| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| swifty |
Posted - 30 May 2013 : 11:15:17
Has there ever been much mention of the men and women who invented all the normal day to day objects of the realms.who is their equivalent of a Thomas Edison or a Leo da Vinci.surely it wasn't all just wizards spellcraft. |
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| BadCatMan |
Posted - 02 Jun 2013 : 04:17:38
Inventors of various devices of the medieval or classical ages do tend to be known in our world, such as in China, Japan and Korea. Though obscure now, we know the inventors of the early steam engines of Alexandria, like Hero and others:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Alexandria
He invented vending machines!
The ancient Greeks attributed many things to Daedalus, though these may be more mythical:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daedalus
I'm pleased to say that my top marks first-year ancient history report from 2000 remains the most complete list: :D
http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A470981
The question is of whether the history of invention, science and discovery is being recorded. In dark and middle ages Europe, there was little history of such things being written down or surviving. But Faerun should fare rather better in this regard, with busy sages, writers, and priests of Deneir, Gond and Oghma all taking note.
Sadly, all the likely Lantanese NPCs in the lore tend to be wizards or clerics engaged in regular magic item creation, golems, and portals. :( |
| swifty |
Posted - 01 Jun 2013 : 13:53:21
Yeah my bad.i don't suppose any invention could ever be described as everyday.i think got my point though.just curious as to how a lot of these things came about in their world as opposed to ours. |
| Foxhelm |
Posted - 01 Jun 2013 : 11:58:44
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
quote:
Originally posted by Barastir
There is also the Halaster's apprentice that created a lot of automatons, but I think swifty wanted non-wizardry stuff inventors. DaRoni is the best example, IMO, and I don't think there is canon information for everyday items' inventors, maybe because it is hard to trace the inventors of some of the items that are very common and exist "since forever". About mechanical or exotic stuff, many inventions come from Lantan, but I don't think the creators were specified in canon.
yeah just wonderin bout some of the more day to day things.things like glass and and the like.
Do we know the individual who invented glass in the real world?  (Note: this is not sarcasm -- I've never heard of the invention of glass being attributed to a culture or region, much less an individual)
The tech level of the Realms is roughly analogous to the real-world Middle Ages. Their everyday items are things like tables, mugs, swords, and structures made of stone piled on top of stone -- things that were likely developed in different areas, at different times, before written history. You'll only have known inventors for things that aren't day to day items, like printing presses, telescopes, exotic materials, and magical stuff.
Controversial Journalist and "Naked" Archaeologist Simcha Jacobovici made a case on one episode of his series "Naked Archaeologist" that the Jews created Glass to make bowls and Glasses for holy rituals which needed more purity then clay dishes. He also made a case that a rare huge piece of black glass where many super holy Jews are buried next to was a defective widow for the temple of Soloman.
Anywho here is the Wikipage for Glass:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass |
| TBeholder |
Posted - 01 Jun 2013 : 11:19:00
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
Has there ever been much mention of the men and women who invented all the normal day to day objects of the realms.who is their equivalent of a Thomas Edison or a Leo da Vinci.surely it wasn't all just wizards spellcraft.
Most of the stuff da Vinci invented wasn't anywhere close to "the normal day to day objects". 
But as to non-magical inventors in FR...
Tinkersdam of Gond? (Silver Shadows)
A lot of mechanical stuff was done by elves, dwarves or gnomes, and even if they may know the origin of this or that, it's as likely as not to be "lost in translation". |
| The Sage |
Posted - 01 Jun 2013 : 02:47:23
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
quote:
Originally posted by Barastir
There is also the Halaster's apprentice that created a lot of automatons, but I think swifty wanted non-wizardry stuff inventors. DaRoni is the best example, IMO, and I don't think there is canon information for everyday items' inventors, maybe because it is hard to trace the inventors of some of the items that are very common and exist "since forever". About mechanical or exotic stuff, many inventions come from Lantan, but I don't think the creators were specified in canon.
yeah just wonderin bout some of the more day to day things.things like glass and and the like.
Do we know the individual who invented glass in the real world? (Note: this is not sarcasm -- I've never heard of the invention of glass being attributed to a culture or region, much less an individual)
The origins of glass, and not necessarily the concept of modern glass sheets as we know them today, does seem to be tied up in many of the most ancient of world cultures -- particularly the Egyptians and Romans. From there, we have several ingenious and productive types taking these early ideas and expounding on them -- notable instances include the polished glass and sheet glass methods employed by various English and German industrialists in the late 1700's-to-early 1800's. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 01 Jun 2013 : 00:06:46
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
quote:
Originally posted by Barastir
There is also the Halaster's apprentice that created a lot of automatons, but I think swifty wanted non-wizardry stuff inventors. DaRoni is the best example, IMO, and I don't think there is canon information for everyday items' inventors, maybe because it is hard to trace the inventors of some of the items that are very common and exist "since forever". About mechanical or exotic stuff, many inventions come from Lantan, but I don't think the creators were specified in canon.
yeah just wonderin bout some of the more day to day things.things like glass and and the like.
Do we know the individual who invented glass in the real world? (Note: this is not sarcasm -- I've never heard of the invention of glass being attributed to a culture or region, much less an individual)
The tech level of the Realms is roughly analogous to the real-world Middle Ages. Their everyday items are things like tables, mugs, swords, and structures made of stone piled on top of stone -- things that were likely developed in different areas, at different times, before written history. You'll only have known inventors for things that aren't day to day items, like printing presses, telescopes, exotic materials, and magical stuff. |
| swifty |
Posted - 31 May 2013 : 23:36:04
quote:
Originally posted by Barastir
There is also the Halaster's apprentice that created a lot of automatons, but I think swifty wanted non-wizardry stuff inventors. DaRoni is the best example, IMO, and I don't think there is canon information for everyday items' inventors, maybe because it is hard to trace the inventors of some of the items that are very common and exist "since forever". About mechanical or exotic stuff, many inventions come from Lantan, but I don't think the creators were specified in canon.
yeah just wonderin bout some of the more day to day things.things like glass and and the like. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 31 May 2013 : 13:52:21
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
Has there ever been much mention of the men and women who invented all the normal day to day objects of the realms.who is their equivalent of a Thomas Edison or a Leo da Vinci.surely it wasn't all just wizards spellcraft.
A lot of the more recent inventions are also attributed to Gond himself. For instance, smokepowder weapons. I'd imagine that a lot of the technological advancements may also be learned from off-world (spelljammers, planar travellers, etc...) and simply copied/stolen. |
| Barastir |
Posted - 31 May 2013 : 11:45:29
There is also the Halaster's apprentice that created a lot of automatons, but I think swifty wanted non-wizardry stuff inventors. DaRoni is the best example, IMO, and I don't think there is canon information for everyday items' inventors, maybe because it is hard to trace the inventors of some of the items that are very common and exist "since forever". About mechanical or exotic stuff, many inventions come from Lantan, but I don't think the creators were specified in canon. |
| Quale |
Posted - 31 May 2013 : 09:27:20
The inventor of mythallar, Ioulaum. Problem is there aren't many interesting clockwork or magitech devices published so far in FR books, so there aren't any inventors (I'm pretending DaRoni doesn't exist). Congenio Ioun probably stole the invention. |
| The Arcanamach |
Posted - 31 May 2013 : 03:51:26
Except that Nicoli Tessla was the real inventor.  |
| Brian R. James |
Posted - 30 May 2013 : 23:04:08
The Watercourse novel trilogy has an inventor/architect, Ivar Devorast, as the main protagonist. I'd put him in the same general league as Thomas Edison. |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 30 May 2013 : 13:57:19
Yes actually. There is a Cormyte Gnome named Nadul DaRoni. He's basically the Realms equivalent of Leonardo DaVinci.
I wouldn't call his inventions day-to-day objects, but they are publically available through Aurora's Emporium. |
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