because i am sick, have copy-pasta
Types of Technology
Technology
The most common type of technology is that which does not need a special name to qualify itself; it is the baseline. Technology, spearheaded by the city of Tarant in the Unified Kingdom following the invention of the mass-producible steam engine by Gilbert Bates, has revolutionized much of the world. It has spread to other nations - Arland, Amestris and other, smaller cities.
The reason for this is simply that it is relatively easy to make. Even normal people can learn to construct technological items, without needing any special talent or nature beyond the drive to learn. This is not to suggest that becoming a so-called "technologist" is easy, of course. Budding technologists often find their desires hampered by a lack of scientific knowledge. As a result, more and more universities have been founded or have expanded their programs, from the University of Tarant in the Unified Kingdom to the University of Beetleburg in Europa.
The greatest downside to standard technology is that of all types of technology, it is most vulnerable to magical interference. Strong magical energies are able to disrupt the workings of technology, a fact which has led to much tension between the rising technological powers and practitioners of the ancient arts. The Unified Kingdom has gone so far as to enact laws forbidding powerful wizards from riding in any train car but the caboose, to minimize the small but possible risk of catastrophic engine failure. While most magical energies will not result in explosive, catastrophic failures, it is a possibility, especially with stronger magic. More likely, however, are minor glitches in function - clockwork ticking backwards for a moment, decreased efficiency of steam engines and the brief dimming of electrical power.
Sparktech
The technology known as 'Sparktech' is unique; this is, in fact, one of its defining qualities. Drawing on the mad genius of the people known as Sparks, Sparktech utilizes principles and technologies that no others can understand. Indeed, some have suggested that these principles are occasionally created whole cloth by the Sparks, or at least the explanations of them are. As a result, few people can understand Sparktech at all. Even other Sparks may find it difficult to comprehend particularly complex examples, especially without guidance from their creator.
Sparktech is often capable of more advanced creations than normal technology. After all, Sparks are able to grossly manipulate bodily tissue and even, in some cases, resurrect the dead. Their creations are almost universally baroque and unsubtle, though there are rare exceptions. All Sparks have a distinctive style to their creations, however, which can be distinguished with study even on the most subtle of their inventions.
Sparktech is not without limits, though it can seem so to the uninitiated. After all, Sparktech does not suffer nearly so badly as standard technology from catastrophic magical reactions. While they can occur, Sparktech is resilient to them. Of course, when they do occur, the results tend to be more destructive. Sparktech can never truly be mass-produced, however - while a Spark can be particularly productive, their designs are generally incomprehensible to non-Sparks, as noted above, and impossible to reproduce, especially as the Spark becomes more powerful. Sparktech also tends to suffer from unique limitations derived from the creators' mad genius. Weak Sparks' machines often run out of power at inoppurtune times, and even more powerful Sparktech creations are infamous for destroying their own creators. (Perhaps especially more powerful Sparktech creations.) When they do succeed, however, such as with the Jagerkin of the House of Heterodyne, they perform their functions amazingly, with gusto and often rather unpredictably. Even a Spark has trouble guessing what his more complex creations will do in some situations.
Orbal Technology
Orbal technology is a rare but notable form of technology, primarily found within the Liberl Kingdom. It is actually a fusion of magic and technology, utilizing the magical ore known as sepith to create large orbs known as quartzes, which can be inserted into specially designed machines to produce various effects. Sepith is relatively rare outside the Liberl Kingdom, but far from unheard of. Orbal technology, however, is extremely rare outside the kingdom.
This can be surprising at first glance. After all, orbal technology seems to have none of the drawbacks of standard technology. It is able to produce results as advanced as standard technology, though it lags behind Sparktech in such things. It is able to allow people to utilize magical spells by drawing on the power of the quartzes placed in their orbal bracers' slots. It is, as a result, completely free of magical failures, utilizing magic as it does.
However, there is a very good reason that orbal technology remains niche: sepith and quartzes attract monsters. The Liberl Kingdom, being relatively small, is able to deal with this problem by employing both a fulltime military and being the premier home of the semi-mercenary Bracer organization. In fact, the Bracers originally derived their name from the orbal bracers they used in battle. Despite this, travel outside cities can be extremely dangerous, thanks to the high monster population drawn to the orbal technology. Orbal airships are attacked by aerial monsters with greater frequency than zeppelins, and while the solution of the Liberl Kingdom remains feasible for them, any larger nation would be swamped and overextended by the unpredictable attacks within its own borders.
Technology Limits
Firearms
The peak of firearms technology is currently the gatling or machine gun. No one has yet discovered a good way to mass produce these weapons economically, but several geniuses across the world have developed their own varieties of gatling gun, machine pistol or primitive machine gun. For most people, the pinnacle of firearms technology lies in the revolver, the long rifle and the shotgun.
ARMs, due to their reliance on mental potential as a result of the ancient materials used to make them, tend to be slightly more powerful than equivalent guns. However, because not everyone is capable of using ARMs and the supply of dragonbone is strictly limited (and in some cases highly protected and guarded), ARMs have not really made inroads to replacing normal guns in any capacity.
Airships and other large craft often possess powerful cannons or other artillery. These guns are approaching the peak of their efficiency as a result of many military research programs and wars. As yet, not even the greatest of Sparks have found a way to use the advances in small guns to produce faster-firing or more effective artillery.
Exotic weaponry such as lightning cannons or stranger weapons tend to be the realm of Sparks and ancient machinery. They are not mass produced in any form.
Vehicles
The most advanced means of land transportation is the train. Railways exist spanning the Unified Kingdom and Amestris, and tracks are laid every day expanding these further across these nations. The railway has yet to be adopted in the Liberl Kingdom, and much of Europa is still unconnected due to the dangers of laying track in the wastelands.
After the railways, steam cars and even steam tanks are technically the most advanced land travel. Mostly seen in Europa and Amestris, these vehicles suffer from a small tendency to explode violently, and have yet to be widely adopted as a result. In Europe and Amestris, Sparks and Alchemists control these tendencies as best they can. For the rest of the world, the coach and horse remain mainstays.
For most of the world, the zeppelin is the first and last word in air travel. While the largest and most advanced zeppelin fleet in the entire world remains that attached to Castle Wulfenbach, the technology has spread to much of the world. The Liberl Kingdom utilizes orbal technology to allow metal airships to fly without aid of balloon, but these airships are not significantly superior to zeppelins; their speed and maneuverability are comparable, although they often have smaller profiles. (On the other hand, they are also more often attacked by aerial monsters.)
However, a select few Sparks of the highest order have been producing what may eventually revolutionize air travel. Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach and Hieronymous Maxim are both rumored to have developed flying machines of immense speed and maneuverability, and some similar rumors exist of such an airship in the Liberl Kingdom, along with remnants of such things occasionally found in Vendigrothian ruins.
Biology
Most technologists are limited to simple medicines and chemical drugs. These medicines are able to fight many diseases, heal wounds and so on, while drugs are capable of temporarily boosting physical and mental capabilities (though often with great costs). Beyond these simple medications, however, little has been found - certainly nothing to rival the strange medicines occasionally found deep within Vendigrothian ruins.
Sparks are not so limited, however. The extremely rare and difficult Si Vales Valeo procedure, disastrous if performed incorrectly, is capable of returning the dead to life - though it has never been successfully performed more than half an hour after death, and even that much is extremely difficult. The longer one waits, the less likely a Si Vales Valeo is to succeed...and failures often result in massive explosions in the best cases.
Biological modification is likewise a little-touched field for many technologists. The closest they come is automail, the mechanical replacement of lost limbs. Such things are relatively common, however, especially in Amestris, where the technique was invented. Automail limbs usually serve only as replacements, but can be far superior to normal limbs and even have implanted weapons if made by a skilled enough automail technician. No automail limb, however, is capable of the full range of feeling of human flesh, and most are not nearly as capable of fine manual dexterity.
Sparks, again, are not so limited. Sparks have long experimented with biological modification, both via mechanical replacements for various body parts and outright manipulation of flesh and bone. By using living creatures as bases, Sparks are able to create Constructs, artificial beings of flesh and bone. These creatures are usually physically more capable in various ways than the creatures they are made from, though they also usually suffer from mental problems. It is possible, though difficult and rare, for a human being to be modified in similar ways to a Construct to gain similar physical enhancements.
Automata
The steam engine has allowed for the development of automated guardians, even by non-Sparks. These guardian machines, commonly referred to as Clanks, are most common in the Unified Kingdom, where they generally take the form of mechanical arachnids, and in Europa, where more humanoid forms are preferred. They range in size, though any greater than about ten feet tall require great skill to create.
Sentient automata remain nothing but a dream, even for most Sparks. There are rumors of machines that have been made truly intelligent by the implantation of a human brain, or which have been controlled by a human brain; these are rare beyond rare, and rarer still are those machine-men which are truly intelligent without such aid. Those that do exist tend to be within massive constructions and unable to be moved, such as the mind of Castle Heterodyne. Legend has it that R. van Rijn, the greatest Spark of the 1600s, was able to create eight man-sized Clanks with their own true minds, but this has never been corroborated or reproduced.
Communications
The most advanced communications technology at present is the orbal telephone, capable of maintaining crisp and clear sound quality across any distance it spans and unable to be interrupted. However, the orbal telephone is far from perfect. It is unable to operate without a physical connection between terminals, managed via orbal switchboards and buried wiring. It also suffers from the same drawbacks as all orbal technology - frequent monster problems. As yet, it exists only within the Liberl Kingdom.
Radio, recently innovated but far from perfected, is next in line. Radio is capable of wireless communication over large distances, but suffers a number of severe limitations. A broad enough band to be caught by all users is simply impossible as a result of atmospheric conditions and various forms of interference. Smaller groups are able to use tighter bands to communicate relatively securely over great distances, a fact much taken advantage of by the Amestris military and other groups. However, even these bands still suffer from interference issues. Large buildups of magic or electrical energy can render radio signals impossible to send or receive, as can severe weather. Fortunately for mages, radios at least require simple enough parts that even those made via traditional technological means are unlikely to fail simply by being in their presence.
The telegraph is less advanced than either radio or the orbal telephone, but is less hazardous to install than the latter and much more reliable than the former. While it, like the orbal telephone, requires wiring to transmit its messages, it is far less likely to attract the attention of monsters and is considerably simpler to build and install. However, the danger inherent in any installation of wiring between cities means that not all cities are connected, especially within Europa. In such places, the horse, newspaper and the spoken word are the mainstay of communication.
Transmission of images remains impossible via most means. Sparks, as always, are occasionally able to bypass this impossibility with their mad genius, but even they are strictly limited by distance. Spark-designed image generators are nigh-universally extremely short-range and thus able only to record and play back messages. Legend has it that Vendigroth possessed greater ability even than this, but legends of Vendigrothian technology are often exaggerated.
Technology
The most common type of technology is that which does not need a special name to qualify itself; it is the baseline. Technology, spearheaded by the city of Tarant in the Unified Kingdom following the invention of the mass-producible steam engine by Gilbert Bates, has revolutionized much of the world. It has spread to other nations - Arland, Amestris and other, smaller cities.
The reason for this is simply that it is relatively easy to make. Even normal people can learn to construct technological items, without needing any special talent or nature beyond the drive to learn. This is not to suggest that becoming a so-called "technologist" is easy, of course. Budding technologists often find their desires hampered by a lack of scientific knowledge. As a result, more and more universities have been founded or have expanded their programs, from the University of Tarant in the Unified Kingdom to the University of Beetleburg in Europa.
The greatest downside to standard technology is that of all types of technology, it is most vulnerable to magical interference. Strong magical energies are able to disrupt the workings of technology, a fact which has led to much tension between the rising technological powers and practitioners of the ancient arts. The Unified Kingdom has gone so far as to enact laws forbidding powerful wizards from riding in any train car but the caboose, to minimize the small but possible risk of catastrophic engine failure. While most magical energies will not result in explosive, catastrophic failures, it is a possibility, especially with stronger magic. More likely, however, are minor glitches in function - clockwork ticking backwards for a moment, decreased efficiency of steam engines and the brief dimming of electrical power.
Sparktech
The technology known as 'Sparktech' is unique; this is, in fact, one of its defining qualities. Drawing on the mad genius of the people known as Sparks, Sparktech utilizes principles and technologies that no others can understand. Indeed, some have suggested that these principles are occasionally created whole cloth by the Sparks, or at least the explanations of them are. As a result, few people can understand Sparktech at all. Even other Sparks may find it difficult to comprehend particularly complex examples, especially without guidance from their creator.
Sparktech is often capable of more advanced creations than normal technology. After all, Sparks are able to grossly manipulate bodily tissue and even, in some cases, resurrect the dead. Their creations are almost universally baroque and unsubtle, though there are rare exceptions. All Sparks have a distinctive style to their creations, however, which can be distinguished with study even on the most subtle of their inventions.
Sparktech is not without limits, though it can seem so to the uninitiated. After all, Sparktech does not suffer nearly so badly as standard technology from catastrophic magical reactions. While they can occur, Sparktech is resilient to them. Of course, when they do occur, the results tend to be more destructive. Sparktech can never truly be mass-produced, however - while a Spark can be particularly productive, their designs are generally incomprehensible to non-Sparks, as noted above, and impossible to reproduce, especially as the Spark becomes more powerful. Sparktech also tends to suffer from unique limitations derived from the creators' mad genius. Weak Sparks' machines often run out of power at inoppurtune times, and even more powerful Sparktech creations are infamous for destroying their own creators. (Perhaps especially more powerful Sparktech creations.) When they do succeed, however, such as with the Jagerkin of the House of Heterodyne, they perform their functions amazingly, with gusto and often rather unpredictably. Even a Spark has trouble guessing what his more complex creations will do in some situations.
Orbal Technology
Orbal technology is a rare but notable form of technology, primarily found within the Liberl Kingdom. It is actually a fusion of magic and technology, utilizing the magical ore known as sepith to create large orbs known as quartzes, which can be inserted into specially designed machines to produce various effects. Sepith is relatively rare outside the Liberl Kingdom, but far from unheard of. Orbal technology, however, is extremely rare outside the kingdom.
This can be surprising at first glance. After all, orbal technology seems to have none of the drawbacks of standard technology. It is able to produce results as advanced as standard technology, though it lags behind Sparktech in such things. It is able to allow people to utilize magical spells by drawing on the power of the quartzes placed in their orbal bracers' slots. It is, as a result, completely free of magical failures, utilizing magic as it does.
However, there is a very good reason that orbal technology remains niche: sepith and quartzes attract monsters. The Liberl Kingdom, being relatively small, is able to deal with this problem by employing both a fulltime military and being the premier home of the semi-mercenary Bracer organization. In fact, the Bracers originally derived their name from the orbal bracers they used in battle. Despite this, travel outside cities can be extremely dangerous, thanks to the high monster population drawn to the orbal technology. Orbal airships are attacked by aerial monsters with greater frequency than zeppelins, and while the solution of the Liberl Kingdom remains feasible for them, any larger nation would be swamped and overextended by the unpredictable attacks within its own borders.
Technology Limits
Firearms
The peak of firearms technology is currently the gatling or machine gun. No one has yet discovered a good way to mass produce these weapons economically, but several geniuses across the world have developed their own varieties of gatling gun, machine pistol or primitive machine gun. For most people, the pinnacle of firearms technology lies in the revolver, the long rifle and the shotgun.
ARMs, due to their reliance on mental potential as a result of the ancient materials used to make them, tend to be slightly more powerful than equivalent guns. However, because not everyone is capable of using ARMs and the supply of dragonbone is strictly limited (and in some cases highly protected and guarded), ARMs have not really made inroads to replacing normal guns in any capacity.
Airships and other large craft often possess powerful cannons or other artillery. These guns are approaching the peak of their efficiency as a result of many military research programs and wars. As yet, not even the greatest of Sparks have found a way to use the advances in small guns to produce faster-firing or more effective artillery.
Exotic weaponry such as lightning cannons or stranger weapons tend to be the realm of Sparks and ancient machinery. They are not mass produced in any form.
Vehicles
The most advanced means of land transportation is the train. Railways exist spanning the Unified Kingdom and Amestris, and tracks are laid every day expanding these further across these nations. The railway has yet to be adopted in the Liberl Kingdom, and much of Europa is still unconnected due to the dangers of laying track in the wastelands.
After the railways, steam cars and even steam tanks are technically the most advanced land travel. Mostly seen in Europa and Amestris, these vehicles suffer from a small tendency to explode violently, and have yet to be widely adopted as a result. In Europe and Amestris, Sparks and Alchemists control these tendencies as best they can. For the rest of the world, the coach and horse remain mainstays.
For most of the world, the zeppelin is the first and last word in air travel. While the largest and most advanced zeppelin fleet in the entire world remains that attached to Castle Wulfenbach, the technology has spread to much of the world. The Liberl Kingdom utilizes orbal technology to allow metal airships to fly without aid of balloon, but these airships are not significantly superior to zeppelins; their speed and maneuverability are comparable, although they often have smaller profiles. (On the other hand, they are also more often attacked by aerial monsters.)
However, a select few Sparks of the highest order have been producing what may eventually revolutionize air travel. Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach and Hieronymous Maxim are both rumored to have developed flying machines of immense speed and maneuverability, and some similar rumors exist of such an airship in the Liberl Kingdom, along with remnants of such things occasionally found in Vendigrothian ruins.
Biology
Most technologists are limited to simple medicines and chemical drugs. These medicines are able to fight many diseases, heal wounds and so on, while drugs are capable of temporarily boosting physical and mental capabilities (though often with great costs). Beyond these simple medications, however, little has been found - certainly nothing to rival the strange medicines occasionally found deep within Vendigrothian ruins.
Sparks are not so limited, however. The extremely rare and difficult Si Vales Valeo procedure, disastrous if performed incorrectly, is capable of returning the dead to life - though it has never been successfully performed more than half an hour after death, and even that much is extremely difficult. The longer one waits, the less likely a Si Vales Valeo is to succeed...and failures often result in massive explosions in the best cases.
Biological modification is likewise a little-touched field for many technologists. The closest they come is automail, the mechanical replacement of lost limbs. Such things are relatively common, however, especially in Amestris, where the technique was invented. Automail limbs usually serve only as replacements, but can be far superior to normal limbs and even have implanted weapons if made by a skilled enough automail technician. No automail limb, however, is capable of the full range of feeling of human flesh, and most are not nearly as capable of fine manual dexterity.
Sparks, again, are not so limited. Sparks have long experimented with biological modification, both via mechanical replacements for various body parts and outright manipulation of flesh and bone. By using living creatures as bases, Sparks are able to create Constructs, artificial beings of flesh and bone. These creatures are usually physically more capable in various ways than the creatures they are made from, though they also usually suffer from mental problems. It is possible, though difficult and rare, for a human being to be modified in similar ways to a Construct to gain similar physical enhancements.
Automata
The steam engine has allowed for the development of automated guardians, even by non-Sparks. These guardian machines, commonly referred to as Clanks, are most common in the Unified Kingdom, where they generally take the form of mechanical arachnids, and in Europa, where more humanoid forms are preferred. They range in size, though any greater than about ten feet tall require great skill to create.
Sentient automata remain nothing but a dream, even for most Sparks. There are rumors of machines that have been made truly intelligent by the implantation of a human brain, or which have been controlled by a human brain; these are rare beyond rare, and rarer still are those machine-men which are truly intelligent without such aid. Those that do exist tend to be within massive constructions and unable to be moved, such as the mind of Castle Heterodyne. Legend has it that R. van Rijn, the greatest Spark of the 1600s, was able to create eight man-sized Clanks with their own true minds, but this has never been corroborated or reproduced.
Communications
The most advanced communications technology at present is the orbal telephone, capable of maintaining crisp and clear sound quality across any distance it spans and unable to be interrupted. However, the orbal telephone is far from perfect. It is unable to operate without a physical connection between terminals, managed via orbal switchboards and buried wiring. It also suffers from the same drawbacks as all orbal technology - frequent monster problems. As yet, it exists only within the Liberl Kingdom.
Radio, recently innovated but far from perfected, is next in line. Radio is capable of wireless communication over large distances, but suffers a number of severe limitations. A broad enough band to be caught by all users is simply impossible as a result of atmospheric conditions and various forms of interference. Smaller groups are able to use tighter bands to communicate relatively securely over great distances, a fact much taken advantage of by the Amestris military and other groups. However, even these bands still suffer from interference issues. Large buildups of magic or electrical energy can render radio signals impossible to send or receive, as can severe weather. Fortunately for mages, radios at least require simple enough parts that even those made via traditional technological means are unlikely to fail simply by being in their presence.
The telegraph is less advanced than either radio or the orbal telephone, but is less hazardous to install than the latter and much more reliable than the former. While it, like the orbal telephone, requires wiring to transmit its messages, it is far less likely to attract the attention of monsters and is considerably simpler to build and install. However, the danger inherent in any installation of wiring between cities means that not all cities are connected, especially within Europa. In such places, the horse, newspaper and the spoken word are the mainstay of communication.
Transmission of images remains impossible via most means. Sparks, as always, are occasionally able to bypass this impossibility with their mad genius, but even they are strictly limited by distance. Spark-designed image generators are nigh-universally extremely short-range and thus able only to record and play back messages. Legend has it that Vendigroth possessed greater ability even than this, but legends of Vendigrothian technology are often exaggerated.