"Why I Hate Technologically-Static Fantasy" now up on Fantastic Worlds
"Why I Hate Technologically-Static Fantasy"
© 2014
by
Jordan S. Bassior
TV Tropes is a lovely site, in part because it has terms for almost everything one encounters in fiction. One such term is "Medieval Stasis," which it defines as being
a situation in which, as far as the technological, cultural, and sociopolitical level are concerned, ( Read more... )
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Beneath her the Earth slowly changed. She saw the old castle swallowed by the primal dark forest. One by one, the ancient fortresses of the noble families crumbled into ruins: new mansions sprawled, their designs dictated now by display and luxury, rather than the iron demands of feudal war. She saw the new city, by the palace on the mountain, grow. Forests fell, farms spread across the land, roads snaked between the cities. Traffic moved by wagons on the roads, by canal barges and river boats and sea shipping on the water. There was a new town south and then another one north of the old castle, and the forest fell back on its heart. Here and there, outside the new towns, smokestacks began to climb into the air. Palls of dirty black smoke coughed forth, like a foal’s lusty birth-cry.
This happened once before, she realized in her saner moments. In the forgotten world, the one that sent the lander. They’re remembering! The ignorance is lifting! Sister, we’ve done it! And her joy when she realized this, the love that sprang into her heart for her sister, and for all the little ponies, drove the Shadows from her for Earth-days at a time, though their fury when they finally caught her again, and the lessons they needed to teach her , kept her happiness in check for many Moon-days to come.
This happened more and more frequently, as she saw new things in which to delight. Ships sprouted smokestacks, sailed against the wind with spouting steam. Traceries of metal wound between the cities, and steam trains puffed along these new rail roads. Balloons rose, grew smokestacks and propellers, became great airships to ply the routes of the air. Some of it was strange, but all was wonderful to the dark mare’s delighted gaze. What a new Age of Wonders it must be!
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The thought is enough to help her free herself from the Night Shadows, though they always wind up recapturing her -- as she has nowhere to go.
Admittedly, this is something she herself had been working toward for many centuries, before her rebellion.
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