During antiquity there were also swords. During prehistory there were also swords. There's more to technology than whether or not people are using swords instead of guns, or horses or cars. Do we know if they even have gunpowder? When thinking about the internal combustion engine, would fossil fuels even be available on a world not more than a few thousand years old?

Mostly there just isn't much need for novel technologies as the civilisations - or the Aldmer, at least - often sprung up highly developed, and the fact their Altmer successors were strict traditionalists and conservatives anyway would probably curtail any idea of "progress". Still, if you want examples of progress, the Chimer/Dunmer, who repudiated the ways of advanced but indolent Aldmer society, would have settled in Veloth probably not much different from your typical Ashlander. Soon they developed a metroplitan lifestyle, created a rich cultural heritage and pioneered the development of chitin, bonemould, glass and ebony. Bypassing the stone, bronze and iron ages completely is a pretty significant thing, I think. Also, I've often point out that the Songs of Pelinal seem so fragmentary probably because it's imitating its inspiration, the Epic of Gilgamesh, which would have been written on clay. If true, the leap from fragile tablets to the printing press is another huge leap. The advent of the printing press is a pretty huge thing in itself.

Steam machines. Not steampunk. Damnit, the fact punk name has been as torn as a a pair of punk jeans in recent days don't mean you gotta make it worse.

Though particular to Shadowrun, this isn't a feature of cyberpunk.

All this moot, by the way, as we know the technology has a very mythico-magical flavour.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Mages Guild develop a "gun" that ran on soul gems and fired potentially lethal bursts of magica to outfit the crumbling Legion.

But...the MG has been on a decline if you follow the trend from Daggerfall to OB. I blame Traven. And if they did, I bet they would have sold them for a very pretty penny, and make it VERY highly restrictive, which is what they seem to be their trend.

*Dagon appears*
Martin: "CHARGE LASER!"
*pew pew pew*
*Dagon dies*

Good times.

The sword style indicates a medieval period level.

I think its safe to say there's no large scale use of gunpowder, however I believe there were cannons in Daggerfall and Redgaurd, thus indicating a mid medieval level of technology.

I think the worlds more than a few thousand years old, still not enough to make fossil fuels.

From what is seen in game, technology has not advanced past medieval period for the Empire with the odd exception of magic infused technology.



People call it steampunk, it has nothing to do with the musical and political subculture, everyone knows that. I don't know where steam punk came from but its used to describe a mix steam machines with Sci fi ands fantasy, while just say steam machine could be confused with steam engine.

So the swords are from a couple hundred years ago in RL. Actually the sword styles are varied from the ancient times to renassaince, depending on the type of sword. They have swords in TES that was used as recent as the 1800s.

A very important thing to remember is that they will not go in the same path of innovation as Europe did. And Gunpowder means late medieval, maybe Early modern periods. And that was only 500 years ago, easily short enough of a time period to be fit in a era.

Different world, different resources, different path of innovation.


That's not what steam-punk is. Steam-punk is a genre of science-fiction that steam powers all the machines. It's an alternate future type think. Fantasy can be steam-punk, but steam-punk doesn't need to be fantasy.

Edit: And steam-punk does have something to do with the musical and political subculture. Steam-punk grew out of the cyber-punk genre (which Shadow-run actually is) and protagonists are usually loner punk-like characters.

Cannons on ships suggests the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_Period. The issue is that there hasn't been an industrial revolution, but pressure to innovate isn't all that high and we should be wary of expecting historical European hurdles and goals from non-European cultures.


Approximately 6748 years old and no, not enough to make fossil fuels.


People call the genre and aesthetic movement steampunk, though there isn't a whole lot that's punk about it. Cyberpunk had a bleak outlook and anti-authoritarian, marginalised characters, which are all hallmarks of the classical punk that lent its name to it. Punk is more than a useless suffix that means "subgenre". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_derivatives. But, even if we accept this change, steam machines aren't steampunk by virtue of being in fantasy settings. Fantasy settings and cultures are steampunk by virtue of having steam machines.