Jonathan Moyer wrote:urizen wrote:Simarra is a world in which technology and magic share a fragile, enigmatic co-existence. Technomancers roam the world seeking to find and master the enigmatic legacy of their predecessors, the Order of the Avikus, who are purported to have created ascendant technology.
What's ascendant technology?
Perhaps I'm totally off, but I detected a hint of Thundarr the Barbarian from the setting description. Does the setting have that sort of weirdly cool, "sorcery and super science" vibe?
HA! Thundarr the barbarian rules!
Hiya Jonatahan. Nice to meet you! It's been a long, long time since I've even seen the Thundarr cartoon, but I'm pretty sure that it isn't Ascendant Technology.
Ascendant Technology gets it’s name from the Ascendant wars, which happened during a period of Simarra’s history known as the Age of Steel. This was a very chaotic period of time when the elder races of the world were coping with the sudden dissapearance of their gods who were fighting a war against beings known as “Aberrant Gods.”
During this period of strife, mana shards were discovered by a dwarf named Thengrin. Thengrin found that if a person focused hard enough on a mana shard, that person would be able to tap into the latent energy held within the shard. Upon further investigation, Thengrin made another discovery. These mana shards existed in areas of high ley line activity, places he came to identify as nexus points. At the ley line nexuses, Thengrin applied what he had learned about mana shards, and tapped the first ever mana well at a place known as the Sedrin Henge. These discoveries led to the development of gateways which allowed travel trhoughout Simarra. Many many years later, these gates would prove to be the undoing of the people of Simarra, but that’s a story for another time.
The Ascendant wars were a backdrop to this period of discovery, and consequently, many pieces of ascendant tech were created as weapons of war, or protection. Losing their war with the Elder Gods of Simarra, the Aberrant gods resolved to trick many of the elder races, sending agents of evil known as the Morargrim into the cities of the world.
The Morargrim were able to convince the myriad people of Simarra that dragons (a once-beloved race of creatures who at one time shared the cities of the world with the lesser humans, elves, dwarves and half giants) intended to destroy society as it existed and become the rules of all humanoid races on Simarra. The hunting times began and the most powerful pieces of ascendant technology were created to tip the balance in favor of the elder races.
Great, mana-fueled war machines, known as O'rak-dra, were created to aid people in fighting the dragons. Mana shards fueled weapons from swords to energy batteries designed to unleash waves of pure mana on their assailants. Mana stones were embedded into armor, allowing for energy fields to help protect their wearers. Entire cities were protected, as mana-smiths, known as Aviki, learned to harness the most potent shards and created massive energy fields that help ward against dragon breath. Because of these pieces of technology, the elder races were able to hunt dragons to near-extinction, forcing the once noble creatures into hiding.
After the ascendant wars andf the hunting times ended, the people of the world lost their taste for war, many of these great machines were discarded or lost, the secrets of their making were forgotten, though some say they still exist. It is rumored that there is an ancient subterranean city called Kiv’larast. There some dragons still exist as guardians of the ancient technology that once nearly destroyed them.
I certainly hope this helps you get a better idea of what Ascendant Technology is, Jonathan. If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
