Technology

Because mankind forgot everything in the travel from Earth to the Eos system, they have had to relearn and reinvent basic and advanced technologies.  Due to different needs, different supplies of resources, and a little bit of political or religious control, technology evolved differently here than it did on Earth:


The Technology of Eos

Fine Points
1) No computers or other digital technology
2) Technology should be durable, bulky, elaborate and ornate
3) Technology powerful enough to support space travel and an advanced civilization

Rules
 1. Technology: Advanced methods/devices can increase the capabilities of any existing technology but development and construction is exponentially difficult and expensive
I. Scientific geniuses are sought after for custom technological solutions to problems. Great thinkers are often “sponsored” by government or industrial concerns.
II. Technological advancement is kept to a limited pace rather than rushing ahead due to the small number of “mad scientists” and geniuses, the jealous guarding of advanced techniques and capabilities, and the cost of developing and building advanced devices.
III. Industrial as well as governmental espionage is popular. Because unique knowledge is guarded and breakthroughs are rare it is often just as easy, or more so, to steal someone else's knowledge.
(Spying is an industry and counter espionage  is big business.)
IV. If you're making something expensive and unique you might as well make it good looking.

 2. Materials: Metals, ceramics and plant materials are plentiful while petroleum is not
I. Metal is durable and plentiful.
(Asteroid and moon mining.)
II. Advanced metallurgy/ceramics can be light and very durable.
(Weapons, armor, hull plating, miniaturized cogs and motors, & other devices are made from advanced ceramics. In addition advanced materials combined with advanced tank and valve designs allow for the safe storage of extremely high pressure gasses.)
III. Wood and bamboo like grasses are easy to form, reasonably durable, and renewable. Thus its a common construction material. Similarly plants are used to produce many chemical products such as grease & oil, rubber, cellulose based plastics, etc.
(Lots of wooden walls, furniture, fixtures, etc. Farming is important & crops are often raised to support industry.)
IV. Plant based plastics are light and inexpensive but not durable and biodegrade, lasting only weeks on average before starting to break down.
(Light materials used for disposable products but not very useful for construction.)
V. Chemistry and chemical production is somewhat advanced but controlled and develops slowly. Groups jealously guard their formulas and processes to gain advantage. Industrial espionage is popular.
VI. There is no petroleun and there are no petroleum based products.
(No gasoline or deisel fuel, no petroleum oils, etc.)

 3. Energy: The primary source of stored energy is via chemical reaction
I. There are plentiful sources of cheap hydrocarbon gasses which can be gathered from gas giants and frozen moons.
(Atmo scooping for quick, easy fuel production. Possible surface mining under very difficult conditions for high quality/concentrated fuels. Surface approaches are controlled by fuel consortiums so ships interested in a free top-off need to run a blockade or find a secret route. Fuel mines maybe manned by indentured workers similar to the old time mining towns.)
II. There might be a unique element/compound to allow even higher energy output to really fuel space travel. An element with high energy content but slow combustion to inhibit it's use for explosives.
III. Combustion engines are common, cheap and relatively clean.
(Ceramic metals allow for miniaturized rotary engines, maybe the size of hot wheels cars, which can be built into devices replacing the use of electric motors to some extent.)
IV. Electricity can be generated through direct mechanical conversion (burning) for inexpensive, relatively low power requirements. Higher efficiency is achieved through the use of of more expensive fuels cells.
(Small power needs are fed by a motor and generator component. Electric motors are reserved for high torque needs. Devices requiring a lot of electrical power use fuel cells which convert the same gas fuels directly into electricity but are more expensive due to the rare elements required for their catalysts. Space ships use huge fuel cells to generate the power for their ion drive engines.)
V. Disposable batteries are common. Rechargeable batteries are somewhat rarer and often produced under industrial secrecy. It is often just as easy to use a miniturized generator or fuel cell which can be re-filled and reused. Only very tiny electronic devices commonly use batteries over other power sources.
(Small electronics can be powered either by replacable batteries or via refillable fuel cell. Tiny electrical devices use button cells.)
VI. Power can be stored in large banks of chemical batteries or high efficiency capacitors. This is often done to slowly store power and then release it in a large discharge or to handle lapses in other generation methods.
(Electrically powered, high output devices such as long range radio or radar. Space ships often have battery banks to run large systems and to function for extended periods without burning fuel.)
VII. Solar power is rare and relies upon heat generation converted into mechanical motion rather than direct electrical generation. Other forms of alternative production also rely on physical motion, thermal generation/conversion, or direct chemical conversion.
(Space stations and ships can take advantage of the thermoelectric effect, via the heat difference between their sunny and shadowed side, to generate limited amounts of electricity able to run low power systems. Rural/agricultral areas may use wind and water generators. Hydrogen & oxygen generated via electralysis become secondary forms of stored, combustible gasses. Ethanol is a popular liquid fuel used mainly for heat production or where waste vegetable material is especially prevalent.)
VIII. Nuclear power is non-existant and radioactive materials are considered too dangerous to work with by society
IX. Most weapons utilize either chemical reaction or muscle power. Rarer forms of power are pressurized tanks, springs, or fly wheels and other uses of motors. Electro-magnetic based power is reserved for very large installations with massive power storage batteries.

 4. Power: There is a trade off between power, control and speed
I. Mechanical power can be precise and powerful but will also be slow.
(Low gear ratios move slowly and distance travelled can be judged carefully.)
II. Mechanical power can be fast, but is then less powerful and more imprecise.
(High gear ratios move fast but have a harder time pushing/slowing great weight and travel distance can be hard to judge, often leading to over travel.)
III. Stressed mechanical parts break
(Can be enhanced for cinematic effect as springs and cogs fly everywhere.)

 5. Electronics: Circuits are analog only
I. Circuits are made up of analog devices with vacuum tubes in the place of transistors.
(Picture eerily glowing little globs of glass coated with mysterious substances which brighten and dim as they function. Larger tubes meant to carry high current are hot, touchy and possible fragile or burn out. This forces techs to often replace them. Thus you socket large tubes rather than solder them in and they may sometimes also need re-seating if they loosen. Banging on a device can often re-seat an errant large tube, making the device work... at least for a while.)
II. Vacuum tube technology has been advanced to allow small, stable vacuum tubes for low power devices while the addition of a semi-solid insulating gel with electrical qualities similar to vacuum (phlogiston) stabilizes the internal structures of larger tubes which are needed to handle high amounts of power/current.
(The smallest tube the size of a grain of rice, the average tube the size of a pencil eraser, but larger units can be the size of fish tanks or refrigerators with multiple protruding electrical connections poking randomly out of the their surfaces. Maybe Phlogiston is a guarded trade secret, or made from rare or hard to retrieve/process materials. Think semi-rigid, cloudy gello of alien chemistry that glows slightly phosphorescent when electrons flow through it.)
III. Most circuits are highly resistant to EMP but suffer from distortion of function during the event, the exception being EMP events powerful enough to generate enough heat in circuits to melt wire.
IV. Vacuum tube technology has permitted the development of advanced CRT tubes and various other forms of radiation emitters.
(An advanced “flat panel” is made up of many smaller CRT tubes in a matrix. Otherwise inexpensive displays are large CRT tubes or tubes with linear filaments like old calculators.)
V. Electromagnetic waves are commonly used but data transmitted via them is easily distorted by interference since the signal is not binary and has no error correction.
(Messages can get through but still be mysteriously garbled and hard to understand.)

 6. Glass: Due to the requirements of vacuum tube technology, glass material technology is also highly advanced
I. Glass casting or blowing is a noble trade and a high art.
II. Glass materials (silicon, soda, lime and any doping materials) are highly valued.
III. With easy access to high quality glass, optics is an advanced science.

7. Records: Data stored physically is durable but not compact, data stored electronically is compact but not durable
I. Data stored physically is limited by a person's/device's ability to detect and interperate the physical markings or changes. Durable materials and high quality optics make physical record storage useful for written/drawn storage. Phonograph technology makes it useable for audio storage as well. Crystal matrix physical storage is likely out of reach or rare but possible with thin storage media, but data interpretion would be limited to a machine reading analog data.)
II. Data stored eletronically is stored either as a magnetic charge on a physical medium or in very short time lapse circuit loops (milliseconds loops at most).
III. Electronic data is stored in such a way that it will eventually be lost through natural degradation. Most often a magnetizable material is used, often coating a wire or ribbon of some flexible substance.
(Data on an old/damaged electronic spool may be read, but only vague parts of the data are readable.)
IV. Data storage is transitory and can be fragile. Physical storage media can be broken. Electronic storage media is also vulnerable to magnetic fields and heat.
V. Data duplication is time consuming and long term storage is expensive. True electronic long term storage requires the regular duplication of data onto new media.
(Think rows and rows of monks duplicating racks and racks of magnetic wire/tape to save their archives for another generation.)
VI. Kodachrome photography with chemical film exists.
(It's fun.)

8. Information:Electronic storage media is limited and slow
I. Information needs to be analyzed in real time.
II. Data can be stored and read back but may only be searched through in a linear fashion which makes search times longer. Data must be read as the spool is wound forward or back. Multiple tracks can be used on ribbons to speed seek time by reading all of the tracks at once but then it slows down linear data reading across multiple tracks since you must rewind to reach the start of the next track.
III. Detection devices can give readings on what they are currently pointed at but cannot be used to display or analyze data collected earlier to view the “whole picture”
(Radar displays where something is but not the path it took or will take. A device that can scan through materials lke an X-Ray will show what is directly under the sensor in a limited arc, probably the size of its sensor/screen maybe 4” x 4”, but cannot be swept over a device to remember and display an image of the whole.)
IV. Most devices utilize analog meters, filiment tubes, or CRT screens to display electronically generated information.
V. For the most part machines possess little analytic power. They can tell you what you are looking at, it's size, shape, distance from you, composition, etc., but not what it does or how it functions. Interpretation of any data shown is up to the person using the device. Some limited analysis may be possible through limited pattern matching using recorded media but even that is slow as data is spooled from a reel.

Examples of Technology
 • Cerametal blades sharper than razors
 • Gatling pistols run by methane powered rotory motors with a hi optic sights
 • N-Ray penetrating variable depth materials detection scanners
 • Electronic music recreation systems with micro-hetrodyne tube amplifiers for that mellow sound
 • A magenetic data storage recorder utilizing expensive spooled cerametal wire for durable data storage (fed at 1” of cord per second)
 • Remote vision radio communicators with true color CRT screens
 • Photonic cascade circuit video recreation cameras with magnetic wire spool storage
 • The Boson-Higgs magento-containment ionic particle drives (The Helio Drive)
 • Automatic navigation recorders for the controlled playback and piloting of auto-piloted vehicles (Follows the exact route recorder on the system. Often used on long haul automated vehicles. The vessel is launched and landed by a live crew but piloted via wire between. Also useful on crewed ships when making the same voyage repeatedly.)

Social Intrigues:
 suppression of nuclear technology and high energy physics by the Empire to limit destructive power. Computers are also verboten to limit the scientific capabilities and precision needed to develop and deliver said technologies. There are often "mysterious" disappearance of geniuses and mad scientists who stray into paths that are too dangerous for humanity. The man fuel source are Rubak Pellets; A solid state fuel that burns slowly for high power but low release (not very effective as an explosive but great for fueling travel and technology) There is the occasional appearance of a mysteriously powerful artifact or a mad genius who manages to survive long enough to have to be branded an enemy to humanity and hunted down by everyone.    There are lots of other factions and secret societies similar to romanticized Victorian London: a secret cabal of scientists trying to develop forbidden technology, a society of nobles trying to create more and more powerful weapons , a society of wealthy trying to corner the market on new and existing technologies and manufacturing, groups of church zealots who hate any new technology, secret cabals of mad scientists and world ruler wannabes, treasure hunters of old technology, gentlemen clubs, competing criminal organizations, etc.