[@Pirouette]

steel wasn't invented all that long after iron smithing. it's just it wasn't KNOWINGLY invented until early-mid dark ages. The tech level in that particular universe is (to put it in terran terms) in the grey area where iron and bronze were both still being used. The trixy bit about this universe is that not only does it have infinite parallel universe, but it also, simultaneously has those same parallel universes in three different ages.