History Main / DecadeDissonance

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* Most ''Paradox'' grand strategy games take some steps to avoid this by applying a larger penalty to research the further ahead you get in technology compared to real history, and by giving regions a research bonus based on how much more advanced their neighbours are. However, they also deliberately play it straight by giving large penalties to cultures that historically didn't keep up with technological advance. So in ''EuropaUniversalis'', for example, it's difficult (although still possible) for European countries to get this relative to each other, but difficult to avoid it compared to most of the rest of the world.

** Many of said Feral Worlds are also base of operation for [[BioAugmentation transhuman]] {{Space Marine}}s in PoweredArmor wielding [[MoreDakka repeating grenade launchers]] and [[PowerFist matter-disrupting gauntlets]], since the tribal wars are excellent for identifying promising recruits when they are [[ChildSoldiers still young enough]] to undergo the transformation process. The most famous example would be the SpaceWolfes from [[HornyVikings Viking Age]] [[DeathWorld Fenris]]

* ''TheDarkEye'' has cultures ranging from stone age tribes to Renaissance/early industrialisation nations. Besides, there's a country, where you have, through [[TechnologyIsEvil demonic possession]], scyscrapers, tanks, and temporarily the whole capital turned into a flying fortress. And that's just the human side of things.

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* Gotham city and Metropolis both reflect the style of their hero: Dark for Franchise/{{Batman}} and shiny and optimistic for Franchise/{{Superman}}. A common saying about the two cities within DC was that Metropolis was [[BigApplesauce New York City]] in the daytime, while Gotham was New York at night. The Animated Series for both [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries these]] [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries shows]] even cross over, however Superman ended up visiting Batman at night (and Bats usually took the night with him to Metropolis).

** They actually stated in one ''White Dwarf'' that they'd created a fictional universe where you can have rock-waving barbarians and antigravity tanks on the same battlefield.

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' the Earthbound live in caves and look as though they're just a step or two above actual cavemen. Whereas in the same time period the Kingdom of Zeal is a FloatingContinent powered by magic where there exists modern philosophy, advanced architecture and MagiTech on a CrystalSpiresAndTogas level. Disturbingly justified as you talk to people; the Zealots, who can use magic, deliberately abandoned those who couldn't (the future Earthbound) when they created Zeal, with the implication that they smack down any attempts at the latter improving their lot.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': implied in Towers of Midnight, in [[spoiler: Aviendha's vision: the descendants of the Aiel are reduced to little more than savages, while the Lightmakers, descendants of the Seanchan, have "high-tech" equipment (they are building a railway through the desert and have some kind of shotgun). Justified because the Seanchan could benefit from the technological improvements that were popping up in Rand's academies, while the Aiel were almost hunted to extinction.]]

** It also often applies within planets or even single cities. It's especially used in the ''Necromunda'' setting, with underhive gangers often using what amounts to real world projectile guns and even just point sticks, while rich kids from the upper hive will come down to hunt them with all the highest tech available in 40K - power armour, stealth suits, and so on.
** Many of said Feral Worlds are also base of operation for [[BioAugmentation transhuman]] SpaceMarines in PowerArmour wielding [[MoreDakka repeating grenade launchers]] and [[PowerFist matter-disrupting gauntlets]], since the tribal wars are excellent for identifying promising recruits when they are [[ChildSoldier still young enough]] to undergo the transformation process. The most famous example would be the SpaceWolfes from [[HornyVikings Viking Age]] [[DeathWorld Fenris]]

* In ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'', technology varies widely between regions. Within the Small Magellanic Cloud, Nova Nacio is the most advanced state due to its ties to the Large Magellanic Cloud, while Kalymnos is nearly a match for it due to their focus on advanced battleships and military build-up; meanwhile, peripheral areas like the Ropesk Dominion are poor and backward enough that a single ''destroyer'' is often the flagship of an entire fleet. The Large Magellanic Cloud is somewhat more uniform in tech ''level'' (though even they have backward areas like Escondido): a destroyer from the Large will utterly annihilate a first-rate battleship from the peripheral, chaotic Small. However, there are still some differences between regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud; while actual TechnologyLevels rarely differ, some regions focus on different forms of technology than others (such as the [[{{Transhuman}} transhumans]] of Zenito]]. [[spoiler: Lugovalos' technology is moderately more advanced than the top end of the LMC. And, of course, all of this pales before the LostTechnology of the Overlords.]]

** Capitalism is alive and well on Rifts Earth, with both native corporations (Triax, Northern Gun, Titan Robotics, etc.) and alien ones (Naruni Enterprises, the Splugorth) ''selling'' advanced technology, but not giving it away for free. Thus there is an inevitable situation of have's and have-not's where people with no money and nothing to trade do not end up with cool technology, much as is the case in the real world with many impoverished countries. More tightly-controlled societies, such as the fascist Coalition States, also deliberately and actively work to limit how much technology anybody has (including their own member states) so as to maintain control. Lazlo would doubtless share more if they could, but they are already on the CS list of potential war targets and cannot be very missionary in spreading their way of life beyond their borders.

** There is a goo chance that said stone-age planet is home to an army of [[BioAugmentation transhuman]] SpaceMarines in PowerArmour wielding [[MoreDakka repeating grenade launchers]] and [[PowerFist matter-disrupting gauntlets]].

** The other races vary; the [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarves]] are on about the same level as the Empire, but with more efficient technology, while the [[RodentsOfUnusualSize Skaven]] have even more advanced technology, [[MadScientist but it doesn't work right very often]]. The rest of the factions are less technologically advanced to the point of making the Bretonnians look modern, but make up for it with [[FunctionalMagic magic]] and natural strength.

-->-- ''TheGrandListOfConsoleRolePlayingGameCliches''

More plausible is UsedFuture, where one area is able to maintain a relative level of sophistication [[AfterTheEnd After]] or JustBeforeTheEnd where others are reduced to tent villages. In these cases, advanced technology is ''known of'' by most, but becomes uncommon away from the advanced areas.

* In ''YuGiOh5Ds'', Neo Domino City is technological city where the rich and power reside, it is connected to Satellite a derelict city where Neo Domino throws its trash.

** Gotham also contains Decade Dissonance within ''itself'' - there are TV studios, computers and modern guns (right alongside Tommy Guns), but everyone drives 1930s cars and TV shows from maybe 10-15 years ago are in black and white.
*** In WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries, this was deliberately done to make the time period of the show difficult to pin down (and to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get real guns past the censors]]).
* Gyro Gearloose makes this possible in the Scrooge [=McDuck=] universe. The comics are set in a vague, 1960s-esque world, but the MadScientist is able to bring any and all technology that would otherwise not be available for the stories.
** And this even applies when the comics are clearly set in the present, as they tend to be if not by Creator/DonRosa. It would apply even if they were set in a realistic far future. Gyro Gearloose can create any kind of invention with no regard to whether it's actually possible.
* {{Bone}} takes place in a magic-fueled, monster-roamed medieval land, yet the three main characters come from a town that reportedly has an education system, advanced economy, industry and even ''nuclear power''. In order to, presumably, avoid distraction from the story, the technological differences between Boneville and the Valley are only used for side-jokes and don't play any role in the course of events... save for one major plot point.

* ''OryxAndCrake'' (Margaret Atwood) is set somewhere late in the 21st century, and shows present day trends of inequality taken to the extreme. The privileged few live in gated communities in comfortable settings, the majority live in the "Pleeb Lands" which are disadvantaged, violent (or at least perceived by the privileged as such), drug fueled and dependent on mass-produced technology that trickles down from the upper echelon.

* In Literature/TimeScout's depiction of VictorianLondon. Neighborhoods of opulent wealth are right next those of absolute squalor.
* In ThePendragonAdventure, the Milago and Bedoowan live within spitting distance of each other: the Milago live in small huts and shit in holes in the ground, while the Bedoowan castle has running water and uses naturally glowing stones to provide artificial light.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': implied in in Towers of Midnight, in [[spoiler: Aviendha's vision: the descendants of the Aiel are reduced to little more than savages, while the Lightmakers, descendants of the Seanchan, have "high-tech" equipment (they are building a railway through the desert and have some kind of shotgun). Justified because the Seanchan could benefit from the technological improvements that were popping up in Rand's academies, while the Aiel were almost hunted to extinction.]]
* Ringworld, justified by the fact the rimgworld is so large that there simply hasn't been enough time since the collapse of last really advanced ring world society, for tech like gun powder to spread very far.

** Bretonnia's status as an independent state in the face of an expansionist technological superpower is {{Justified|Trope}} for a number of reasons. First, the most mundane: there's a giant mountain range on the border between the two nations that makes moving armies between them difficult. Second, magic granted by the local goddess, the Lady of the Lake, make Bretonnian elite knights (the bread and butter of the Bretonnian army) ImmuneToBullets, thereby rendering the Empire's most effective weapon useless. Third, the Bretonnians have managed to domesticate the Pegasi which live in the mountains of Bretonnia and recruit Pegasus Knights in such numbers that the country effectively has an organised and powerful air force - in the Empire, meanwhile, Pegasi are exceedingly rare and really just a neat pet for the nobility. Finally, the absolute lack of technology and infrastructure in [[TheDungAges Bretonnia]] means that even ''if'' the Empire managed to successfully conquer them, they'd have monstrous logistical and economic problems - for a real world analogy, think the issues that faced West Germany when it was reunified with the much less economically prosperous East Germany [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheColdWar after being split for nearly 50 years]].

* There's plenty of this in ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'', where a rural community with no technology to speak of ([[SchizoTech save for a laser rifle or two gotten from somewhere else]]) can be less than 50 miles away from a large city full of people with mass communication, hover vehicles, [[GiantMecha giant robots]], and other futuristic gear. Not to mention communities built on magic. The "no tech sharing" angle is implicit with the [[TheEmpire Coalition States]]; they use their superior technology to lure in other communities, either through force, coercion, or more subtle methods. But it doesn't explain why benevolent places like [[TheFederation Lazlo]] aren't sharing the wealth.

** Same with ''RiseOfNations''. It's not impossible to find yourself using missile cruisers to screen your battleships from incoming fireships. Or rolling out tanks to take down a band of hostile musketeers. Or even reacting to your opponent inventing the ''petrol engine'' with an atomic strike on his capital.
** Similarly, ''EmpireEarth'' (especially with cheat codes) can have a human player reach the near-future epoch and send HumongousMecha against their opponents, who at best could be in Middle Ages. Unlike the above-mentioned ''Civilization'' example, the archers and knights on horseback aren't as effective against robots shooting lasers at them.

* The entire premise of ''ProjectEden'' for the PS2 is descending from the utopia on the top floors of the city, miles down to the slum. This is an example in a single city. The opening FMV shows a young child on the top floor balcony at a party dropping his teddybear and the fall is followed as the teddy falls through areas that are ever increasing with rust and tramps.
* ''[[ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura Arcanum]]'' deconstructed this. The reason that cities like Qintarra and Dernholm (the capital of Cumbria) have no advanced technology is because they rejected them in favor of using magic. Magic and technology do not work well together, so focusing on one or the other (or, as in Caladon, maintaining a careful balance between the two) is a choice a society needs to make. (For humans, focusing on magic to the exclusion of technology is a bad call; for elves, it's a necessity.)

* Subverted in ''GuildWars'' in that the African Elona and Nordic Norns is actually just AS advanced as the south American-seeming Krytans and European Ascalonians. Same with the Asian Cantha, and some even have their own technologies similar to others.

* Arguably the Mushroom Kingdom in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series. You've got towns and villages like Toad Town set firmly in the middle ages equivalent, then shiny futuristic cities like Mushroom City, Twilight City and various cities from the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' and ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series games with modern technology equivalents.

* Played extremely straight in ''TheSpiritEngine''. On one end of the country, you have Homestead, a very rural area stuck in MedievalStasis. On the other end, you have Silthea, which has ''tanks, high-tech copters, sentient AIs, military-grade robots and a hundred levels tall skyscraper''. Semi-justified in that the Frontier Corporation, which is responsible for pretty much 100% of technological progress, is seated in Silthea, employs all known scientists and doesn't care one whit for anywhere else. And that it's run by [[spoiler: a scientist who used to live in our world but was dimension-shifted due to an accident with a particle accelerator]].

* VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII has Esthar. The rest of the world is slightly behind the real world in most respects, with cars, machinery and television, but Esthar (besides ''looking'' very futuristic is much more technologically advanced, with floating public transit, advanced spaceflight, and the ability to cloak the whole city from the rest of the world... which helps explain why this technology never spread.

* ''JadeEmpire'' has a fairly extreme version, if believable. Towns out in the countryside look like ordinary ancient Chinese villages; at the capital city, though, everything is far more modern, down to having ''power lines''. Seems that the Empire [[TruthInTelevision just doesn't care about its outer provinces]].
* The ''SonicTheHedgehog'' series suffers from this. In ''Sonic Adventure 2'' the main city is clearly based on San Francisco with modern buildings and ordinary vehicles. Meanwhile in ''Sonic Heroes'' and ''Sonic Riders'' there are extremely futuricistic locales with flying cars, anti-gravity transporters, and buildings that'd look at home on [[StarWars Coruscant]]. And there's even tribal villages too. Whether the series is supposed to be set in the twentieth, twenty-first, or twenty-second century is a matter for debate, given that building a city-sized space station wasn't an obstacle 50 years before the series' present.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] repeatedly by the enforced MedievalStasis. Tethe'alla, as the flourishing world, has higher magitechnology levels than Sylvarant, and anything backed by Cruxis, in either world or on Derris-Kharlan, is even higher still on the scale, since they're the greater power that's keeping everyone else locked down.
* In ''The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure'', many of the people and locations in Saxton seem stalled in some previous decade. Antique radios and a blacksmith's workshop exist side by side with interactive video exhibits at the museum and loudspeakers at the faire. While several of the people turn out [[spoiler: to be ghosts who don't realize they're dead]], others' status is left ambiguous. {{Lampshaded}} when Nigel asks the barkeep what year it is, and never gets a straight answer.

* Though you never get to travel to Zzyzx in ''RuneFactory'' it maintains a presence in several of the games (especially the first) and is mentioned to be highly technologically advanced, even running an army of tanks against the town of Kardia, While all signs point to the fastest transport in Norad to be a horse drawn carriage. WordOfGod is that Zzyzx focused on technology while Norad focused on magic.

* The Casus Belli Republic from ''Literature/{{Lambda}}'' has PoweredArmour and HumongousMecha, while Soleil, the nearest up in the tech race, is still in the Age of Sail and muskets. This however, results from the fact that the Bellans as a race have low magical potential compared to the rest of the world, and so use what little they have to advance their technology to the top.

** Interestingly, however, cell phones are literally ''everywhere''; portable technologies have lesser infrastructure requirements, leading to cases of farmers riding donkeys to the rice paddy while chatting on their cell phones. Phones and mobile internet are also used for bill payment and tracking crops in developing nations (in some parts of Africa, transferable mobile phone minutes are used as currency substitute).

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* The TabletopGame/BattleTech universe applies this concept across a couple hundred worlds, with technological and industrial infrastructure destroyed by massive wars. Major worlds enjoy the use of starships, giant robots, cybernetics, faster-than-light communications, and worldwide computer networking, while many other planets fell to 19th-century lifestyles, with a starport or two and a FTL communications array somewhere on the planet so they aren't totally cut off.
** ''{{Traveller}}'' does this too, but as an analogy of the TruthInTelevision example above: the low-tech worlds still have access to more advanced technology, but the local industrial base isn't equipped to produce it so it has to be imported at extra cost. It's a similar situation in ''{{Series/Firefly}}'', which [[WordOfGod was not]] inspired by ''{{Traveller}}'' but you'd be forgiven for thinking it was.

* ''{{Ravenloft}}'' can be bad for this, with domains ranging from the Stone Age to a Psuedo-Victorian era. Granted it makes more sense when you realize each domain is snatched up from a different world, and some of the {{Dark Lord}}s tend to isolate their populations from the influence for multiple reasons. Also, the [[PowersThatBe Dark Powers]] are explicitly stated as inducing LaserGuidedAmnesia in the populations of various domains so that they do not question their surroundings and certain peculiar aspects thereof. For example, many darklords have lived for centuries and yet the general populace does not notice, much less connect it to the supernatural. The Dark Powers also apply PhlebotinumInducedStupidity in order to maintain the [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo]]. For example, Medieval warlord Vlad Drakov will always fight using weapons and tactics appropriate to his culture. Even though some nearby domains have things like firearms, [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim he will never adopt them]].

** The Hollow World CD&D setting has a similar patchwork feel to it, for pretty much the same reason: it was designed by the Immortals to preserve favorite cultures which were dying out on the planet's surface, and they used really powerful magic to make sure these cultures [[StatusQuoIsGod would neither mix nor change]].
* There's plenty of this in ''{{Rifts}}'', where a rural community with no technology to speak of ([[SchizoTech save for a laser rifle or two gotten from somewhere else]]) can be less than 50 miles away from a large city full of people with mass communication, hover vehicles, [[GiantMecha giant robots]], and other futuristic gear. Not to mention communities built on magic. The "no tech sharing" angle is implicit with the [[TheEmpire Coalition States]]; they use their superior technology to lure in other communities, either through force, coercion, or more subtle methods. But it doesn't explain why benevolent places like [[TheFederation Lazlo]] aren't sharing the wealth.

** ''{{Traveller}}'' does this too, but as an analogy of the TruthInTelevision example above: the low-tech worlds still have access to more advanced technology, but the local industrial base isn't equipped to produce it so it has to be imported at extra cost. It's a similar situation in ''{{Firefly}}'', which [[WordOfGod was not]] inspired by ''{{Traveller}}'' but you'd be forgiven for thinking it was.

** And this even applies when the comics are clearly set in the present, as they tend to be if not by Creator/DonRosa. It would apply even if they were set in a realistic far future. Gyro Gearloose can create any kind of [[strike:plot device]] invention with no regard to whether it's actually possible.

* The movie version of ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' does this (kind of) with ''style''. Most of the film is set in Creator/TimBurton's dark and bleak VictorianLondon, but when Sweeney has a flashback, the atmosphere becomes a bright and sunny 19th century version, and when Mrs. Lovett fantasizes about going to the sea with him, they are dressed in [[TheEdwardianEra Edwardian]] outfits and stroll along a sunny beach.

** Of course, Bretonnia is [[JustifiedTrope justified...]]
*** And not much justification is needed at that. Poland was still using what amounted to knights and irregular horse archers (admittedly supported by more modern contingents) by the mid 17th century. See the battle of Warsaw for a good example.
*** Well, it was a well-oiled fighting force, and usually matching their "more modern" opponents. And obviously, these opponents did not field clockwork horses or rocket artillery.

* ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' has its fictional MMORPG set in TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar. As a consequence, the futuristic-looking strongholds of the technology side are surrounded by the typical EuropeanMedievalFantasy landscapes. Renforced in the webseries, in which the capital is the only Empire stronghold ever shown.

** And this even applies when the comics are clearly set in the present, as they tend to be if not by DonRosa. It would apply even if they were set in a realistic far future. Gyro Gearloose can create any kind of [[strike:plot device]] invention with no regard to whether it's actually possible.

* The BattleTech universe applies this concept across a couple hundred worlds, with technological and industrial infrastructure destroyed by massive wars. Major worlds enjoy the use of starships, giant robots, cybernetics, faster-than-light communications, and worldwide computer networking, while many other planets fell to 19th-century lifestyles, with a starport or two and a FTL communications array somewhere on the planet so they aren't totally cut off.

** Another rather blatant example is the differences between South Korea and its neighbor North Korea. North Korea is sandwiched between South Korea and China, two industrial nations with healthy economies. In comparison, North Korea has literally zero electricity usage and infrastructure, and outside the capital, you'll only find farmland and military bases. To put things in perspective, [[http://tizona.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/north-korea-is-dark.jpg this is what North Korea looks like at night compared to its wealthier neighbors]].
* [[http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/detroit.asp This]] image of Makati, Philippines -- a economically booming city just outside Manila -- houses shacks next to gleaming skyscrapers, though the image is sometimes incorrectly identified as being UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}.