Technology

Harsk shows off some technological gear.

Technology is defined on Golarion in one of three ways:

• In the most specific sense, technology is any non-magical device created through scientific study that approaches or exceeds items created through magic. The alien technological devices found in the nation of Numeria and Irriseni Stasian technology fall under this category.
• More generally, technology is any mundane device used to assist in a task. This second definition covers items as simple as a lever to mundane mechanisms as complex as a printing press.
• The term also describes items and systems created using both magic and scientific ingenuity, such as complex clockworks.

Some forms of technology also straddle these categories, such as steam-powered technology that often uses, but does not require, magic sources of heat to function.

History of technological innovation

The history of technological advancement on Golarion is a complex one. More than once, destructive, world-spanning events have wiped out hundreds or thousands of years of innovation and progress. The most famous example of this was Earthfall, which destroyed the advanced Azlanti and Thassilonian civilizations, and ushered in the Age of Darkness that kept the major ancestries back for thousands of years.

Even once humanity began to reemerge during the Age of Destiny, technological advancement was checked by the availability of magic. After all, why invent a mechanical answer to a problem, when one can simply wish it into being by appealing to a deity or relying on arcane magic? Technology, therefore, flourished best where magic was absent, such as in the Mana Wastes of Garund. It was here, in the city of Alkenstar, that one of the greatest non-magical achievements of the past few hundred years was born: firearms.

Another recent technological innovation is the printing press, which allows for the fast and inexpensive reproduction of pamphlets, letters, and books. Although printing presses are very expensive (especially movable type printing presses that allow the printer to rearrange letters and images, and thereby greatly speed-up the printing process), their cultural and political impact has been substantial. They have allowed for the quick dissemination of information, and have led to the democratization of ideas.

Practitioners

The most common users and innovators in technology are inventors, who combine engineering skills with magic and intuition to create unique devices.

Clockwork technology

The technological understanding to build clockwork devices was first developed over 10,000 years ago in Azlant and later perfected in Thassilon. Although Earthfall destroyed most examples of their work, a few constructs survived the apocalypse, leading to the rediscovery of the art thousands of years later. The resurfacing of New Thassilon also revived some of its ancient techniques. Because clockworks are so much more time-consuming to develop and create than more standard magical constructs, they remain somewhat of a curiosity of the rich.

Androffan technology

Most technology in Numeria is alien in origin, and either comes directly from the Androffan spaceship Destiny that crashed in Numeria thousands of years ago during the Rain of Stars, or has since been developed based on these items. The technology within them is so advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic to the common person. It is also quite dangerous and is prone to backfiring or even exploding, giving these items a well-deserved sinister reputation. Nearly all such items were under the strict control of the Technic League of Numeria, who hoarded these items for their own profit and power until its collapse in 4716 AR.

Androids born of automated foundries are a product of Androffan technology.

Stasian technology

Stasian technology, introduced to Golarion in Irrisen, harnesses electricity without requiring magic, distinguishing it from technologies such as the Shory aeromantic infadibulum that relied on magic. Like Androffan technology, it originates from another alien world where magic was less common. It is the rarest type of technology on Golarion and appears outside of Irrisen only in Ustalav, where smuggled Stasian coils have spurred intense academic study and technological interest.

Steam-powered technology

Steam-powered technology is powered by the transition of liquid water to gaseous steam through heat. While less rare than Androffan or Stasian technology, it remains less common on Golarion than clockwork technology. Many steam-powered mechanisms rely on magical sources of heat, though a few new and unproven inventions use mundane furnaces.

Azlanti magical technology

At the peak of the Azlanti Empire prior to Earthfall, Azlanti experts worked in facilities such as the Compass, and within organizations such as the Ioun Imperative and Spindle Solution, to develop ever more advanced combinations of magic and technology. This Azlanti magical technology included the ability to travel to and settle Somal, Golarion's moon, via portals. This, and several other innovations, were developed with aid from the elven scientist Varliss of the then-diplomatic Winter Council.

Other forms of Azlanti magical technology include complex constructs, such as smoke sentinels and clockwork dragons, and the complex practices of electro-thaumaturgy.

Legacy

Wayfinders of the Pathfinder Society were developed from discoveries of Azlanti magical technology by the legendary Pathfinder Durvin Gest at the House of Aeons. Gest's discoveries also included Azlanti aeon stones. These discoveries were published in the first volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles in 4317 AR.

Electro-thaumaturgy was also part of the Shory aeromantic infadibulum. The Jistka Imperium civilization, known for its automatons, was founded after the illiterate Arustun discovered and deciphered lost Azlanti texts and located more in his subsequent travels.

Aboleths attempted to use Azlanti technology to manipulate the forms of humanoids. All of their experiments died in the process, but the process also reanimated them as an undead hive-mind of beings known as [[abhominal]s.

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Other forms of technology

The development of black powder in Tian Xia led to the innovation of firearms in Dongun Hold and Alkenstar. Arcadian inventors developed similar devices in parallel that rely only on magic or compressed air.

The long-lost Jistka Imperium developed still-functional automatons that fused magic, technology, and souls.

On the distant world of Akiton, the mineral thasteron is refined into a combustible fuel that powers many technological innovations.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.