Before I begin the Timeline divergences I must inform you distinguished readers of how I am able to observe my world, even though I am stranded here in your universe.
First off I was able to cobble together an Ætheric telescope from the remnants of my Difference and Analytical engines that brought me here in the first place. What the telescope does is use the Æther to pierce the veil of Ætheric energy that separates the collection of diverse realities in God's Creation.
Unfortunately, my Difference & Analytical Engines were so damaged that the telescope is of limited capability. It can only capture a snapshot of my world once a variable amount of time has passed in my plane of existence.
Alas, due to this fact my timeline revelations will not be as accurate as I would wish it to be.
Be that as it may, let us begin this sojourn of discovery...
1260:
Roger Bacon was the first scientist on my world to discover how the Æther interacts with various disciplines that we now call Mechanology. The first discipline that was discovered was Æthernautics.
It was discovered when Bacon used an unknown form of energy that he had discovered to cause a metal sphere to spin when he fed it the energy. All disciplines of Mechanology function in this fashion, as an interaction with the Æther.
Disciplinarions are what the practioners of Mechanology were first called. Now they are called Inventors, and to be classified as an Inventor the person must harness the Æther to achieve a task.
The more difficult the task the more complex the interaction with the Æther will be. In practice this is very much like the technology of your world. The methods of those interactions are repeatable and can be extrapolated from earlier experiments.
Mechanology is very much akin to your science, even though the underlying principles of Technology and Mechanology relies on very differing universal mechanics. As an example in the world of the United States of Vespuccia technological inventors are still able to create such things as trains, weapons, and telegraph stations.
Godspeed, Silas
Godspeed, Silas