Just take out coal/oil and a stable technological level seems possible. Also I’m not sure those stable fantasy worlds really exists in literature, most examples I can think of have (sometimes magical) technological growth or decline.
Tolkien Middle Earth is very young—a few thousands years. This means no coal, no oil, and no possibility of an industrial revolution. Technology would still slowly progress to 18th century level but I can see it happening slow enough to make the state of technology we see in the LOTR acceptable. On the other hand magical technology is declining because the elves magical power is slowly declining (both in quality and quantity) as they leave Middle Earth.
Sanderson’s Rocharch’s civilisation is wiped regularly by an all out war between good and evil, regularly resetting technology to bronze age level. Then (for some reasons) no war happen for 3000 years and during this time we see a steady progress in magical technology (althoug Sanderson inability to write in anything else than close third means an unlikely amount of technological progress just happens wherever the heroes are). Also I’m pretty sure the environmental conditions in Rocharch do not allow oil and coal to form so once again no industrial revolution is possible.
Just take out coal/oil and a stable technological level seems possible. Also I’m not sure those stable fantasy worlds really exists in literature, most examples I can think of have (sometimes magical) technological growth or decline.
Tolkien Middle Earth is very young—a few thousands years. This means no coal, no oil, and no possibility of an industrial revolution. Technology would still slowly progress to 18th century level but I can see it happening slow enough to make the state of technology we see in the LOTR acceptable. On the other hand magical technology is declining because the elves magical power is slowly declining (both in quality and quantity) as they leave Middle Earth.
Sanderson’s Rocharch’s civilisation is wiped regularly by an all out war between good and evil, regularly resetting technology to bronze age level. Then (for some reasons) no war happen for 3000 years and during this time we see a steady progress in magical technology (althoug Sanderson inability to write in anything else than close third means an unlikely amount of technological progress just happens wherever the heroes are).
Also I’m pretty sure the environmental conditions in Rocharch do not allow oil and coal to form so once again no industrial revolution is possible.