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This allows the study of history to be put on a much more scientific basis than has been possible in the past. This is because both what can happen in social and cultural history and the order of events are necessary and certain and become capable of rational explanation. They are not random or dependent upon human whim or decision making. This method of writing history could provide a new way of writing thesis, articles and books in history, sociology and anthropology.

The scheme of the book is that the book is divided into two parts and an appendix. Part I contains an outline of the theory and various examples used to illustrate the theory. Part II consists of a series of case studies covering some of the most important discoveries in human history and three more detailed studies designed to illustrate the ideas proposed in Part I of the book in greater detail. It makes particular use of counterfactuals to illustrate how, if the structure of the universe e.

It aims to show the theory explained in Part I of the book in a different way and from a different point of view. The appendix looks at a number of theories of history, social change and cultural evolution and discusses various deficiencies within them. The theories discussed are those that I consider to be reasonably similar to the theory proposed in Part I of this book.

Two words I have deliberately avoided in this book are teleological and socio-cultural. The idea I am proposing may appear to be teleological but only in a limited sense. It is teleological in the sense that we are heading to a definite end result, but we do not know what that end result is and that does not necessarily mean that human history is pre-determined in the sense of having a designer.

If people want to draw that conclusion that is fine, but the idea that we are headed to a definite but unknown end result, does not necessarily mean there is a designer. That would involve a leap of faith not inherent in the theory itself. The words socio-cultural have been avoided as I consider the social and cultural to be two different concepts that I prefer to keep apart, however I do not necessarily believe this has any practical effect on the theory proposed.

Human beings use the materials in their environment to meet their needs and increased human knowledge of the environment enables human needs to be meet in a more efficient manner. Human needs direct human research into particular areas and this provides a direction for historical, social and cultural development. The human environment has a particular structure and human beings have a particular place in it so that human knowledge of the environment is acquired in a particular order.

The simplest knowledge, or the knowledge closest to us, is acquired first and more complex knowledge, or knowledge further from us is acquired later. The order of discovery determines the course of human social and cultural history as knowledge of new and more efficient means of meeting human needs, results in new technology, which results in the development of new social and ideological systems. This means human history, or a major part of human history, had to follow a particular course, a course that is determined by the structure of the human environment.

An examination of the structure of the human environment will reveal the particular order in which our discoveries had to be made. Given that a certain level of knowledge will result in a particular type of society, it is possible to ascertain the types of societies that were inevitable in human history. While it is not possible to make predictions about the future course of human history, it is possible to explain and understand why human history has followed a particular path and why it had to follow that particular path.

This book is about the long-term changes that have occurred in human society. It is a macro history, or a substantive theory of history and a macrosociology and a theory of social change and cultural evolution that proposes a linear progression in human knowledge and technology as the underlying cause of much social, cultural and historical change.

It explains the cause of the progression and the consequences of the progression. It shows how and why humans in many environments have changed from being hunter-gatherers to being citizens of modern industrial states. It deals with the facts of scientific and technological discoveries and not with unsubstantiated or unsubstantiable speculations. It is not about events such as wars and the rise and fall of empires or dynasties, which are political events; rather it is about the intellectual and material conditions of humankind.

It deals with the social and cultural history of humankind and not with political and diplomatic history. A Terry Rambo states concerning cultural evolution: In the absence of such integration, the study of cultural evolution remains in a state not unlike that of paleontology before Darwin.

Temporal sequences were clearly evident in the fossil record but, without a plausible naturalistic mechanism to explain change, the Biblical flood was as believable an explanation as any other.

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The occurrence of cultural evolution is as much a fact as biological evolution, in that sequences of cultural forms can be shown beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt to exist in the archeological record. Not even Franz Boas doubted that hunting and gathering cultures preceded agricultural societies or that stone tools were invented before iron tools. In the absence of any convincing model of the causal processes that produce such temporal sequences, however, cultural evolutionism does not offer social scientists a coherent theory around which to organize further research.

It also shows how social and cultural change happens and how this explains the sequence of events in social and cultural history as sought by A Terry Rambo. The book shows that to a large extent social and cultural history follows a pre- determined and necessary path that can be analyzed and rationally understood and explained.

Most books on history just give a narrative describing how one thing followed another. This book describes why one thing followed another. This involves going into areas where historians do not usually go, for example into the areas of science such as the chemical structure of rocks and the melting and smelting points of metals and ores. It is this which enables us to state why the stone age was followed by the bronze age which was followed by the iron age.

The causes of social, cultural and historical change proposed involve a mixture of ideological, social and material factors. Ideological factors are involved in that new ideas will often be the driving force for change. Ideas such as that of systematic experimentation and the application of quantitative methods form the basis of modern science and are the ultimate causes of much of the scientific and technological change that has occurred since the seventeenth century. Social factors are involved in that change requires openness to new ideas and technology and the absence of institutions, which may try to suppress new ideas and technology.

Material factors are involved in that the particular technology available to a given society will have a powerful effect on the way in which its people live. However behind the ideology, social system and technology of any particular society is the level of knowledge of that society. A change in the level of knowledge of a society may change the state of a societies ideology, technology and social systems. It is however emphasized that human environment does not mean the natural environment such as climate, rivers, mountains and landscape but the structure of nature such as shown by the laws of physics, chemistry and biology and the properties of the materials in the natural world.

The aim of this book is to show the effect that the laws of physics, chemistry and biology and the properties of the particles, elements, compounds and mixtures that make up the world we live in, have on human history. It will show that the laws of the natural sciences and the properties of the substances in our world ensure that the course of human social and cultural history proceeded along a limited range of particular paths and that it could not follow any other paths. The theory proposed is based upon five concepts.

These concepts concern human needs and desires; the level of knowledge of the environment, available in particular societies; the order in which discoveries concerning the environment take place; the properties of matter that constitute the environment and the structure of the universe in which we live.

These five concepts are explained in detail later in this book but a brief explanation is appropriate here. It will be suggested that all societies have certain needs or desires and that they meet these needs by utilizing the resources in their environments. The ability to utilize those resources changes as their knowledge of their environment changes.

In particular they develop knowledge of the properties of the resources in their environment and how the resources in their environment can be used to meet human needs and desires. Human knowledge of the resources is dynamic; it changes over time. Greater knowledge of the properties of the resources in the environment allows new ways in which human needs can be meet by exploiting the resources in the environment. Our knowledge of our environment grows in a particular order; certain knowledge will inevitably be discovered before other knowledge.

The order of our discoveries about nature determines the order of technological change and scientific discoveries in human society. The order of our discoveries of both the properties and structure of nature depend upon the relationship between nature and us. We discover these things in an order from that which is closest to us, to that which is further away, or perhaps in an order from the simplest to the more complex.

It is the structure of the universe and our place in it, which determines the order in which our knowledge of nature will grow and this determines what technological and scientific options are available to meet our needs and desires. The theory proposed is a multi-lateral theory of human development. It recognizes that different cultures and societies live in different environments and so will develop in different ways. Societies in artic, mountainous, coastal and desert environments will develop different cultures. Societies in areas of mineral deposits may develop differently from those without such mineral deposits.

Societies in areas where large domesticable animals are present may develop differently from those without large domesticable animals. A societies religious beliefs may be quite arbitrarily chosen by the society and be quite uninfluenced by the particular environment within which the society lives. This book deals only with that part of human history, which changes due to changes in human knowledge. I have called that part of history, human social and cultural history, which is perhaps an imprecise description. When I refer to human social and cultural history, I mean that part of human history, that changes due to changes in human knowledge of the human environment.

This necessarily leaves out significant parts of human history, but it enables us to put what I call social and cultural history on a more rational and scientific basis. Human history obviously does change in a major way due to changes in human knowledge. These ideas and technologies were all based upon the acquisition of new knowledge, whether scientific or empirical, and those ideas and technologies have caused enormous changes in human history. This is not to say that all changes in human history are caused by changes in human knowledge. There are other causes of change in history notably decisions made by people in power that can cause great historical events.

However this book will only deal with changes in human society derived from changes in human knowledge of the human environment. Such changes tend to be cumulative and usually lead to linear changes in human history. Such change is usually not reversible as once knowledge is part of human culture it seldom seems to be lost. When it is lost it is usually due to changes in the human environment and such changes are rare because the behavior of materials in the natural world is usually consistent over time. There are a few example of cumulative change, derived from increasing human knowledge, being reversed such as soil exhaustion or climate change which could lead to an abandonment of agriculture or mineral exhaustion leading to an end of metallurgy.

Soil exhaustion or climate change may be the explanations for the abandonment of the Mayan and Zimbabwe civilizations. Knowledge may also be lost when societies become culturally isolated especially when the isolation is accompanied by low population as happened to the Australian aborigines living in Tasmania. While such occasions may have occurred in human history they are comparatively rare and are vastly disproportionate to the tendency for knowledge to accumulate in human societies. Change derived from increasing human knowledge, in other words, cumulative change can be contrasted with reversible change which can be defined as changes caused by human will and decision making.

Such changes are easily reversible, they can swing as easily one way as another, like a pendulum, as they are subject to human whim and decision making. Since the discovery of agriculture there has been a great area of civilization running from China and South East Asia, through India and the Middle East, North Africa and Europe which has been based on agriculture and which had metallurgy and writing.

During the thousands of years these societies have practiced agriculture they have not shown any indication of changing back to hunting and gathering or losing metallurgy and writing. Yet during those thousands of years there has been a constant rising and falling of empires, dynasties and change in religious beliefs.

In the Middle East the Babylonian Empire was replaced by the Assyrian which was replaced by the neo-Babylonian which fell to the Persians, who succumbed to Alexander the Great, whose empire divided into Hellenic states which were eventually conquered by the Romans. While all these empires came and went the practices of agriculture, writing and metallurgy and many other technologies and the social structures of the empires consisting of a small landowning elite, a large rural peasantry and small urban populations, remained. Rulers changed, depending on their military and diplomatic abilities and luck, but the technologies and social structure of the societies continued on.

The discovery of agriculture, metallurgy and writing are cumulative changes that are not easily reversed, whereas the rise and fall of empires, dynasties and religions is a matter subject to human decision making and can go one way or another depending upon human decisions and abilities. On the other hand cumulative changes tend to be based on matters such as efficiency or what is the best solution to a problem and those matters are given and are not subject to human decision making or whims.

We can of course choose to adopt the least efficient answer to a problem, but we do not normally do so. Cyclical theories of history will usually be based on and seek to explain reversible change in human history such as the rise and fall of empires. This book however deals only with cumulative change and does not attempt to explain reversible change.

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A summary of the ideas proposed in this book are: Human beings meet their needs by using the resources in their environment. Human beings have a limited knowledge of their environment. Human beings have the ability to learn and remember so their knowledge of their environment increases over time. As human knowledge of the environment increases, new ways of meeting human needs become available. If the new ways of meeting human needs are better than the old ways of meeting human needs they will be adopted and the old ways discarded.

The adoption of new ways of meeting human needs constitutes social and cultural change in itself, but also leads to further social and cultural change. The order of discovery of new means of meeting human needs follows a particular path from that which is more easily discovered to that which is more difficult to discover. Many discoveries require prior discoveries before the discovery can take place. This means there is a necessary order in the discoveries that constitute and cause social and cultural change.

The particular order in the discoveries means social and cultural change occurs in a particular order so that the sequence of social and cultural change is inevitable and is rationally understandable. If they are then the study of social and cultural history can be considered to be a science in the same way as biological evolution is. Social and cultural change derived from increasing human knowledge is not random and so can be scientifically understood.

We cannot predict the future of social and cultural change as we do not know what future discoveries we will make. This is analogous to biological evolution where changes in living species are unpredictable as we do not know what changes will occur in the environment of those species. However biological evolution does make changes in living species rationally understandable, just as an analysis of the order of discovery of the human environment makes social and cultural change rationally understandable.

Needs The starting point in this development is the human being itself. Human beings have the ability to learn and they have this ability above and beyond that of any other living species. This capacity is used to meet various human needs or desires. A consideration of human needs is necessary for two reasons.

First, human needs direct human interests and research into particular directions or areas. This direction in combination with the opportunities our environment allows us for meeting our needs sets the course of human historical development. Secondly, human needs are a requirement for the adoption of new inventions or ideas. They will not be adopted unless a need for them exists.

Human needs can be described in various ways. One such description is that of Abraham Maslow with his hierarchy of human needs. Maslow's needs ascended from basic physiological needs food, warmth, shelter to safety needs to be secure, safe, out of danger , to belongingness and love needs to be accepted, to belong , to esteem needs achievement, competence, respect from others , cognitive needs to know, understand, explain aesthetic needs beauty, symmetry, elegance to self-actualization to develop and explore oneself to the full. Nevertheless while individual exceptions can always be shown to Maslow's hierarchy and the exact order of the needs at the top level may be arguable there would seem to be considerable truth in his theory.

Just about all human beings in all cultures appear to desire food, warmth, shelter and safety and security. A sense of belongingness to groups and for the respect of others would also appear to be common to all societies. Equally all societies appear to have cognitive needs all societies have creation stories and aesthetic needs art.

An alternative set of needs could be the basic human needs such as for light, warmth, oxygen, food, moisture, sleep, and physical safety and such needs as for love and affection, the respect of others, self-respect, power either as a means of satisfying other needs or as an end in itself , material possessions and wealth either as means or end , the satisfaction of intellectual curiosity, peace of mind, aesthetic satisfaction, new experience or variability of experience and for creative opportunities. The list is not necessarily exhaustive and the needs are not necessarily found in every society or individual3.

Nevertheless such needs are found in nearly all societies and they provide a useful explanation for human exploitation of the environment. A further set of needs, arising from the human inclination to live in societies, are for systems of communication, production, distribution, defense, member replacement and social control. These needs are often called the functional requisites of societies and are universal needs existing in all human societies.

The needs expressed above are mainly universal needs present in all, or almost all, human cultures. However there are many needs that relate only to particular cultures. These needs however are usually derived from the universal needs. An example of this would be the need of mine owners in Britain in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to pump water out of mines. This may have been a need for a particular country at a particular time but this need related to a need for the goods that would be produced by the use of the coal and other minerals.

Those goods would have meet a universal need that would have been common to all cultures such as the production of food, shelter or warmth. Coal obviously can be used for warmth but it may also be used for the smelting of metals that may be used for the making of agricultural implements or the production of hammers and nails for the erection of buildings that would provide shelter from the elements. The fact that derived or relative needs can usually be related back to universal needs, suggests that the direction the universal needs provide to human knowledge and research will exist in all societies.

Human needs direct human attention in particular directions. Hunter-gatherers are well known as having a very considerable knowledge of the plants and animals in their environment. They know which plants are safe to eat, where they are likely to be found and when they are best to eat. They know the behavior of the animals in their environment, where they are most likely to be found and how to trap and kill them.

They would know where water is to be found in arid environments. Yet they would know little about the soils they walk on, the geology of the earth and have only a minimal knowledge of the seasons. Hunter—gatherers developed their knowledge of the plants, animals and water sources in their environments because they had a need for that knowledge.

However they would develop a considerable knowledge of what domesticated plants grow best in what soils, and if they have domesticated animals, how to care for and breed domestic animals. They would also have a considerable knowledge of the seasons and what is the best time to plant crops. The development of a calendar and the beginnings of a science of astronomy would be needed by an agrarian society to assist decisions as to when crops should be planted. An agrarian society will produce a surplus and need to record the amount and the whereabouts of the surplus.

This will result in a need for writing or some other record keeping system. The need to calculate the amount of the surplus, tax owed and areas of land lead to the development of mathematics. The need to protect the surplus and to maintain law and order lead to the development of governments, bureaucracy and armies. The need for trade lead to the development of improved sea and land transport, such as sailing ships and wheeled transport. Agrarian peoples developed their knowledge of agriculture and pastoralism, of calendars, astronomy, writing, mathematics and invented governments, bureaucracy, armies, sailing ships and wheeled transport because they had a need for such knowledge and inventions.

Industrial societies have their own set of needs. The agrarian farmers knowledge of agriculture and pastoralism would be replaced by a more scientific knowledge of agriculture involving analysis of soils and deliberate selective breeding of animals.

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Scientific and engineering knowledge would replace the empirical building and engineering knowledge of agrarian societies. Better observations of nature with improved instruments and techniques allowed accurate and rational whether true or not explanations of nature to replace the mythical and religious explanations of agrarian societies. Industrial societies develop their knowledge of science and engineering, as they are the means used in industrial societies to meet human needs. This shows how human needs, whether they be universal needs, or needs that exist in only one or some societies, focus human attention into certain areas, which involve the meeting of human needs.

We see little attempt to meet the needs of other species, we are profoundly human-centric. We do not attempt to feed or tend other animals unless we have an interest in the survival of those animals. We do not tend to engage in conduct that does not meet our needs. Conduct such as standing on our heads, sleeping 20 hours a day, praying to gods we do not believe exist, as opposed to those we do believe exist , eating food with no taste or nutritional value, betting on non-existent races, do not meet any human needs and so are not normally engaged in by human beings.

There is probably an infinite range of behavior that does not meet human needs and is consequently not engaged in by humans. The question of human needs was raised by George Bassalla4 when he repeats a question raised by V Gordon Childe "Did a reindeer hunter in 30, BC or an Ancient Egyptian in 3,BC or an ancient Briton in 30BC really need or want to travel a couple of hundred miles at 60mph?

Reindeer hunters, ancient Egyptians and Britons would have found such a vehicle enormously useful and if it were available they would certainly have used it. A reindeer hunter would have found his hunting much more successful if he was hunting from such a vehicle as he could easily out run his prey and the vehicle would be extremely useful for carrying the dead reindeer back to his camp.

Ancient Egyptians and Britons would use such a vehicle for the transport of agricultural produce or goods, for hunting, for communication purposes and for military purposes. Any society that has draught animals and the cart would find the vehicle referred to by Childe and Bassalla as simply an improved version of the animal and cart. Such a vehicle would have a valuable role in helping to meet the ultimate need of the provision of food.

The way in which the Native Americans in North America took advantage of horses as soon as they became available shows how hunter-gatherer societies were able to make use of much enhanced speed and mobility. Such a vehicle would simply be an example of technological diffusion, which often takes place. The use by third world countries of western technology, such as telephones and computers, is a further example of this. The question is not whether the technology is "appropriate" but whether it is useful and a vehicle traveling at 60 mph over hundreds of miles would be useful in all cultures other than those that have better vehicles.

The vehicle referred to by Childe and Bassalla would not of itself be a universal need, even though it would be a need in all cultures, but would assist in the meeting of universal needs such as assisting in the provision of food by hunting or the trading of goods, which could meet some universal need. The point is that many human needs are the same in all cultures. A major difference between cultures lies in the extent to which they are able to meet those needs. It is not however the case that just because a need exists, that it will be meet. It is also necessary that a means by which the need can be meet be known.

If a new idea or invention is to be adopted then usually three conditions must be met.

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The particular idea or invention must be the most economic or the most efficient way of meeting the need. The desire that needs be met in the most efficient manner possible shows consistently throughout history. Efficiency gains can take the form of increased output, or better quality output, or the same output for fewer inputs. In relation to ideas, the simplest explanation consistent with the known facts, is the most efficient and is the explanation usually adopted.

The importance of a need existing before an invention or idea is adopted is shown by those inventions and ideas that could have taken place at earlier times due to their being relatively simple developments, but did not take place until later times. Such ideas or inventions could have been made without great difficulty, due to all necessary prior inventions having already been made, and yet those ideas or inventions were not immediately made.

The reason for their discovery, when they were discovered, was that the need for the inventions before discovery was insufficient to justify the risk and expense of abandoning the existing practices and adopting the new invention or idea. In this situation the main determinate for when the discovery will be made is most likely to be when the need for the invention reaches a critical state, so that it becomes worthwhile to change the existing practices to adopt the new idea or invention.

There are a number of examples in history of inventions or ideas not being developed until a need arose. Prior to the development of double entry bookkeeping in Renaissance Italy, existing bookkeeping methods were adequate to record business activity. A considerable increase in trade meant that the existing bookkeeping methods were no longer adequate to cope with the increased business activity. The more sophisticated method of double-entry bookkeeping was then adopted to deal with the increasing level of business activity. A similar situation existed with the technological improvements carried out in the textile industry in Britain in the early industrial revolution.

They were relatively easy inventions and could be made by inventors with no special qualifications or training5. This suggests the timing of the inventions has more to do with market demand or a newly developed need that had not previously existed. It may be that increased demand, caused by increasing population and lower agricultural prices due to the agricultural revolution of eighteenth century Britain, required greater production than the cottage industry textile production of pre-industrial Britain could provide.

Improved transport from canals and better roads may have allowed textiles to be sold over a larger area, thus allowing a larger scale of production. The theory that it was population pressure that led to the development of agriculture is a needs based theory. This theory assumes that the knowledge required for agriculture was known to hunter-gatherers before the development of agriculture around 10, years ago.

Before that time hunting and gathering was preferred to agriculture as it was a better life style and agriculture was only adopted when the population pressure forced humankind to adopt agriculture which was a more productive food acquiring system than hunting and gathering. Human scientific and technological change requires the presence of both the knowledge as to how to make the change and the need for the change.

If either of these factors is absent then the change will not take place. However throughout the course of human history it can be observed that the factor most commonly lacking is the knowledge. This is because humans began with a full set of needs but with only a limited amount of knowledge, as knowledge, apart from that immediately available to our senses, is something that accumulates over time.

In comparison, we are born with a full set of needs, the universal needs found in all cultures and only relative needs have developed over time. This means that it is knowledge that is usually the missing factor in our attempts to find better and better means of meeting our needs. It is the discovery of knowledge, which is the ultimate cause of human technological and scientific change, and such change is at the root of all fundamental historical change, social change and cultural evolution.

What was necessary for this to happen? Obviously a knowledge of agricultural and pastoral practices and of the technology required for industrial society. Without this, the change from hunter gathering to farming and pastoralism and then to industrial society could not have taken place. The knowledge came from the capacity of humans to learn and from the human desire to meet certain needs in a better and more efficient manner.

The difference is that the knowledge of how to meet the needs in a better and more efficient manner has not always existed. It has gradually accumulated over time. It is the increasing knowledge that is present in the change from hunter gathering to farming and pastoralism and then to industrial societies, that is absent from the preceding society. The knowledge required for industrial societies was not available in agrarian and pastoralist societies and the knowledge of how to domesticate plants and animals was not known to pre-historic hunter-gatherers.

Yet many of the needs of hunter-gatherers are the same as for modern humans. Only the knowledge of how to meet those needs is different between the various types of societies and this can be used to explain many of the differences between those different types of societies. However the knowledge differences between those societies are not limited to knowledge of how to grow crops and herd animals and of various industrial processes. Agrarian societies usually have a knowledge of writing, metallurgy, transport e.

Equally industrial societies have a knowledge of scientific matters that does not normally exist in agrarian societies, except by diffusion, and in the one agrarian society modern science existed in, it was an agrarian society on the verge of turning into an industrial society. Indeed, it was the growth in the knowledge of science in Europe from the time of Galileo to the beginnings of the industrial revolution in late eighteenth century Britain that was the necessary precursor to the industrial revolution. These were changes in the technology used by humans but behind the changes in technology were changes in knowledge.

The idea that increasing human knowledge is a major cause of social, cultural and historical change can be traced back to Comte and J. Changes in human knowledge resulted from the basic nature of human beings. The human ability to learn, to understand, to remember and human curiosity plus a desire to meet human needs resulted in humans gradually learning more and more about their environment. While human beings have certain needs, those needs can only be meet to the extent allowed by the knowledge available in the particular society.

Originally human beings were hunter-gatherers, the same as our close relatives the great apes and all other animals. In common with some other animals humans have made tools to assist in their hunting and gathering. However such human beings were limited in their tool making capacity by their knowledge being restricted to the use of stone, bone and wood. Such wooden tools as may have been used in Paleolithic times have long since decayed. However the stone and bone tools do survive and provide a record of increasing sophistication and efficiency.

However not only did tools get more and more efficient as humans learnt to make better and better tools, but the range of tools available to humans also expanded considerably as human knowledge of the properties of the materials in the environment increased. There are two types of human knowledge that can be used to meet human needs. The first, which has been around as long as homo sapien-sapiens, is that of empirical experience, where humans have observed the results of certain behavior or processes. When certain behavior has produced a certain result in many cases in the past people have learnt that it will usually do so in the future.

Stone tool manufacturers learnt that certain stones, especially flint, when chipped a certain way would produce a sharp edge, without any knowledge of the chemical structure of the material they were dealing with. Equally early metal workers found they could shape metals and produce alloys, such as bronze, with no knowledge of why the metals behaved as they did. The other way in which knowledge can be used to meet human needs is by logical reasoning from scientific laws or knowledge. This is a recent phenomena existing only since science itself has existed. Modern inventions such as the internal combustion engine, television, radio, nuclear power and bombs arose partially or wholly from reasoning from scientific knowledge.

This use of human knowledge would now be the primary means of technological development in industrial societies, but empirical observation still retains a role in modern technology and perhaps an important role. Our knowledge of the environment does not include unsubstantiated speculations. Good guesses as to how our world is such as the atomic theory of the Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus, the heliocentric astronomy of Aristarchus of Samos and the suggestion by Giordano Bruno that the sun was a star did not constitute knowledge.

At the time these ideas were made, the evidence was against them, and they were not accepted at that time. Only ideas that are accepted constitute part of the knowledge of any given society. It can scarcely be of anything else. The objects in our environment, including ourselves, have certain properties which determine whether those objects are able to meet human needs or may be processed in such a way that they will meet human needs.

The nature of human biology determines where we live and what our needs are. We cannot fly or breathe under water, so we live on the surface of the earth. We have a need for fresh water and as water is a heavy item, relative to human strength, we have spent most of our history living close to supplies of fresh water.

We have a need for food and as this need is not as easily meet as other human needs, such as for oxygen, humans have spent a great deal of time and effort in searching for or growing food. It is only since the industrial revolution, in some societies, that the production of food has become a lesser part of human activity. However it is not just human biology that determines how we live. The biological nature of the plants and animals in our environment determines which we live on and which we do not. Some plants are poisonous to us and some animals are too fast for us to catch. However the wide range of food humans can consume has allowed humans to spread over the entire planet.

Some plants and animals may be relatively easy to domesticate, others cannot be domesticated at all. It is the property of some plants that they are capable of domestication that enabled the development of agriculture. Plants ideal for human consumption may be sown, fertilized, watered, protected from competing plants by weeding and will grow and provide the food necessary to feed human populations. Some animals may be domesticated and may serve as draught animals as well as their meat, hides and milk being utilized to meet human needs.

If plants and animals were incapable of domestication or, if domesticated, they were not able to meet human needs, then they would not have been domesticated and human history would be quite different. A further determinant of how humans live is the properties of non-living matter that makes up the human environment. It is because wood and flint can be easily manipulated and altered, by chipping in the case of flint and breaking or cutting in the case of wood and because they are hard and can be made sharp that they have been important materials for tools and weapons.

Materials such as bone and ivory have similar properties and have also been used for such purposes. It is the properties of some metals, such as hardness, malleability and that they can be mixed together to produce alloys, such as bronze and steel, that allowed them to supersede wood, flint, bone and ivory as the principal material for tools and weapons.

If these materials did not have the appropriate properties they would never have been used to make tools or weapons. It is the property of clay that it occurs naturally as a sticky but plastic lump and as a lumpy liquid. The structure of clay is that the particles of clay are flat and plate like and the addition of water enables them to slide over each other without breaking apart.

This enables clay to be formed into almost any shape, making it ideal for the creation of pottery. It is the properties of sand, soda and lime, when melted together that they will form an opaque or transparent substance, as desired, which we call glass. It is the properties of glass, that it can be transparent or colored and can be molded into different shapes, which makes it useful to meet human needs as windows, ornaments and vessels of various kinds.

It is also the particular properties of hides, wool, fur and cotton and other products that enable them to be fashioned into clothes capable of keeping people warm. If these products did not have those properties they would not have been used for the purpose for which they were used. If there were no products with the properties required for clothing then the area of human habitation of the planet would have been severely restricted to the warmer and temperate areas of the planet.

Certain products in the natural world are also used for the construction of buildings, most particularly, wood, stone, mud and bricks. It is because these materials are the most suitable materials available to create buildings and structures that they were used for those purposes. They have the right properties for use as building materials. If these materials had not existed or it was not possible to make them, then either other less suitable materials would have been used with less satisfactory buildings being created or if there were no suitable materials, then no "permanent" buildings would have been built.

The objects in our environment will be in a state of being a gas, a liquid or a solid. Gases have the property of being able to expand and fill any available space. Gas molecules are only loosely connected. They assert pressure on the wall of anything they are held in. If the container of the gas is reduced in size, the pressure of the gas on the container's walls will increase. If the size of the container is increased the gas pressure on the container walls will reduce. If the gas is heated, the gas pressure will also increase and the gas will expand if it can. If it cools the gas pressure will fall.

Hot expanding gas has been used to drive steam engines, to fire bullets, cannon balls and accelerate rockets. This is what caused the piston to rise in the early steam engines. It is also the property of gases that when their volume increases their pressure reduces so that as the piston rose the pressure of gas beneath the piston would fall. When the atmospheric pressure on the top of the piston is greater than the pressure beneath the piston, the piston will fall causing the gases beneath the piston to compress. This will cause the pressure underneath the piston to increase, which will cause the piston to rise again and so on.

It is this property of gases that they expand when heated and that their pressure falls when their volume rises and the pressure rises when their volume falls that made the early steam engines possible. Liquids have no fixed shape but do have a fixed volume. Liquid molecules slide over each other so as to fill any available space but they do not move as freely as gas molecules.

Solids have a fixed space and are more strongly bound together than liquids. Different solids tend to have different properties depending on their composition and structure. Solids such as metals, bones, computer chips and gemstones are crystals and have a regular array of atoms tightly packed together. Plastics are formed from long chains of molecules linked by carbon atoms while glass has a largely random structure. Whether matter is solid, liquid or a gas affects their properties, but each mixture, compound and element in nature has its own individual properties. Metals tend to have certain properties in common.

They conduct heat well; they have high electrical conductivity; they have high reflectivity and a shiny metallic luster; they are malleable and ductile; other than mercury they are solid at room temperatures and they emit electrons when exposed to high energy and heat. Nonmetals tend to be poor conducts of heat and electricity; they may be gas, liquids or solids at room temperature; when solid they tend to be brittle and fracture under stress.

Different metals of course have different properties. The density in g cm-3 of aluminum is 2. It is the low density or weight of aluminum that is the reason it is used in aircraft and space vehicles. It is the third most abundant element on the earth's surface so it is relatively inexpensive, and it is used for beer and soft drink cans and household utensils. Iron is also fairly common and its alloy steel, which is much stronger and harder than iron, is used in buildings, bridges, cars, machinery and in many other areas.

Copper was one of the first metals to be used by humans, as, with gold and silver, it exists on earth in its pure state so no smelting is required to release it from its ore. Furthermore when smelting was developed the low melting temperature of copper meant it was the first extensively used metal. Copper has a very high electrical conductivity and is soft and ductile so it can be drawn into thin wires and is widely used for electrical wiring. Lead has a low melting point and so is easily extracted from its ore. Due to this it has been used for a long time.

It was used by the Romans for lead pipes for the supply of water. These days lead is used for making batteries and in type metal and solder. Our environment has a particular structure as is revealed by the laws and facts of physics, chemistry and biology. Curved space time, gravity, the laws of motion, the structure of atoms, electro-magnetism, the chemical bonds between atoms, our biological and non-biological needs and our physical and mental capabilities all go to make up the structure of our environment.

Order of discovery Human knowledge of the properties and structure of nature is acquired in a particular order. Certain things will necessarily be discovered before other things. Fire had to be discovered before metallurgy, as it is a necessary part of the metallurgical process. Copper was inevitably the first metal to be extensively used by human beings as it has a relatively low melting point. This meant it could be more easily released from its ores and shaped and reshaped than other metals.

However the working of copper requires a furnace and molds so that inevitably it could only be done by a sedentary people. It is obviously not practicable for hunter-gatherers to carry round furnaces and molds. This meant that metallurgy could only develop after the domestication of plants and animals. The occasional example of sedentary hunter-gatherers, such as those on the north-west coast of America, do not seem to have developed metallurgy.

Copper is a soft metal which limits its uses; a much stronger metal, bronze, can be made by mixing copper with another metal such as tin. Inevitably bronze was discovered after copper, as the use of copper is a necessary part of the manufacture of bronze. Bronze could not be made without the earlier discovery of how to produce copper and tin. The next metal to come into common use was iron. This means a bellows is required to produce the necessary heat for the smelting and working of iron.

Inevitably the metals that cannot be worked without a bellows only came into common use after the invention of the bellows. They would also only come into common use at a later time than the use of such metals as copper and bronze, which did not require the use of bellows. Iron was followed by steel an alloy of iron and carbon. Obviously steel could not be made until after it had been discovered how to work iron, as iron is a necessary part of the production of steel.

Inevitably, the steam engine had to be invented before it could be given rotary motion, and it had to be given rotary motion before it could drive the new machinery being developed in the industrial revolution and steam locomotives and ships. The sedentary lifestyles produced by the agricultural revolution were a necessary part of a great host of scientific and technological discoveries.

Permanent buildings, metallurgy and writing are just three of the more important developments that would not have happened without the prior development of sedentism. The domestication of animals was a necessary pre-condition to developments such as wheeled transport and plough agriculture. The discovery that the earth and other planets orbit the sun could not be made, or at least confirmed, without the prior invention of the telescope. Without the telescope there would have been insufficient information about the movement of extra-terrestrial bodies to support the helio- centric theory.

The development of more complex mathematics such as calculus and differential equations was necessarily dependent upon the earlier development of number systems and simple operations such as addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. Rather than hide your distinctive appearance, you exult in it. Independent and self-reliant, genasi tend Nearly all fire genasi are feverishly hot as if burning toward a neutral alignment.

The more human-looking Size. Genasi are as varied as their mortal parents have fiery red hair that writhes under extreme emotion, while more exotic specimens sport actual flames but are generally built like humans, standing anywhere dancing on their heads. Fire genasi voices might sound from 5 feet to over 6 feet tall. Your base walking speed is 30 feet. You can speak, read, and write Common and Primordial. Primordial is a guttural language, filled with harsh syllables and hard consonants. Choose one of these subraces. Your Intelligence score Goliaths thus place a premium on self-sufficiency and increases by 1.

They have a compulsion to keep score, counting their deeds and tallying their accomplishments Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of to compare to others. Goliaths love to win, but they see you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were defeat as a prod to improve their skills. Your ties to the Elemental Plane of Fire make your darkvision unusual: Goliaths are ferocious competitors, but above all else they are driven to outdo their past efforts.

If a goliath Fire Resistance. You have resistance to fire damage. You know the produce flame powerful wyrm to battle. Few goliath adventurers reach cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the old age, as most die attempting to surpass their past burning hands spell once with this trait as a 1st-level accomplishments. Constitution is your spellcasting Fair Play ability for these spells. For goliaths, competition exists only when it is Water Genasi supported by a level playing field. Competition measures talent, dedication, and effort. Those factors determine The lapping of waves, the spray of sea foam on the wind, survival in their home territory, not reliance on magic the ocean depths—all of these things call to your heart.

Goliaths happily rely on such though others might consider you selfish. A goliath who relies Most water genasi look as if they just finished bathing, too much on them can grow complacent, a recipe for with beads of moisture collecting on their skin and hair.

They smell of fresh rain and clean water. Blue or green skin is common, and most have somewhat overlarge This trait manifests most strongly when goliaths eyes, blue-black in color. The relationship between float freely, swaying and waving as if underwater. Some peasants and nobles puzzles goliaths. If a king lacks the have voices with undertones reminiscent of whale song intelligence or leadership to lead, then clearly the most or trickling streams. Goliaths rarely keep such opinions to themselves, and Ability Score Increase. You have resistance to acid damage.

Survival of the Fittest Amphibious. You can breathe air and water. You have a swimming speed of 30 feet. You know the shape water cantrip tribe is expelled. A lone goliath has little chance of see chapter 2. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast survival, especially an older or weaker one. Constitution is your treated, as a result of the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured goliath is still expected to pull Goliath his or her weight in the tribe.

Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the goliath slips away in At the highest mountain peaks—far above the slopes the night to seek the cold will of fate. Few folk can In some ways, the goliath drive to outdo themselves claim to have seen a goliath, and fewer still can claim feeds into the grim inevitability of their decline and friendship with them.

Goliaths wander a bleak realm death. A goliath would much rather die in battle, at the of rock, wind, and cold. Their bodies look as if they peak of strength and skill, than endure the slow decay of are carved from mountain stone and give them great old age.

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Few folk have ever meet an elderly goliath, and physical power. Their spirits take after the wandering even those goliaths who have left their people grapple wind, making them nomads who wander from peak with the urge to give up their lives as their physical to peak. Their hearts are infused with the cold regard skills decay. Because of their risk-taking, goliath tribes suffer from a chronic lack of the experience offered by long- Driven Competitors term leaders. They hope for innate wisdom in their leadership, for they can rarely count on a wisdom Every day brings a new challenge to a goliath.

Food, grown with age. Goliath Names Constitution modifier to the number rolled, and reduce the damage by that total. After you use this trait, you Every goliath has three names: You count as one size larger when birth name is up to three syllables long. Clan names are determining your carrying capacity and the weight you five syllables or more and end in a vowel. Birth names are rarely linked to gender.

Goliaths see Mountain Born.

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It refers to a notable deed, either a success or failure, committed by the goliath. Goliaths present all three names when identifying themselves, in the order of birth name, nickname, and clan name. In casual conversation, they use their nickname. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1. Goliaths have lifespans comparable to humans. They enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century. Goliath society, with its clear roles and tasks, has a strong lawful bent.

The goliath sense of fairness, balanced with an emphasis on self- sufficiency and personal accountability, pushes them toward neutrality. Goliaths are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between and pounds. You have proficiency in the Athletics skill. You can focus yourself to occasionally shrug off injury. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to roll a d The spells provide various Skywrite transmutation, ritual ways to harness the power of the Warding wind evocation four elements. Wall of water evocation Spell Lists 4th Level The following spell lists show which of the new spells Elemental bane transmutation are for a class.

If a spell can be cast as a ritual, the ritual tag also appears within the 5th Level parentheses. For example, if your druid is from a coastal region, the druid might have access only to the Absorb elements abjuration new water-themed spells. Until the 15 spell ends, the link is active while you and the beast are The spells are presented in alphabetical order. While the link is active, 8th-level necromancy the beast gains advantage on attack rolls against any creature within 5 feet of you that you can see.

V, S, M a bit of sponge Duration: Instantaneous 6th-level transmutation You draw the moisture from every creature in a foot Casting Time: Instantaneous plants and water elementals make this saving throw with disadvantage. A creature takes 10d8 necrotic You cause up to six pillars of stone to burst from places damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a on the ground that you can see within range.

Each pillar successful one. The ground where a pillar appears must Absorb Elements be wide enough for its diameter, and you can target ground under a creature if that creature is Medium or 1st-level abjuration smaller. Each pillar has AC 5 and 30 hit points. When reduced to 0 hit points, a pillar crumbles into rubble, Casting Time: The rubble lasts until cleared. Self If a pillar is created under a creature, that creature Components: S must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be lifted by Duration: A creature can choose to fail the save.

The spell captures some of the incoming energy, If a pillar is prevented from reaching its full height lessening its effect on you and storing it for your next because of a ceiling or other obstacle, a creature melee attack. You have resistance to the triggering on the pillar takes 6d6 bludgeoning damage and is damage type until the start of your next turn. Also, the restrained, pinched between the pillar and the obstacle. On a success, the creature is no longer restrained and must either move At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using off the pillar or fall off it.

S A line of roaring flame 30 feet long and 5 feet wide Duration: Instantaneous emanates from you in a direction you choose. Each creature in the line must make a Dexterity saving throw. The object flies in a half as much damage on a successful one. When you cast this spell using a against a solid surface. If the object would strike a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by creature, that creature must make a Dexterity saving 1d8 for each slot level above 2nd.

On a failed save, the object strikes the target and stops moving. In either case, both the object and the Beast Bond creature or solid surface take 3d8 bludgeoning damage. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the maximum weight of Casting Time: Touch pounds, and the damage increases by 1d8, for each slot Components: V, S, M a bit of fur wrapped in a cloth level above 1st. Concentration, up to 10 minutes Chapter 2 Spells You establish a telepathic link with one beast you touch that is friendly to you or charmed by you.

The You create a bonfire on ground that you can see within change lasts for 1 hour. Until the spells ends, the bonfire fills a 5-foot cube. A creature must also make the within the flames and animate as you like. Instantaneous or 1 hour see below Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour You choose nonmagical flame that you can see within You take control of the air in a foot cube that you range and that fits within a 5-foot cube.

You affect it in can see within range. Choose one of the following one of the following ways: A wind picks up within the cube, continually blowing in a horizontal direction that you choose. Earth Tremor You choose the intensity of the wind: If the wind is moderate or strong, ranged 1st-level evocation weapon attacks that pass through it or that are made against targets within the cube have disadvantage on Casting Time: If the wind is strong, any creature Range: Self foot radius moving against the wind must spend 1 extra foot of Components: V, S movement for each foot moved.

You cause a sustained blast of strong You cause a tremor in the ground in a foot radius. Each creature other than you in that area must make Ranged weapon attacks that pass through the cube a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature or that are made against targets within it have takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage and is knocked prone.

A creature must If the ground in that area is loose earth or stone, it make a Strength saving throw if it flies into the cube for becomes difficult terrain until cleared. On a failed save, the creature is knocked prone. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by Updraft. You cause a sustained updraft within the 1d6 for each slot level above 1st.

Creatures that end a fall within the cube take only half Elemental Bane damage from the fall. When a creature in the cube makes a vertical jump, the creature can jump up to 10 4th-level transmutation feet higher than normal. V, S 2nd-level conjuration Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute Casting Time: V, S, M a pinch of dust fire, lightning, or thunder.

The target must succeed on Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute a Constitution saving throw or be affected by the spell for its duration. The first time each turn the affected Choose an unoccupied 5-foot cube of air that you can target takes damage of the chosen type, the target see within range.

An elemental force that resembles takes an extra 2d6 damage of that type. Any creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using dust devil must make a Strength saving throw. On a a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can target one failed save, the creature takes 1d8 bludgeoning damage additional creature for each slot level above 4th. The and is pushed 10 feet away. As a bonus action, you can move the dust devil up to Erupting Earth 30 feet in any direction. If the dust devil moves over sand, dust, loose dirt, or small gravel, it sucks up the 3rd-level transmutation material and forms a foot-radius cloud of debris around itself that lasts until the start of your next turn.

When you cast this spell using a Duration: Instantaneous spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 2nd.

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Choose a point you can see on the ground within range. A fountain of churned earth and stone erupts in Earthbind a foot cube centered on that point. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw. A 2nd-level transmutation creature takes 3d12 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Each 5-foot-square portion of Components: V the area requires at least 1 minute to clear by hand.

Concentration, up to 1 minute At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a Choose one creature you can see within range. Yellow spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by strips of magical energy loop around the creature. The 1d12 for each slot level above 2nd. Concentration, up to 1 hour Duration: Instantaneous You cause numbing frost to form on one creature that You touch a quiver containing arrows or bolts. When you can see within range.

The target must make a a target is hit by a ranged weapon attack using a piece Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target of ammunition drawn from the quiver, the target takes takes 1d6 cold damage, and it has disadvantage on an extra 1d6 fire damage. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the number of pieces of Chapter 2 Spells ammunition you can affect with this spell increases by two for each slot level above 3rd. Concentration, up to 10 minutes You seize the air and compel it to create one of the Flames race across your body, shedding bright light in following effects at a point you can see within range: The object is pushed up to 10 first time on a turn or ends its turn there takes 1d10 feet away from you.

Each creature in the line must make your clothing to ripple in a breeze. A creature takes 4d8 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a Ice Knife successful one. S, M a drop of water or piece of ice Casting Time: V, S You create a shard of ice and fling it at one creature Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes within range. Make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 piercing damage. Until the spell ends, ice rimes your body, and you gain Hit or miss, the shard then explodes.

The target and the following benefits: The radius moves with you. Each creature in the cone Components: V must make a Constitution saving throw. Concentration, up to 1 minute takes 4d6 cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that Flames wreathe one creature you can see within range. It until the start of your next turn. The burning target sheds bright light in a foot radius and dim light for 6th-level transmutation an additional 30 feet. At the end of each of its turns, the target repeats the saving throw. It takes 3d6 fire damage Casting Time: V, S nonmagical means.

Concentration, up to 10 minutes If damage from this spell reduces a target to 0 hit Until the spell ends, bits of rock spread across your points, the target is turned to ash. Other creatures on that ground must succeed on a someone else attacks with the pebble, that attacker adds Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone. On a hit, the target takes bludgeoning or stone without spending extra movement.

If you do so, you are ejected to the If you cast this spell again, the spell ends early on any nearest unoccupied space, this spell ends, and you are pebbles still affected by it. V, S, M a miniature hand sculpted Components: Concentration, up to 10 minutes from clay Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute Until the spell ends, wind whirls around you, and you gain the following benefits: You choose a 5-foot-square unoccupied space on the ground that you can see within range.

The target must make a Strength saving throw.

It takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage on a failed 60 feet of you. Each creature in that area must make save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature takes 2d10 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much To break out, the restrained target can make a damage on a successful one. If a Large or smaller Strength check against your spell save DC. On a creature fails the save, that creature is also pushed up success, the target escapes and is no longer restrained to 10 feet away from the center of the cube.

Maelstrom As an action, you can cause the hand to reach for a different creature or to move to a different unoccupied 5th-level evocation space within range. The hand releases a restrained target if you do either. V, S, M paper or leaf in the shape of 3rd-level evocation a funnel Duration: Self A mass of 5-foot-deep water appears and swirls in a Components: V, S, M niter, sulfur, and pine tar formed foot radius centered on a point you can see within range.

The point must be on ground or in a body of into a bead water. Until the spell ends, that area is difficult terrain, Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes and any creature that starts its turn there must succeed on a Strength saving throw or take 6d6 bludgeoning You create six tiny meteors in your space. They float damage and be pulled 10 feet toward the center. When you cast the spell—and as a bonus action on each of Magic Stone your turns thereafter—you can expend one or two of the meteors, sending them streaking toward a point Transmutation cantrip or points you choose within feet of you.

Once a meteor reaches its destination or impacts against a solid Casting Time: Each creature within 5 Range: Touch feet of the point where the meteor explodes must make Components: V, S a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 2d6 fire Duration: You touch one to three pebbles and imbue them with magic. You or someone else can make a ranged spell At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a attack with one of the pebbles by throwing it or hurling spell slot of 4th level or higher, the number of meteors it with a sling.

If thrown, it has a range of 60 feet. If created increases by two for each slot level above 3rd. Instantaneous or 1 hour see below You choose a portion of dirt or stone that you can see You choose an area of water that you can see within within range and that fits within a 5-foot cube.

You range and that fits within a 5-foot cube. You manipulate manipulate it in one of the following ways: This change ing patterns. The changes last for 1 hour. The water cause it to become difficult terrain. Alternatively, you must be changed in the same way throughout. This can cause the ground to become normal terrain if it is change lasts for 1 hour. This change lasts for 1 hour. The water unfreezes in 1 hour. If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have no more than two of its non-instantaneous effects active at Primordial Ward a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.

When you take damage of one of those types, you can use your reaction to gain immunity to that type of damage, including against the triggering damage. If you do so, the resistances end, and you have the immunity until the end of your next turn, at which time the spell ends. Pyrotechnics 2nd-level transmutation Casting Time: Instantaneous Choose an area of flame that you can see and that can fit within a 5-foot cube within range. You can extinguish the fire in that area, and you create either fireworks or smoke.

The target explodes with a dazzling display of colors. Each creature within 10 feet of the target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or become blinded until the end of your next turn. Thick black smoke spreads out from the target in a foot radius, moving around corners. The area of the smoke is heavily obscured. The smoke persists for 1 minute or until a strong wind disperses it.

Skywrite Thunderclap 2nd-level transmutation ritual Evocation cantrip Casting Time: Self 5-foot radius Components: Instantaneous You cause up to ten words to form in a part of the sky You create a burst of thunderous sound, which can you can see. The words appear to be made of cloud be heard feet away. The words you within 5 feet of you must make a Constitution dissipate when the spell ends. A strong wind can saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 1d6 disperse the clouds and end the spell early.

V, S, M a piece of ice or a small white Casting Time: V, S, M a drop of water Duration: Instantaneous A flurry of magic snowballs erupts from a point you choose within range. Each creature in a 5-foot-radius You conjure up a wave of water that crashes down on an sphere centered on that point must make a Dexterity area within range. The area can be up to 30 feet long, saving throw. A creature takes 3d6 cold damage on a up to 10 feet wide, and up to 10 feet tall. Each creature failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

On a failure, a creature takes 4d8 bludgeoning damage and At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a is knocked prone. The water 1d6 for each slot level above 2nd. V, S Casting Time: Concentration, up to 1 minute Range: V, S, M clay and water A foot-radius sphere of whirling air springs into Duration: