[Ansteorra] Noble Experiment

[Bree Flowers]

> Correct. That's the "other half" of the "Dies the Fire" stories: a trilogy
> about modern-day Nantucket Island getting swapped for its 1250 BC version.
> Interesting things happen.
>
> In "Dies the Fire" and its sequels, as a side effect of Nantucket being
> swapped, pretty much all modern technology stops working--electricity,
> gunpowder, atomics, steam or gasoline engines, etc. (No, it's never really
> explained *how* basic laws of physics can be set aside in such an arbitrary
> fashion, but if you can suspend your disbelief around that particular
> detail, the stories are pretty good.)
>
>        -Tivar Moondragon

That would bug me too. Why not just let the technology die a natural
death - ie it works until it runs out of fuel? Like for example, your
cell phone would cease to be a "phone" immediately when it is cut off
from the network, but you can still use it as a
calculator/camera/whatever other nifty features it has until it runs
out of batteries. Which in most cameras is a week without use, or as
little as a day if you don't put it down, but maybe up to a month if
you unplug the battery and save it. Seems to me that would add an
interesting added complication, with trying to balance between present
need and potential future uses. And of course the balance between
personal ownership and group benefit (like if you want to play cell
phone games, but the group could use the battery for something with
major survival benefit).

I understand that simply insta-killing technology is a better exercise
for those of us thinking "enchanted ground" prep, but in terms of
story there's some great possibilities inherent in weaning people off
technology instead of having them stop cold-turkey.

~Eve