Technology designation format

[macsen]

I am currently tackling a project I've been wanting to get out for a long time; to make a brief blurb of each of my world settings in a way that each encompass no more than one page, giving the most dense amount of information about each setting yet does not leave out any peculiarities that make that world interesting.

I find the more I hammer away at these dossiers,that it is more necessary to come up with a designation for the world type, cosmology type, magic and technology type to be used across the board, almost like the planetary class system used on Star Trek.

The most recent one is technology. I have stone age, metallurgical age, and "high technology" but I am at a loss for a clear, intuitive name for the type of a level of technology that exists in many of my settings. The main applications of the technology in question are watermills, windmills, and various crank, lever, or pressure plate-activated technology using stone, rope, and wood fitted together to form mechanical arrays, but in the total absence of metallurgy (or perhaps with metallurgy present, but not readily available worldwide yet).

I've had a look at a list of "punks" genres for help, but can't seem to find one that quite fits. It could be that such a system is unrealistic, since they require a knowledge level of physics and mechanics that would imply higher technology or more efficient systems.

Whatever the case, can anyone give ideas on what to call this?

[Everyl]

I am currently tackling a project I've been wanting to get out for a long time; to make a brief blurb of each of my world settings in a way that each encompass no more than one page, giving the most dense amount of information about each setting yet does not leave out any peculiarities that make that world interesting.

I find the more I hammer away at these dossiers,that it is more necessary to come up with a designation for the world type, cosmology type, magic and technology type to be used across the board, almost like the planetary class system used on Star Trek.

The most recent one is technology. I have stone age, metallurgical age, and "high technology" but I am at a loss for a clear, intuitive name for the type of a level of technology that exists in many of my settings. The main applications of the technology in question are watermills, windmills, and various crank, lever, or pressure plate-activated technology using stone, rope, and wood fitted together to form mechanical arrays, but in the total absence of metallurgy (or perhaps with metallurgy present, but not readily available worldwide yet).

I've had a look at a list of "punks" genres for help, but can't seem to find one that quite fits. It could be that such a system is unrealistic, since they require a knowledge level of physics and mechanics that would imply higher technology or more efficient systems.

Whatever the case, can anyone give ideas on what to call this?

How about "low-mineral medieval?" It sounds like the basics of medieval society are there - windmills and the like actually date back to antiquity. It's possible that the lack of metallurgy might be due to a lack of mineral resources or a lack of knowledge of how to exploit them, resulting in metal goods existing, but being rare and mostly of use in making useful things out of other materials.

Real-world parallel: For many centuries in Japan, metal resources were scarce enough that what metal was available was used mostly to make weapons for the elite warrior class and tools for working wood and clay. Traditional Japanese carpentry involves no nails, but instead requires advanced woodworking skills to cut and fit the pieces of wood together so they don't need nails. Water wheels were in use there as early as the 7th century (http://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/rs/bitstream/10086/7938/1/HJeco0220200010.pdf), so it's definitely possible to have the kind of technology you describe with little or no metals.

[macsen]

How about "low-mineral medieval?"

This is a good idea. While the "low-mineral" part specifies a reason for the lack of the technological level above it, I might use it anyway. What I mean is that its a little of the equivalent of calling Bronze Age "low-iron"; iron as a superior metal to bronze simply hasn't been discovered and spread through the land yet.

However, that might not be relevant since I find I am not having to designate a technology level for the whole world, but for each significant society in each world, since some settings have species who use discordant levels of technology.

One example for the above-described technology level existing with metallurgy is one in which the species are averse not only to fire, but high temperatures, and thus, use no forged metal except for the rare special artifacts forged for them by giants.

I do like medieval though, I've not used that yet. I see here that the etymology for medieval just means "middle age", and so I can simply specify its place in my system as being an intermediate age between stone age and bronze age.

but now that I think about it, I might now have to come up with a designation suffix to indicate the highest level of that particular technological level has been achieved in cases of unusual leaps in ingenuity, divine inspiration, or, as the example above as well as yours, cases where higher levels of technology are rendered impossible by biological or environmental factors. I need to distinguish between say, technological level medieval much like our medieval, and a medieval technological level in which the scenario I said is in full swing and commonplace. such as the elevator system used in Thunder Bluff on world of warcraft.

Not to mention systems that use small amounts of magic to supplement the work much like the occasional nail found in an otherwise metallurgy-devoid system.

[jqavins]

You might get some help organizing your thoughts from a reading of the GURPS tech level classifications, though I don't expect that system will be the whole answer for you.
http://gurps.wikia.com/wiki/Tech_Level
The other thing I'd suggest is to let go of the desire for one or two word labels. Even in a one page dossier, there's room for a five or six word description. What's wrong with saying "Complex mechanisms, but made without metals"?