LIGHTNOVELONLINE 246 Geography and the Source of Progress
A translucent sphere rotated before Titanyana, a replication of Terra, 'Earth'. The oceans, differing shades of blue from dark to light, covered most of the surface beneath a sheath of clouds. An assortment of greens, browns, and whites smeared the rest of the globe, two distinct land masses on different sides of the planet. Despite the hollowness of it, the way she could see through the planet should she focus on the dark wall behind it, there was a very profound sense of solidity, a sense perhaps brought about by her perception of planets.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Titanyana nodded, awestruck. While it was true she had seen her own planet and others from the void on her voyage to the Sanctum, none of those sights seemed to compare. They were beautiful in their own right, of that there was no doubt, but something in the way everything was arranged on the surface made it seem that little bit more perfect. Was it the night-perfect dispersion of land and water? Maybe the contrast between the largest ocean and the largest contiguous landmass?
"To begin with the most basic geography of the planet, Earth possessed five oceans. In order of size, they were the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Oceans." The planet rotated to and highlighted the relevant splotches of blue. "As for the seas, the largest was the Mediterranean. The word, 'Mediterranean', is made of three component Latin parts. 'Medi-' means center or middle, 'Terra' refers to the Earth, and '-anean', which is the proper adjectival suffix. The Mediterranean Sea is, therefore, 'The Sea Surrounded by the Earth', or what I believe to be more spiritually correct, 'The Sea at the Center of the Earth'.
This body of water and its surrounding geography, particularly the rivers, provided extremely fertile grounds for growing food. Trade and industry could flourish due to the sea routes, and the inland nature of the sea protected the region from disasters common around seas in other more exposed regions of the planet. It follows that some of the most prosperous and famous empires in the planet's history formed in or around this sea, and it continued to be an economically valuable location once the benefits it provided were rendered obsolete due to advancements in technology."
Titanyana stared dumbly at it. Her planet had nothing like it. She could barely make out a natural opening in the west, but it was incredibly narrow. This Mediterranean sea was effectively isolated from the rest of the world's oceans, which probably meant it had fish that were different from the ones she was familiar with.
"Zooming back out and continuing the focus on large-scale geography, we will address the continents. The first of these, Asia, was the largest, and had the largest population in turn. The two defining powers in the region, China and India, cumulatively possessed around a third of the entire global population for most of recorded history. Much like the Mediterranean, their local geography included large rivers with fertile floodplains, however these regions did not experience the technological and institutional revolutions experienced by a group of nations and peoples collectively referred to as 'the West' and fell into irrelevance with regards to influence for most of the development of the world. By the time they became powerhouses of note, national borders the world over were set, and few changes were made until global unification efforts started during the 24th century crisis.
Africa suffered a similar fate. Chronic political, economic, and social instability as well as military conflict left the majority of the continued to hinder development there even after unification. Unlike Asia, Africa did not possess a powerhouse in the modern age, and the few attempts at making a collectivized power failed spectacularly.
Australia, a country and continent to itself, is not particularly notable on a political scale. It possessed a harsh climate, dangerous wildlife, and with a single political entity in control of the entire isolated landmass, not much changed.
North and South America remained isolated from the rest of the world until the 1400's, the people there not having experienced the same level of technological development as the rest of the planet. Metal smithing, while present in places, didn't have the chance to become a widespread practice before the arrival of explorers and colonists from the old world. Their population suffered greatly from the introduction of new diseases and ambitious foreign powers with far more advanced military and civil institutions, many either dying to illness, displaced by colonists, or enslaved. The more fortunate had the opportunity to integrate or cooperate with these new powers, however in the end these lands became part of the west.
Of particular note in this region was a nation by the name of 'The United States of America'. Unlike the rest of the nations I will make mention of in this first meeting, the United States stands alone as a nation without roots. At the time of its founding, its people had no ancestral connection to its land. They attained freedom from their colonial overlords by way of revolution, counting on the vast distance between themselves and their ancestral home and help from their overlord's rival nations to make a prolonged conflict not worth the effort. It is my personal opinion that of all the nations in Earth's history, the situation of the United States at it's inception is the closest to the situation Donovan and Diana now find themselves in - in an unexplored, barely understood environment rich in natural resources with natives possessing a relatively low level of technology while domestically struggling with turmoil and confusion as to a future course. This, of course, is an extreme stretch in comparison to the reality of our situation, however you should keep in mind what it is they are to become through future lessons."
Titanyana committed this information to memory, wanting to know if there was any 'nation' in a similar situation to her
"The final continent and the location of today's focus is Europe. Europe was the birthplace of many of the inventions, ideas, and philosophies that defined later centuries, and was home to most of the greatest military and industrial powers to grace the face of the planet. However, we will start at an earlier time in history, a time you will recognize as similar to the world you currently live in, the Medieval ages."
"What does Medieval mean?" Titanyana had learned that there was always some meaning behind these words that she couldn't immediately understand, somehow morphing from descripting into the name of the thing itself. Donovan's name was a good example. She had been told that in its original tongue, it meant 'brown haired chief', but the way she heard it would never suggest something like that. She had wanted to do something similar for the names of the continents and oceans before, but the flow of Arc's lecture failed to provide an opening for the question.
"There are two interpretations. The first is in reference to something primitive or barbaric. The second and more literal is in reference to the millennia of time defined in the three part structure of western history as the 'middle', the millennia before being 'Antiquity' and the millennia afterwards being 'Modernity'."
Titanyana's ears flicked. "If this time is close to the world I am in, does that mean my ways are 'barbaric'?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes. That said, I am much more inclined to believe that 'primitive' is a more apt descriptor, though that is only because I have yet to see any acts of blatant barbarianism. Do not take this as an insult Titanyana, but in relation to where Humanity was at during Medieval times I have reason to believe that aspects of your culture are still considered to exist in 'Antiquity', or even before then."
Her ears flattened. "Do you really have only three thousands of years of history?"
"Absolutely not. The recorded history of Terra extends long before the beginning of the age of Antiquity, and even for a certain period of time after that. These ages only refer to the aforementioned 'Western' history. Technically, the definition I am using is a redefinition of the terms created to standardize the study of western history, each age being covered in a separate class. Antiquity started with the formation of the Roman Empire, considered by many to be the greatest in the history of man, and ended when it lost control of its holdings in the west Mediterranean, namely Iberia, Gaul, and Italia - regions which were later dominated by the modern nations of Spain, France, Italy."
The three blocks of land surrounding the Mediterranean were highlighted in yellow, blue, and green respectively.
"These regions, alongside the British Isles, Germany, and Scandinavia, would collectively come to be called 'the West', however in later centuries almost the entirety of Europe would be considered a part of the West as the reference point became the rest of the globe as opposed to more local neighbors. It bears noting that the end of the Medieval Ages coincided roughly with the consolidation of most of these regions into their own cultural power blocs, though the officially accepted end of the Medieval Ages is the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantines."
"When did the Modern age end then?"
"The end of the 24th century crisis coincided with the consolidation of most of the planet's political entities into a single body rendered a distinction between 'West' and the rest of the planet obsolete, and thus a view of events through the lenses of 'Western History' was no longer necessary, but we have gotten distracted. Medieval Europe was quite similar to the technology I have seen, and from the focuses in Donovan's training I assume that the way warfare is conducted is also quite similar. I believe these similarities are where the differences are greatest.
Titanyana, a question. In your opinion, what is the most important factor in deciding the outcome of a battle? For the sake of simplicity, let us assume that complex factors such as terrain and weather do not inherently favor one side over the other, imagine two armies facing each other on an open field in broad daylight."
Titanyana recoiled slightly. The combat strategy of the Nekh relied entirely upon the use of terrain and weather.
"I do not require you to think too hard about this, Titanyana. I only require your gut feeling or instinct on the subject matter."
"Then, um, I think the combat power of an individual is the most important." Titanyana wondered if she sounded like she was boasting. "While having a numbers advantage is nice, no amount of farmers conscripted from their field will ever be able to defeat a properly trained noble. They are just too strong and fast. Much the same, the run of the mill noble stands no chance against a noble of great power and pedigree, and in turn they are nothing when faced with a god."
"Mhm. What if I told you that the power of individuals means nothing to a Terran strategist?"
"What?"
"Well, perhaps I worded that wrong. The natural abilities of the individual man have, historically, made next to no impact on the results of battles. An army that is physically stronger on the whole is, of course, an advantage, but the primary combat power of a soldier, be they inexperienced conscript or veteran knight, does not reside with the individual. Far more important to the success of an army were factors that might not be visible, factors such as tactics, discipline, morale, logistics, and training were just as important as proper equipment and numbers.
See, in a world without the crutch of Split, and I do mean it when I say Split is a crutch, every man is equal before the blade. The bow and arrow, a weapon that seems to be shunned here, was a legitimate threat on the battlefield. It could kill a knight or lord just as it would a noble or man of the robe."
Titanyana supposed it would be difficult to dodge an arrow without the enhancements Split provided - improved reaction time and perception.
"There is more to what makes Terra than that. How do you think most people died in Medieval times?"
"Old age?" Titanyana thought that was how most commoners died outside of her home. "Starvation?"
"Partially correct. Starvation and disease - something I believe you lack familiarity with - were the two largest killers, with disease in plants and animals usually being the cause of starvation, however disease in humans was an ever-present threat. It is estimated that less than a fifth of the people who reached adulthood, roughly defined as the age of twenty, survived to be fifty years of age. Those who died to disease generally died horrible deaths, choking and coughing and defecating themselves to death if they weren't wasting away in their beds, dehydrated and unable to move."
"Like Split decay?" Titanyana was familiar with split decay.
"Not at all. While it is true that both appear like slow and awful ways to die, the cause of Split decay is ultimately a deficiency, either in the environment or in the subject, that leads to the body falling apart. Diseases, illnesses, are caused by hostile and harmful lifeforms almost universally smaller than the human eye can see. They are parasites. They feed off of their hosts, weakening and draining the life from them and utilizing the host's body, behavior, and corpse to spread to other people."
Titanyana's ears flattened once more. Could something like this really exist?
"You have not suffered from them, and yet I can confirm that they exist. Scans suggest that more than a few of what I assume to be a lethal variety are on your skin, completely harmless. Donovan and I can only assume that the reason for this is Split. Somehow, it protects the body from such pests. The same is likely true for crops and livestock. I do not lie to you when I say that Split is a crutch, Titanyana, and the secret is here in the medieval era. Here in lies the source of Terran progress, what do you think that might be?"
"A lack of Split?"
"That is a contributor, but it is only one part of a whole. The source of progress is strife - conflict - be it against man or nature. For the people of this galaxy, losing a battle or a war is merely a matter of lacking strength. Split provides more than enough of an opportunity for 'nobles' - those individuals bred like animals to excel in little besides Split - to become strong enough to ignore minor advancements in military technology and consider them unnecessary expenses. Terrans had no such luxury. If they wanted to live, if they wanted to win, they had to develop an edge over the competition - both their military opponents and the foes that waged wars in their own bodies. These
In a way, your people are emblematic of this phenomenon. Donovan has informed me that your people do not fight as most others do, utilizing the environment and guerilla tactics to wage war instead of confronting your opponents in the field. I am firmly of the belief that your ancestors did so because they recognized that they would certainly lose if the situation continued as it ultimately did.
I find such foresight and initiative admirable, but it does not come close to what I consider an adequate response to your people's ailment."
The projection shifted from a vision of dying peasants to one of a battlefield. Two battle lines, one consisting of blocks of soldiers with long lances, the other consisting of long lines of soldiers carrying strange weapons. Some of them gathered around strange structures that broke the line at regular intervals. Titanyana was vaguely familiar with the blocky formation, but the relatively thin lines of the opposing force seemed wrong to her. Not only did they have less people, but that thin formation would make it easier for the enemy to break through and encircle them.
Slowly, the army of blocks slowly began to advance, but the line army stood still. They were moving, they just weren't-
BANG
Titanyana jumped from the sudden sound, much louder to her sensitive Nekh ears, almost missing the falling soldiers at the front of the block formations.
"The advent of handheld gunpowder weaponry heralded the definitive end of the Medieval era. While by no means simple or cheap tools, their ability to effectively engage opponents from range without requiring the user to spend years training with a bow combined with the ability to ignore most forms of armor meant that they were a viable weapon on the battlefield. A single musket could get multiple shots off in the time it took for a charge to reach them, and do so with only a few hours of training.
Of course production limitations meant that the total adoption of powder based weaponry, called firearms, was not immediate. Instead they were phased in, used to engage from a distance while approaching, while larger cannons attacked from the back line. But simply having these weapons was not enough to secure victory. You needed a better gun, a better army, a better industry to field that army, more people to fight in that army, more resources to feed that army, and so on, and so forth. Once firearms were introduced and the west gained an insurmountable advantage over the rest of the planet, both in terms of their ability to fight each other and disease, the race was on."
Titanyana watched as a few of the color splotches she recognized from before, mainly Spain, France, and England, leapt from their place in Europe across the sea, dominating and fighting each other for territory.
"Of course, this was not the beginning of the race. For Terrans, for Terra, this race had been going on since life first appeared, the Evolutionary Arms, or Weapons, Race. The only way something could survive was by out-competing that which surrounded it. This went beyond simply having sharper claws and a tougher shell, it included methods of offense and defense not usually thought of as weapons.
Camouflage, the ability to hide amongst the environment, was important both as a means to set up ambushes and as a way to avoid being spotted. It was so commonplace that several animals evolved to look like completely different animals and plants or to look more dangerous than they really were."
A series of animals (or at least what Titanyana assumed were animals) appeared in the air, a background slowly phasing in behind it to demonstrate how they were obscured.
"Enhanced senses, such as scent, sight, and hearing, were used to detect predator and prey alike, and so there were many different variations."
A variety of animals, all with differently shaped ears and eyes, were displayed next.
"But the most important weapon was not physical, intelligence. An inferior weapon could still beat a superior armor if used in a creative manner. Pack behavior, for example, was the Wolf's method of taking down prey much larger than them, foes and food they would have no chance of taking down on their own."
Titanyana slightly recoiled at the image, a pack of Wolves quite similar to a monster on Nekh.
"Terrans drew the lottery in this regard. The smartest by far, their intelligence went beyond thinking about how to out-compete their opponents using their body and began to manipulate their environment to grant them that additional edge. Tools and simple machines could be used to accomplish what hands and feet could not. A sharpened stick, the spear, granted them the ability to fight animals larger and stronger than them without presenting as much of a risk to their person. Walls, even rudimentary ones, could keep threats out, while fire granted them the ability to cook their food and see in the dark.
Their intelligence went beyond animals, to the point they began to wonder how animals could be used. Man's best friend, the Dog, was the first animal domesticated about 16,000 years ago. While much is estimated about how it was done the generally accepted theory is that a pack of Wolves, the Dog's ancestor, and a human tribe grew close during a period where it was difficult to find food. It could have started out with the wolves eating the scraps left behind by humans and becoming curious, but eventually evolved into a cooperation between the species during hunts. The Dog was excellent at finding prey, while the Human could handle it without as much risk to the body.
Over many thousands of years, Humans bred these Dogs to have specific traits. Mercedes, Donovan's dog, is a breed called the 'German Shepherd'. It was bred to focus on intelligence, loyalty, and athleticism, and dogs were not the only animals they did this to. As a matter of fact, they didn't stop at animals - plants were also subjected to human interference. They were made to produce more, and have their products be much tastier."
Several plants and animal appeared, gradually changing in shape and form. Titanyana could only imagine that these were the changes made over time.
"The Terran story is one of conflict and control, the relationship between those two aspects hinging on a single factor. That factor was whether or not Terrans understood it. Titanyana, what is the most threatening thing you can think of?"
"The Arboreal Maiden, or maybe the Great Csillacra." What else could be a bigger threat? If they ever became enraged with Titanyana there was nothing she could do!
"An interesting response, one no doubt guided by how powerful they are. Now let me ask you how you think Donovan would respond to that question? Once again, your response is not particularly important."
"Death, probably. He seems to be afraid of it."
"A good answer, in my opinion, however that is not what he considers the biggest threat. Indeed, he might be afraid of death, but death is ultimately only a result, and end state, and is incapable of threatening him. Donovan's answer to this question, and I encourage you to ask him about it, is simple. The biggest threat that Donovan could ever face is something unknown.
Make no mistake, this is not to imply that Donovan's biggest threat is something that we do not know, we have measures to account for aspects that we know we cannot accurately predict. The real threat is something we don't know that we don't know, something we have yet to see. If we don't know that something is coming, we cannot plan for it. To Donovan, there can be nothing scarier than that. And yet there are ways to defeat it.
If you cannot detect it, build a tool to do the job for you, and then study it. Determine some way of controlling it. If it cannot be controlled with the tools and knowledge at your disposal, figure out how to predict its responses and avoid it. If it cannot be avoided, devise some method to protect yourself. It it becomes impossible to protect yourself, do everything in your power to damage or destroy it. If you are incapable of doing so, find some way to hinder its advance. If all else fails, throw yourself at the threat and pray that someone smarter is watching so they can figure out how to deal with it in the future.
This is how Terrans progress. This is how they handle threats. It is an all or nothing affair, one predicated on the assumption that anything and everything can and will be handled at some point, be it by man's hand or something else. The scientific method, the method through which Terrans explored the world and tried to understand it, was based upon this never ending cycle of observation and experimentation."
Arc had switched the projection to show what Titanyana could only assume were examples - some of which included individuals being injured in interesting ways.
"Naturally Terrans approached a point where their competitors in nature no longer stood a chance, and so their only opponents were other Terrans. Nations, the amalgamation of collective cultures and shared political and ideological values, formed. I shall spare you the details, but an individual by the name of Thomas Hobbes dubbed these entities 'Leviathans', monsters of obscene size and power existing only as a means to protect the individual - the price that individual paid being their autonomy and fate.
His philosophy, one I very much agree with given Terran history, is that humans are fundamentally incapable of forming organized bodies extending over vast territories and populations without the existence of a larger centralized structure of laws above it to keep everything in line. Without it there would be little else but the rule of the strongest, the rule of nature. In addition, he warned against the dangers of ignorance, the so called kingdom of darkness. In order to ensure the survival of the Leviathan, threats to it needed to be dutifully identified and dealt with. What do you think that meant, Titanyana? If there were no other threats besides those posed by other Terrans, what do you suppose happened?"
"Fighting." Titanyana had seen this one coming. "War."
"Indeed. However these are not the wars I believe you are familiar with. These were not skirmishes between families of nobility, monarchies built on the back of peasant labor. These were wars. Grand contests of wit, strength, and endurance between Leviathans. Hundreds of thousands of young men, the lifeblood of the Leviathan, willingly taking the field, his objective naught but to take the life of the man opposite of him.
These Leviathans would inevitably suffer from these wars, victorious or otherwise, their young and valuable workforce wasted in defense of the homeland, but they had no choice. After all, the alternative was defeat, and defeat meant death. Certainly, some of the great polities would be fractured in this way. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Imperial German Empire. They would be permitted to maintain their core lands, those locations with people sharing such a close connection that separation was unacceptable, but it would be difficult for them to rise again so long as the Leviathans they had submitted to kept a close eye.
But when those Leviathans grew complacent, when they grew ignorant to the threats rising around them. . ."
The projection once more changed, this time to something more animated. Black and white, and the shades of gray between, made up the majority of the moving images displayed. There was something more to them though, something Titanyana couldn't quite explain. There was something missing, be it in the way the soldiers marched or in that strange grumbly whining from one of the contraptions that moved beside them. Titanyana found her eyes widening subconsciously, and her body braced itself, telling her that something was coming.
A siren, one that threatened to scrape the insides of her ears, emanated from one of the flying machines in the images. It was descending rapidly, before suddenly pulling up. The siren, fading, brought a momentary sense of security that was immediately shattered by calamitous 'bang' and a plume of dirt. A series of smaller, more rapid explosions interrupted her shock, flashes from the end of one of those strange sticks. The big metal machines rapidly traversed an open field, each blast from the stick attached to a house on their tops corresponding to another blast and a plume of dirt somewhere in front of them. A man on his knees, held up by his hair, had one of those smaller firearms put to his head. A splash of what could only be blood announced his lifeless collapse.
Another shot of the air, what looked like thousands of birds all humming in an ominously monotone drone. Shortly after, the sight of what could be mistaken as hell erupting from the ground as the buildings in the surrounding seemed to evaporate, clouds of dust and tongues of flame being left in its wake. Another scene, that of massive metal boats on the ocean, great plumes of flame erupting from their cannons as pillars of water rose around them. Suddenly, and without warning, the larger boat exploded in a horrific pyre of fire. The next image displayed a line of emaciated individuals standing in front of a massive pit in the ground. She knew what the outcome would be based on the contents of the pit, but the series of dots announced by the sound of a woodpecker still shook her to the core.
The next scenes were of a different environment, tropical in nature. A man with a series of metal drums strapped to his back approached the opening of a cave. Titanyana thought she understood the purpose of the firearm in his hands until a stream of fire, liquid in nature, extended from it's tip and into the cave. Men emerged from it, screaming as they cooked alive. Another of the flying machines, this one close to the surface of the water, approached a smaller metal boat. Blots of light extended from various points along its body, trying to intercept it as it approached, but it was too late. The machine slammed into the side of the castle on top of the boat, shearing clean through it as flame began to engulf the ship and the ocean around it. A cliff this time, lines of people atop it, lines of women and children. They leapt from the cliff onto the rocks below.
Just as she thought it was over, as the horror and clamor before her faded into darkness. It wasn't long before a lone projection appeared. It began small, but gradually grew in size and volume, eventually seeming to surround her. Unlike the rest of the images and videos, this one was in color. The vantage point miles above a city and the droning hum told her it was a vision from inside a flying machine. Despite everything she had seen, this moment seemed fairly . . . peaceful. There was no fighting here, no stress, no panic. There were no threats.
The blinding flash of light shattered that illusion.
