So I've been inspired by the coverage of neolithic sardinian civilisation/material culture that we've had on Veeky Forums over the past few days in a couple of threads, and I want to try writing a story or world building that incorporates people with a similar material culture.
It would be mainly low fantasy, and it would probably also involve people with a much more developed material culture, since I've wanted to write and world build a medieval fantasy for the longest time now, since I was a teenager.
What I want to ask you guys is whether or not is plausible to have a world where some cultures are in the stone age and some cultures are at about the level of the advanced civilisations of the iron age, and medieval times. Possibly more so in some aspects.
What would a plausible world like this look like? The relationship towards the most advanced people and the least advanced that still allows the least advanced to persist in the stone age? Tell me your thoughts.
Obviously there have been times in history where there are advanced civilisations and more primitive people, less developed people in relatively close proximity, like romans and barbarians. What do you know about other notable examples from history?
Adam Gonzalez
most of europe had copper/bronze, unlikely for the period
Joseph Lopez
bump
Caleb Campbell
>What I want to ask you guys is whether or not is plausible to have a world where some cultures are in the stone age and some cultures are at about the level of the advanced civilizations of the iron age, and medieval times.
Not really, thats too big a leap. The difference between romans and barbarians was large, in the real of architecture, big monuments, map making, ship building, navigation, and just plain luxuries like floor heating or other engineering feats. But something as basic as metalworking would spread too quickly to anyone you are in contact with. Its easier to teach than architecture or navigation, requires less understanding, and is more practically useful so others are willing to listen and remember.
Luis Barnes
You're a moron.
Gavin Richardson
*tips crucifix*
Henry Watson
Veeky Forums may be of more help.
John Nelson
>What would a plausible world like this look like? The relationship towards the most advanced people and the least advanced that still allows the least advanced to persist in the stone age? What you have is a neatly divided world between the civilized and the barbarian.
The civilized need a reason not to annex the territory of the "cavemen." Is it barren, impractical, etc.? Otherwise they'll take it.
War is too one-sided, so let's talk about the other way the civilized interacted with other cultures: trading.
Stone age "cavemen" offer little that the civilized cannot get by themselves. They do not extract minerals, nor have agriculture to provide the civilized with a supply of food.
They can hunt their megafauna to extiction, to provide meat, animal fat and pelts, and possibly the civilized women may find some carved stones or ivory of their to be fashionable.
But what does civilization provide to the "cavemen" that allowes them to remain cavemen? Perhaps they'll see the civilized ad gods, reinterpreting their myths accordingly.
The thing is, if a Roman or Greek is willing and able to call any foreigner a barbarian worthy of being enslaved (who isn't free on his own territory and tribal organization, as only in civilization live Free Men®), how much more will the stone age folks be seen that way?
In fact, not only they'de be seen as barbaric, but as animals, as apes which somehow recently found their way down the tree. Slavery might ad well be descrive as uplifting them, as salvation from their alleged misery, in addition to a source of cheap labor.
Ayden Miller
*Slavery might as well be described
Brayden Lewis
>What would a plausible world like this look like? Several continents separated with oceans. Like it has been said previously, you need reasons as to why the civilized have not annexed the barbarians yet and this much of a gap is hard to justify if they are living in the same continent.
Unless you find some kind of magical explanation, but personnally, I would find it a little too easy.
Benjamin Bailey
He's right though. The Nuragic 'civilization' flourished in the late Bronze Age, not the Neolithic.
Blake Perry
There's only one autistic shitposter on Veeky Forums who keeps spamming about ancient island wop rubble and rock piles
Owen Rogers
I am not OP and I don't get what te Nuragic culture has to do with his idea.
Anyway, I don't see how talking about the Nuragic culture in the designated threads like "Prehistoric Europe" is shitposting, especially considering that there are daily threads on /int/ like"Why didn't Africans ever develop civilizations?" or "Were the Romans Nordics"?
So I don't see how making informative posts about an ancient obscure culture in threads reserved for that is shitposting.
Justin Baker
Like other posters have said in this thread, you would need a solid reason as to why the more advanced culture hasn't destroyed the cavemen yet. You could probably go with environment honestly, and if you're going to do this in a fantasy setting, perhaps the cavemen have some sort of mystical roots which the advanced cultures don't have (i.e., shamanic arts, enchanted weapons made from a specific stone, etc).
Alternatively you could have it also be set at a specific time. As in, the advanced cultures are just discovering these ancient peoples and have not yet decided to annex, but tensions are rising (much like the early 1500-1600's North America). It could even be a main part of your plot
Henry Richardson
Most people did NOT have access to bronze. Copper is fairly common, but the tin / lead you need to turn it into bronze is not.
Landon Smith
The Nuragics did though
Jaxson Hernandez
Looks more impressive than "Great" Zimbabwe that was built 2000 years later.
Jason Scott
And? How does that make him right? You know what, you're even more of a moron than the first faggot was.
Julian Nguyen
I can't comprehend the thought process behind this post.
When you look at a picture of the Taj Mahal, is the first thing you think "wow that's way better than anything Filipinos built"?
Carson Flores
What are you talking about? The Nuragic culture arose after 1900 BC. The Bronze Age had begun all over Europe by that time. Nobody said that every single person had access to it, but just about every culture in Europe did.
I think you know you made a mistake and now you're trying to avoid admitting it.
Josiah Flores
You could try separating them geographically, and have limited contact between the two groups, perhaps explorers from the latter culture travel to the former, but are captured/imprisoned/stolen from, meaning that the contact between the two groups is mostly through the stone age group finding and spreading what iron age trinkets, currency, goods, etc. they find, but do not know how to recreate.
Maybe a large nomadic hunter/gatherer group travels to the edge of civilization after being driven out of their hunting grounds, meeting an outpost of some empire/kingdom.
I don't see this dynamic being stable enough to world-build extensively in the present (i.e. a guy getting to travel casually around the two groups and observe the differences) , but you could find several opportunities to create the dynamic briefly, and write an account like the report of Ibn Fadlan.
Speaking of which your idea reminds me of Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead", in which he rewrites Ibn Fadlan's account and adds a fictional second half in which a few groups of Neo-Neanderthals still co-exist with homo sapiens and the warrior crew tries to track down the "monsters" causing deaths in the neighboring villages. It wasn't the best book I've read but I think it'd give you some more ideas as it seems to be the kind of thing you're going for
Ryan Richardson
>When you look at a picture of the Taj Mahal, is the first thing you think "wow that's way better than anything Filipinos built"?
