Editing Medieval Stasis (section)

==Notable Settings ''Without'' Medieval Stasis==

*'''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battles]]:''' The Empire, Dwarfs and Grand Cathay are actually about the level of most European countries around 1500, at the start of the early modern period and the Renaissance. They're also advancing, albeit slowly, as the Dwarfs have steampunk helicopters and recently invented airships.  But the problem is that they are under constant Chaos invasions and Chaos Gods themselves are not above screwing with the world, which puts something of a crimp on pure research. Imagine what Nurgle would do to the guy who discovered penicillin in this world. The fact that relations between the engineers and the Cult of Sigmar are not the best in the world does not help things at all.  The Dark Elves have progressed from bows to rapid-fire armor-piercing crossbows, including a one-handed variety, during their war against the High Elves.  The other notable technology users are the Skaven, but the Skaven technology only affects their weapons (god help the world if they ever figure out sanitation considering what it did to our own population) and it's almost all magitech based on weaponizing [[Warpstone|solidified Chaos.]]  Undead straddle the line between the two, with the vampires not being afraid to use technology; the problem is most of their undead minions lack the physical and mental acumen to use it while the vampires physical, mental and magical abilities make technology practically redundant to them at a personal level.  The [[Tomb Kings]] had technology at the steampunk level, though this isn't represented in the game, but they are more concerned about rebuilding their realm, which has fallen into disrepair due to hundreds of years of war, natural disasters and no maintenance, rather than advancing their society.  They do have golem-esque undead constructs, which are the undead magical equivalent of robots.
**''''[[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]]:''' As noted above, the sequel setting shows clear technological development with mass production of the best of the stuff known in the World-That-Was, with the [[Kharadron Overlords]], the [[Cities of Sigmar]] subfaction Ironweld Arsenal and the Skaven Clans Skyre being the resident technological factions.  The Lumineth are also a borderline case, as they've developed solar-powered golems, but knowing them magic might also be involved.
*'''[[Iron Kingdoms]]:''' The Iron Kingdoms setting is one of the best examples of steampunk fantasy. They're developed to the extent of the Victorian era (the mid-to-late 1800s), with a slow-but-growing industrial revolution and the discovery and development of electricity and chemistry, with the ongoing big international clusterfuck behind the wargame constantly fueling magical and technological advancement.  At the same time, it remains a recognizably fantasy setting in many ways, with wizard orders, barbarian tribes, and dangerous monster threats on the frontier demanding plucky-adventurer solutions. (Or did before the wheels came off partway through Third Edition to make way for the science fiction spin-off nobody wanted.  Still isn't medieval stasis though.)
*'''[[Eberron]]:''' Eberron is weird and expressly focused on subverting the usual D&D cliches, so the technology is a strange mixture of all eras with a side order of JRPG-style magitech.  It's one of the few settings that avoids both medieval stasis and outright steampunk, since magic is so common that it has effectively displaced technology, but unlike most settings, this manifests as mass ''availability'' of magic conveniences. As there is no continuity and by default every game starts at exactly the same point in time as every other game, in 998 YK, [[Advancing the Storyline| there's no real status quo to worry about upsetting]]. Only modules/novels that are direct sequels ever reference the events of other modules/novels as having happened.
*'''[[Dark Sun]]:''' A weird example.  Depending on edition, the past of Athas may have included anything from a standard fantasy setting to a bio-mechanical halfling empire.  But, either way, the Brown Age is a barbaric decline of these past glories, with little metal and no feasible way of shaping more leaving the world in an oddly-civilized nigh-Stone Age.  Still, there is an undercurrent of rebuilding and reforming throughout the more-heroic-minded books on the setting, helped by the same eventual anti-continuity Eberron had, so the idea that things ''could'' progress or get better isn't ''impossible''.
*'''[[Ironclaw]]:'''  The once-fantasy world is undergoing a pseudo-Renaissance shift away from magic and feudalism to machinery and Italian-style guild-republics.  PCs are actually explicitly part of the burgeoning new middle class. Not bad for a furry RPG, huh?
*'''[[Mystara]]:''' Depending on where you are, there might be airships, magic-powered technological conveniences, and drill-tanks to explore the hollow earth full of dinosaurs.  Either way, things are a little less generic here in proto-Eberron.  
*'''[[Pathfinder]]:''' [[Golarion]] features relatively advanced technologies such as flintlock and matchlock firearms, the printing press, galleons (crewed by pirates reminiscent of the Golden Age of piracy in the Caribbean), and, in certain sourcebooks, [[Spelljammer|steampunk/magi-tech spaceships]]. Not to mention the number of people whose clothes and equipment are explicitly based on 18th-century fashions (see, among others, Andoran, Taldor, and Alkenstar). At least one source (''05-13: Hellknight's Feast'') says high class dwellings have actual porcelain toilets. Also, there's that one random corner of the world where aliens are trying to peacefully settle and/or invade, only to realize they picked the *one* corner of the world where pleas of "We come in peace!" are met with [[Barbarian|warcries and the judicious application of battleaxes to various vital areas]]. One sourcebook (''Technology Guide'') includes *lots* of super-high-tech stuff and different class archetypes that make use of it.  On the socio-political front, the Chelaxian breakaways Andoran and Galt have started to push for a less aristocratic government. Come second edition, cannons have become widespread on naval vessels.
**And '''[[Starfinder]]''' reveals that at least at some point various sci-fi technologies will be developed.
*'''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''': It was true in the past, but by the time of the original series the Fire Nation has become an industrial power, complete with colonial ambitions towards the rest of the world. In fact, the main character's previous incarnation as Avatar Roku actually ''stopped'' the Fire Nation from breaking medieval stasis ''because'' that would allow the Fire Nation to subjugate all other peoples.  This wasn't mere theory as Sozin, the Fire Lord during this industrial age and Roku's former friend, outright stated that's exactly what he would do and hoped Roku would join him.  After Sozin got rid of Roku, the Fire Nation immediately went all Imperial Japan on the world, even inflicting genocide on the Air Nomads to stop the next Avatar, Aang (though he'd fled beforehand which worked out because even if they weren't the designated pacifist culture and he'd stayed, Aang was literally an untrained child and had no way of meaningfully stopping them... ''yet'').  Even the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes have a few tinkerers and inventors, and during the time of Avatar Aang, the first airships and submarines are invented, albeit the magitek varieties. At the end of the show, the protagonist Avatar Aang makes peace between all three surviving factions and begins the reestablishment of the aforementioned genocided faction, and the sequel reveals that doing so helped the world advance to a roughly 20s/30s era of technology, complete with automobiles, moving pictures, the printing press, political propaganda videos, and croneyist democracy.
*'''[[Dragonmech]]''': Dragonmech's setting used to be in Medieval Stasis, then chunks of the moon started to rain down on them along with Alien Moon Dragons riding the rocks down for a full-on invasion, people first hide underground but then a dwarf kickstarts the creation of Pacific Rim sized steampunk robots to fight the Dragons and the whole world is now in a full-on steam-powered Industrial Revolution without the gunpowder.
*'''[[Star Wars]]:''' After the Celestials fell, the Rakata developed significantly and only failed as they lost their connection to the force. After the Rakata collapse, technology advances with some anachronisms due to FTL travel being discovered early on through Rakatan and other ruins and slave revolts against the Rakata. This continues until the period between the start of the New Sith Wars (2000 BBBY) to the Ruusan Reformation (1000 BBY) (where everyone was too busy killing each other, even more so than usual), and after that technology actually ''does'' advance noticeably throughout Post-Reformation Old Republic and especially the prequels (32 BBY onward) all the way to the era of the Legacy comics (138 ABY). Hyperdrives improve (in speed, how small a craft they can fit in and how big a craft they can propel) at a much faster rate than they did in the 1000 years since the end of the dark age. It's not just direct improvements either, with new technologies like [[Android]]s, relatively cheap cloaking devices that don't require unobtainum, silent and invisible blasters, biological technology merged with mechanical tech, and more. Even military strategy changes significantly between back and forth transitions between symmetrical and asymmetrical warfare.  Amazingly all this occurs organically as new technology is introduced to allow a plot and gets improved upon in future installments.
*'''[[Masque of the Red Death|Gothic Earth]]''': Perhaps the ultimate aversion as Gothic Earth follows real world technological history of tech development ''almost'' exactly, even stating players can only obtain certain items after a certain point in time. Ordinarily this wouldn't be notable, as Gothic Earth is still Earth, but [[RPGA|Living Death]] included some technology that was explicitly anachronistic, such as submarines capable of cross Atlantic voyages and long term submerging, and a few people who have lived somewhat longer.
*'''[[Discworld]]''': Entire ''Discworld'' novels revolve around a particular innovation that drastically changes how the Disc's society works: ''Moving Pictures'' - the movie camera, ''Soul Music'' - Rock N' Roll ("music with rocks in it"), ''The Truth'' - moveable type (i.e. the printing press, and with it, journalism), ''Going Postal'' - mail modernization and the telegraph, ''Making Money'' - paper money and modernized banking, ''Raising Steam'' - the steam engine.
*'''[[Arcanum]]''': The world of Arcanum is in the midst of an industrial revolution with an in-universe acknowledged past of Medieval Statis. What makes it particularly noteworthy is how it portrays the ever faster changing world pushing old fantasy norms and customs away, with Technology replacing Magic entirely. 
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