wind and water power will dominate, as I can't see the King wanting to even deal with electricity until much more important things are dealt with.

I write stories! With words!
http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/

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  • Registered: 2011-05-24
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Re: Any Engineers in the house?

Hey!  I'm a mechanical engineer.   If you need any more help let me know!

Bloggy:  Inf0verload

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