Explaining the ignorance of the Mechanicum

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**Grey Templar**

dusara217 wrote:
Durandal wrote:The Dark Ages were literally Dark. Large amounts of particulates from the eruption of Krakatoa blocked sunlight resulting in colder weather, shorter growing seasons and major disruptions to the climate from 534 to 546 AD.

This, on the heels of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire just prior caused major die offs in the human population in Europe.

However, the weather also affected most of the northern hemisphere and there are records of climatic issues in China, India and the Americas. The Moche Civilization in Peru collapsed, China entered into civil war, The Aztecs had major declines at their major city of Teotihuacan, and the Gupta Empire in India collapsed.

This represented a major setback in human advancement as the major stabilizing empires across the world suffered major upheaval, starvation and war. It also set off waves of immigration across Europe and Asia that caused further war and destruction.

So while some advancements were made at the time, few governments existed to implement them on any wide scale, and of those all who remained were at war and in no position to do so.

It is a great mirror for the Mechanicum, because right now the majority of the Mechanicum's efforts are geared towards cranking out war materials for the Imperium, and preserving what they already have. While some individual advancements are made, most are never shared or implemented due to the focus on production and preservation above all. And lets face it, so what if one planet has awesome nano tech or grav tech. If the wider imperium doesn't then they will standardize on the lowest tech level.

That is why the AM use las weapons. They are simple and understood by everyone. Same with Vox, Chimera, etc. SM gear is advanced because you get training at Mars, but still only represents the general level of Martian technology.

Science is a pyramid, every discovery builds off the prior base of knowledge. With the Heresy and Old Night taking a sledgehammer to that foundation what is left is stacks of rubble that could collapse at any moment, taking the knowledge of Neutron Lasers or Land Crawlers with it when the forge world that makes cogs is taken out by Orks.

Why was I never taught this? Thanks for nothing, American public schools!

It was only discovered fairly recently IIRC. Plus its not something they'd typically teach till College in a more advanced History class. Plus dating of records wouldn't have been the same in China as in Europe. So it naturally takes a while to piece together the records of famine, realize they all happened at the same time, and then also cross reference that with a super Volcano eruption.