Skip to content

Age of Empires Technology

This article lists the technologies available in the Age of Empires on Kur. Each entry opens with any technology prerequisites. The bulk of the entry is a description of how that technology came to be.

Following the description of each technology is an enumeration of the skills unlocked by that technology. The final paragraph lists the cultural groups that have discovered that technology in the Age of Empires.

Banking

Requires Trade, Republic

Banking developed separately in two locations. In the west, sailors established banks as a way to secure their wealth while at sea and to finance new trading expeditions. Both arrangements required paying the bank. In the north, banking began as a scam. Strangely, the scam was highly efficient: pocketing the difference between the money paid for investments and the money earned from loans.

Skills: n/a

Cultural Groups: Wetwoods, Percoland

Bridge Building

Requires Iron Working, Construction

Bridge building began as a collaboration between the Sea Krals and the Wrin (humans). The ability to sail into a convenient island port while still remaining connected to the mainland was worth setting aside any racial differences. From there, the technology quickly spread among the Kurian races (vulfen, orcs, etc.).

Skills: n/a

Cultural Groups: Kurian, Wetwoods

Charades

Requires Trade

In a land like Qod, rich with mystics and prognosticators, the emergence of charlatans was to be expected. What is surprising is the emergence of spells specifically designed to masquerade as a mage. Nonetheless, these tricks are common in Qod, resulting in a weary skepticism to legerdemain.

Skills: Charades

Cultural Groups: Qod

Consecration

Requires Monotheism

To defend their holy places, priests of Ambitus developed techniques for blessing those areas. Both gargoyles and sacred grounds are manifestations of this desire to clearly separate that which is holy from that which is mundane.

Skills: Gargoyle Mastery, Sacred Grounds

Cultural Groups: Ambitus

Devotion

Requires Basic Prayer, Monotheism

Priestly orders were first established among Celsior's undead and Nyx's adherents. This sort of specialization provides the priest access to powerful spells, at the expense of the cleric's more general abilities. Ironically, many priests lack the ability to repel undead, or perhaps obvious given where this technology was first developed.

Skills: Aquatic Forms, Banishments, Battlefield Healing, Ceremonies, Chants, Crusade, Death Mastery, Divine Aura, Divine Magic, Faith's Shield, Holy Defenses, Holy Discipline, Holy Element, Holy Symbol, Holy Trances, Holy Weapon, Holy Wind, Holy Wrath, Horse Mastery, Hunting Mastery, Insect Mastery, Land Forms, Nature Domination, Proselytizing, Serpent Law, Spirit Domination, Spirit Law, Spiritual Vision, Stone Mastery, The Hunter, Time Lore, Tree Mastery, Voodoo Magic

Cultural Groups: Noctis, Sun-Bleached

Enchantment

Requires Basic Psychic Theory, Illusion

Enchantment is a powerful tool for making things seem as they are not. Conspiracy theorists conjecture that En's cults were responsible for leaking this magic in Percoland. More cogent scholars have proof that these theories are grounded in fact.

Skills: Seeming Defenses, Seeming Enhancement, Seeming Law, Seeming Mastery, Seeming Memories, Seeming Projection

Cultural Groups: Percoland

Engineering

Requires Wheel, Construction

Engineering transforms the practice of construction and design into a formal discipline. Engineers make it possible to transition theoretical and magical results directly into practice. In both Pax and Perdu, the Age of Empires was one of great innovation as novel uses were found for spells.

Skills: Engineering, Lock Lore, Picking Locks, Skating, Skiing

Cultural Groups: Pax, Perdu

Grifting

Requires Basic Psychic Theory, Trade

Its negative connotations notwithstanding, grifting was long a reputable practice. The bards of Qod and Venat would travel far and wide, collecting stories and lore and exchanging those for room and board.

Skills: Controlling Songs, Entertaining Ways, Item Lore, Lores, Sound Control, Sound Projection

Cultural Groups: Qod, Venat

Magnetism

Requires Physics, Iron Working

In the western lands, the discovery of magnetism corresponded with the development of ocean vessels capable of traveling far from the shore. The combination of magnetic lines and ley lines allows a navigator to estimate a ship's position with considerable precision.

Skills: Orienteering

Cultural Groups: Venat, Wetwoods

Medicine

Requires Trade, Philosophy

The rich, diverse flora (and fauna) of the Wetwoods made it a natural place for the invention of medicine. People from across the planet traveled to the Wetwoods to avail themselves of these new experts in diagnostics, biochemistry, and psychology.

Skills: Biochemistry, Diagnostics, Psychology, Sanity Healing

Cultural Groups: Wetwoods

Monasticism

Requires Construction, Basic Impulse Theory

Monasticism hones ascetic principles into a keen weapon. Monks first appeared in Noctis among the lower classes, for abandoning one's connections to the physical world is easiest for someone who has little to abandon. For many years, monks constituted a significant threat to the established order.

Skills: Adrenal Balance, Adrenal Concentration, Adrenal Defense, Adrenal Landing, Adrenal Leaping, Adrenal Quickdraw, Adrenal Speed, Adrenal Stabilization, Adrenal Strength, Body Reins, Body Renewal, Evasions, Feint (Unarmed), Martial Arts Style Lore, Mind Over Matter, Monk's Bridge, Monk's Sense, Strikes, Sweeps, Vital Points Lore

Cultural Groups: Noctis

Religious Code

Requires Chivalry, Basic Prayer

The undead religious code allowed their armies to develop warrior priests (paladins) well suited to destroying their enemies. The ensuing centuries saw considerable destruction until the code was altered to preclude the repulsion of undead except under dire circumstances. Unfortunately (for the undead), the code had already spread to the living races.

Skills: Communion, Exorcisms, Holy Arms, Holy Healing, Holy Shields, Inspiring Ways

Cultural Groups: Sun-Bleached

Theory of Gravity

Requires University, Astronomy

Premature attempts in Perdu to master spell-jamming were not successful. However, these experiments did reveal the secrets of gravity.

Skills: Advanced Math, N-Space Astrogation, P-Space Astrogation

Cultural Groups: Perdu

Wyrd Ken

Requires Basic Psychic Theory, University, Basic Impulse Theory

Wyrd Ken refers to the collection of disciplines invented in Qod that allow an individual to alter matter and the self. Often aided by various intoxicants, these mystics glimpsed the secret of Umbra: all things are connected and can therefore be transformed (given enough discipline and power).

Skills: Confusing Ways, Dread Manipulation, Gas Alteration, Liquid Alteration, Mystical Change, Mystical Hiding, Solid Alteration

Cultural Groups: Qod