The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)

by Brandon Sanderson

One final aspect of the Lord Ruler’s cultural manipulation is quite interesting: that of technology. I have already mentioned that Rashek chose to use Khlenni architecture, which allowed him to construct large structures and gave him the civil engineering necessary to build a city as large as Luthadel. In other areas, however, he suppressed technological advancements. Gunpowder, for instance, was so frowned upon by Rashek that knowledge of its use disappeared almost as quickly as knowledge of the Terris religion. Apparently, Rashek found it alarming that, armed with gunpowder weapons, the most common of men could be nearly as effective as archers with years of training. So he favored archers. The more training-dependent military technology was, the less likely it was that the peasant population would be able to rise up and resist him. Indeed, skaa revolts always failed in part for this very reason.