Cataclysmic Awareness

[Deafsong]

My question sort of has to do with the theme, and it could be answered somewhere, I just didn't find it in my search, but how aware are the Characters of the origin of the world. Like are their Legends of the 'High Tech - Fading Magic' days of the Wizard who cast the Cataclysm? That question, to me seems to tie into whether or not Technology should be somewhat more advanced then in other High Fantasy games.

If extensive knowledge of the past is known, perhaps basing the various races on present day cultures isn't such an off the wall idea. I think it would be cool to see some taints of various cultures in the new races... Hehehe I can just see a Minotaur with some Spanish originated name, or a Native american Bird-man. Heh.. alright the Spanish name is a lame example.. But there are cooler prospects down that path.

My question I guess is.. Did the Cataclysm spell wipe memories, or get rid of enough of the population that 100 years down the line most of the knowledge aquired pre-cataclysm would have been lost? Does the populace know what the Last Wizard did?

Deafsong.

[Lordosis]

There is a lot of conjecture and speculation about what exactly happened to create Novus. The gods know what happened, but most mortals do not. Some especially wise mortals do have some understanding, and it might be worth your while to seek them out.

[Rolfe]

I have a good point. If 99.9% of the population is wiped out, and all factories, mines, stores, research facilities, and universities are wiped out too, how many people could start building a computer? Those people on Survivor couldn't even build a freaking lobster trap for crying out loud. How many people could even really build a rifle? You have no gun powder, no bullets, no metal working tools, and no metal gun barrels. I'm sure there are metal working tools around somewhere, and if not, it's easy to make some very simple ones I think. But how long would it take you to just make the tools that would allow you to take a piece of metal and shape it into a gun barrel? How long would it take to GET the metal out of the ore? Where would you look for ore and how would you dig it out?

It's hard to say what's been preserved and what hasn't as far as material items. It would be unrealistic if every semblance of modern day just disintegrated. For the most part though, we're looking at a very primitive world.

[Saint Faucet]

I'm guessing that "A Canticle for Leibowitz" ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553379267/o/qid=969100984/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_3/102-9978786-4312969 ) would be a good read in reference to this question.

(Thank you 11th grade English class...)

[Uncle Dukey]

Dedicating alot of your time finding about the old civilization, then learning how to build a rifle would be too cool though :)