Whenever I Think About Advancement Of The Elves Compared To Real Life Human Technological Advancement,

Whenever I think about advancement of the elves compared to real life human technological advancement, I feel like it's an unfair comparison. Like wifi? Kind of useless when you can just say someone's name and out pops a circle that projects their image like a video call. Same issue with phones too. Cars? They have magic. They'll have hovercars before us even if their technological(not magical) advancement level is behind us.

Arthur C. Clarke may have said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” in the context of sci-fi, but I feel like high fantasy should take advantage of thinking more on how naturally occurring magic would impact technological advancement. Maybe technological advancement is not worth it when there's widely useable spells at everyone's fingertips, maybe technological advancement only happens to make lives more convenient and slowly but surely magic usage dies out in favour of tech, maybe people invent things for fun but never use them for practical purposes, maybe magic drives advancement so that it's completely incomparable to human tech.

Too much thinking for me and thinking too much on technology kills the high fantasy for me, but maybe it doesn't to others. Maybe high science fantasy is or will become a thing in the future and future writers are more willing to delve into magical advancement vs nonmagical advancement.

Oversimplified(?) Elvaria Lore- Part 4, Kingdom History(Key Points, Major Kingdoms A-F)

Åskorhal-

N/A shit doesn't really happen there

Avianaen- War of Bloodied Storm

So during the early Minor Wars era they had their own shit The Sky Lords were their leaders, being Aenirel, Lord of Rain, Enthivar, the Dragon Lord, Ilravoin, the Traveling Lord, and Thiroaven, the Lord of High Clouds They were basically viewed as divinity and were powerful enough to be seen as such, having forgotten their roots as elves and were really more like elementals. Thiroaven was the most respected of the bunch since he was basically viewed as the embodiment of the sky But of course, as they were still elves by soul, they still knew greed. Aenirel, Enthivar, and Ilravoin could keep their act together for the good of the new Avianaens, but Thiroaven could never settle for his reach being limited only to the air-lands of Syklari So yeah he betrayed everyone and tried to kill the other Sky Lords so he could hold sole control and scheme from there Whole war broke out and it ended with all the Sky Lords being dead and the Avianaens are still trying to figure out their purpose to this day since they feel lost without the leadership of the Sky Lords Since then they've created the Triumvirate of the Skyborne with three seats to represent the three Sky Lords that remained noble, and these seats are held by the priest families that once stood by their sides

Dalirna- Origins of the Nalgira and the Weathermagi

There was a very minor(?) crisis where when Dalirna was first established, some mages tried to make the deserts more habitable and made whole squadrons for it creating a new type of mage called Weathermagi(pre-Fall they imbibed pillars to deal with weather) That backfired pretty badly, and they're the reason why all the cities have to be covered by an Asurei barrier at all times because of the frequent strong sandstorms created from fucking around with the environment Some of those squadron members had their new magic backfire on themselves because no one was quite used to elemental energies yet, so they became poisoned by their own magic and mutated to become Nalgira which were not very intelligent but had very chaotic magic So that's the story of how Dalirnans figured out that even though they have better Asurei adeptness than the other surface kingdoms, they're also the most susceptible to being poisoned by it(compared to Lustariseans that are basically the masters of it and also immune(as far as they know) to the radiation-like effects of being exposed to too much of it) Any Nalgira that are discovered have their magic sealed off and sent to the desert to eek out a living and it's generally considered a crime against public safety to try to keep a relative that turned into a Nalgira in your house, especially if you live in a city

Weathermagi still exist to control weather and they're better at it, but generally the duties rely on elemental magic more than pure Asurei so it's left to Zodianans and Avianaens

Flaerna- The Ligniar Elthir and Tale of Asharena, The Warrior of Earthen Flame

Shit happened When the Solarian survivors of The Fall were figuring out life in the new fiery hellscape of Emorscal, on top of trying to understand their new fire magic, they had to deal with primordial giants(not the same as elementals) coming out of volcanoes that would terrorize the new towns The most powerful ones were coming from the volcano at the center of the land and it seemed to have some sort of "core" that was triggering the birth of more giants in the other volcanoes In underground caves it was less bad, they found half elves(hey it's the surviving pockets of elves post-Fall) that were like coal, and the half elves were willing to help from a shared sense of kinship They were skilled at making do, but mostly kept to the underground since they were very physically fragile and prone to burning out their lifespans whenever they used magic

The new Flaernans initially tried to fight back against the giants with the help of the coal half elves and had scrounged out a military to cull the giant population, with the charge being lead by a young Flaernan named Asharena Zhirkiyen

This lasted for about two centuries and as people got more desperate, the coal half elves were basically taken out of their caves and enslaved to become conscripted soldiers despite their physical constitutions being naturally terrible The Flaernans were considering leaving and moving to the surface of Cevris Atsal or joining the Dalirnans out of fear that no one could solve the giant problem, but Asharena got sick of the giants' shit and decided to charge into the central volcano alone to break the core, basically burning herself from the inside by letting her fire magic burn up her lifespan in exchange for power to charge through many giants and surviving plunging into pure elemental energy for just long enough to destroy the core surrounded by infused lava

The remaining giants would begin to crumble in the week after and the central volcano would become dormant, then solidify and be nothing more than a big hole in the ground

Asharena would be celebrated as the first warrior of Flaerna and become an example of duty to the kingdom and courage to the people that came after, with the city of Embylviska being established in the former central volcano No remains were ever found, so it's believed by everyone that her bones burned up in the lava and her soul became part of the land to watch over the kingdom

As for the coal half elves, only the Flaernans ever knew they existed, and they don't talk about it as it's considered a shame upon their history. The half elves themselves died out during the war against the giants

Floernia- The Tale of Lynaea and Cirania, the Speaker of the Forests

Okay they have less problems than Flaerna

So Cirania, a Dysheraln, lead the group of survivors to what would become Floernia out of benevolence, but the other Dysheraln did not respond so kindly Nature does not forget, and the memories of the Dak-Shan never faded. Cirania was willing to set aside the old grievances between the elves and Dysheraln, but the others felt that the elves culling Dak-Shan when the Dust Era ended, the Fall destroying land and rearranging continents, then the fallout poisoning the world with new elemental energies were all slights against them

Some of the Dysheraln, out of respect for Cirania, would move into isolation so they would not have to suck up to elves but also not be able to cause them harm Some of the other Dysheraln held onto the old hatred and would wage war with the new Floernians when they tried to settle in the forests A few were willing to set aside the past and actively ally with or at least advocate for the Floernians to the vengeful Dysheraln, but they'd be socially ostracized by the other Dysheraln

Now is there another war? No actually which is probably shocking

So even though the Dysheraln are technically not elementals(at the same time they kinda are, but are counted as half-elementals), they have their own little realm limited to a little half-plane above the land of Floernia and there's two big trees, The Ebon Cypress and The Cedar of Life The Ebon Cypress is what dictates natural death for the Dysheraln, and each of them that passes grows another branch upon the tree The Cedar of Life is what dictates the birth of Dysheraln and memories of nature Now this realm is supposed to be just pure nature, but the long forgotten past that even nature does not remember comes back to haunt them

So the Ebon Cypress actually doesn't do much load bearing, the Cedar does which means it's also more prone to problems Usually these problems are fixable, but this time it was hidden darkness that spread in the core of the tree and spread this darkness into the cores of the Dysheraln This darkness has always existed but never really spread until now, and it stored the malice from the memories of the past which became contagious and was why many Dysheraln could not move on

The new Floernians were told this by Cirania, who despite her great power was not immune to such corruption either, and all of them would gather to use their newfound control over nature to create a birch seed enchanted with their goodwill, with the nicer Dysheraln joining them to teach them how to keep the magic stable

As the malice continued to bleed into the wills of the Dysheraln, it was found that the process would accelerate if a Dysheraln was in the realm compared to outside of it, so many would remain in Floernia and didn't dare to venture into it Floernians that tried to go in were drained of their very essence by the trees as they were not elementals in any way, so some of the Dysheraln would choose to "reproduce" with some willing Floernians by pouring their essence into a pregnant Floernian, which would lead to the births of the Nynphor, a new variant of half elves that were free from the binds of the Cedar and Cypress and could also withstand their power better than Floernians could

As they grew up, Lynaea would be marked among them as the one with the most potential to bring the birch seed to the trees and plant it between them to purify the corruptive malice, as she was one that gave love and kindness freely even to a bitter darkness

When she was a century old, she took on the birch seed and acknowledged that she would likely not come back, with Cirania following her to guide her to the space between the Cedar and Cypress

Though the draining properties of the trees made her weaker with each step, she powered through and would clutch the seed closely, using her essence to plant the seed and allow it to take root from her own goodwill Cirania would sacrifice herself and become a shell for Lynaea's essence and the seed to protect them from the corruption for as long as it took to reach the roots of the Cedar, and thus would begin the process of the reversal of the corruption

Lynaea would never come back, but the Dysheraln knew her and Cirania's sacrifice as they felt the darkness that clouded their wills dissipate, and the majority of them would gradually return to their realms with the ones remaining choosing to tolerate the Floernians

The Nynphor still exist as the symbol of goodwill between the Dysheraln and Floernians, and the names of Lynaea and Cirania are still celebrated every thousand years as the ones that brought peace and unity

Föllen Alatsa- The Cave of Bloodied Quartz

No long story I swear So during the Ember War, there was a cave that was mined into and it was filled with bright red quartz that glowed and had an ominous feeling to them People that saw the crystals felt sickened on sight and could not be in their presence for very long Some people thought that these crystals had a new source of power and went in, and basically found out that those crystals are like an elaborate system of magical parasites and drove people mad if exposed to them for a long enough time in high amounts The cave was quickly sealed off and guards placed around the tunnels that led into it, and samples brought from the cave were quickly destroyed with the people exposed to them thrown into the cave Everyone exposed would mutate and go mad from the strange power of the crystals, and this actually warranted Lustariseans stepping in to magically seal off all the stone around it to prevent the cave from growing bigger through erosion and prevent people from mining into it by accident

Not Oversimplified Elvaria Lore- Part 2, Classical History(The Age of Shadows)

The Fall happened and now the empires have collapsed, and the continents have been fractured from the explosion's impact No celestial magic because the sky is covered in shit so now the elves are effectively cut out from using the majority of their abilities

So now what for them? 150,000 years of trying to cope and hopefully adapt to the new borderline radioactive-ish world, because as it turns out pure Asurei isn't totally poison and some people can adapt to it within a few generations Some people don't though, so of course more people die as the years go by So what's up with the isolated kingdom surrounded by storms? They still exist but are struggling, with Åsterlis having been split in half into Åsthenar and Fulegria They're lucky to still even exist considering they were right on the border of the blast zone Forgot to mention that one tribe that made it past the Dust Era, because Jukevor is now Jivankova and they're surprisingly doing fine since their magic doesn't draw from celestial energies

And now comes the fun part In those 150k years of darkness, elemental energy starts seeping into the world from a hidden realm, and elementals emerge from being attracted by the massive amounts of Asurei in the atmosphere The elementals have varying effects on the new continents, with their presence slowly but surely altering the biology of the elves to attune to the elements rather than to the distant sky The survivors of The Fall on those other continents slowly die out from the sudden presence of foreign energy that their bodies rejected, but some pockets of them actually did make it

With some elementals fusing with some of the pockets of elves, they resulted in the creation of half elves, or Elthir Fulegrians, Åsthenari, Jivankira, and Ligniar are the main ones that make it, becoming half elves of lightning, storm, air(ish), and coal Fulegria, though, doesn't benefit too much since now their land is becoming heavily electrified to the point of being borderline uninhabitable and forcing the inhabitants into an evolve or die situation

Certain individuals that fused with particularly powerful air elementals became something above an elf or half elf, and would later go under a different term(you'll hear of them in the Age of the New Kingdoms post) So what happens to the ones on the continent that doesn't have much elemental presence? It takes a lot longer to adapt since they have nothing to power them and need to reestablish order, with the final king of Lunaris living just long enough to create the new kingdom of Yūregina, the kingdom of shadows around 5.5k years after The Fall With time, some of the Lunarisians in Yūregina would figure out that Asurei does actually work with other aspects of the world, so now they can use shadow magic They also saw it as them embracing the dark side of the moons of Elvaria, as the light of their old kingdom has always had the potential to cast a shadow Yūregina stays intact and helps rebuild some semblance of civilization once the new Yūregians(the guys that figured shadow magic) got their shit together After 145k years of rebuilding and adapting(plus elemental energies do eventually make its way to the other continent so now people know what's up), the first ray of sunlight appears, heralding a new era In those 5k years after the first rays, the sky begins to clear up more and groups of survivors that didn't adapt to shadow magic would begin to sail out to the other continents And of course, if the dark can become power when fused with Asurei, so can the light, but no second Solaris will ever rise- that era ended long ago.

So instead, a new kingdom is formed on the land opposite to Yūregina's, marking the end of the Age of Shadows- Hikarina, the kingdom of the light, composed primarily of Solarian survivors that adapted to light magic.

The Current State of Elvaria

Ember War is over, everyone is sad and trying to bring back order but some people try to celebrate because no more war So because Salgirtus is dead and had no kids, the throne now passes to his younger sister, so it's now Queen Lidisina Mirankis Zhonal of Zodiana Leonnox didn't want to deal with the humiliation of Flaerna getting its ass handed to it and also didn't want to deal with the political fallout so he abdicates his throne to his cousin, now known as King Garaxyran Alaystav Kolvastran of Flaerna With the old Treaty of Elorinar having been violated many times over, a new treaty is drafted by Queen Lidisina and the representatives sent by they various kingdoms around Elorinar in the hopes that peace will last longer, called the Treaty of Elemortia Floernia, Dalirna, Zodiana(by default for obvious reasons), Walekria, and Föllen Alatsa immediately vote to ratify it because they're sick of war(Warring Era lasted for 22,500 years) Offers are extended to Åskorhal, Yukiosa, Lustarise, Jivankova, and Avianaen(they were found around the end of the Ember War), Queen Vethørigya of Åskorhal basically tells Lidisina to fuck off with the terms but Yukiosa and Avianaen would agree to ratify the treaty

Jivankova isn't even visible to the other kingdoms because of their weird ass barrier that makes Kavathanar "disappear" so they don't have to deal with other kingdoms Lustarise just doesn't care, they don't sign and return to isolation but send some of their mages to Dalirna for a bit to help them rebuild and recover due to similar ideals regarding the pursuit of knowledge Flaerna is pretty much forced into it because A, they don't have the forces to bother trying to fight it off, B, they kinda started the war, and C, the other kingdoms are in the position of being able to straight up invade if needed to force a signature from Flaerna So what made Flaerna and Åskorhal so against signing it? They'd be forced to demilitarize(this term specifically aimed at Flaerna), and should any kingdom be attacked by an outside kingdom, all the kingdoms in the alliance detailed by the treaty must get involved to quickly end the war and quell the threat through war Basically, if shit happens, they get another continent spanning war and Åskorhal doesn't want to deal with that The Military Sect of the Scorching Council is dissolved and all of the soldiers in the Flaernan military are honourably discharged, with the ones that fled returning to Flaerna to help rebuild So now the kingdoms that ratified the treaty are in a massive alliance called Elemortia, or the Order of the Elemental Kingdoms, and they also have to help each other rebuild which also includes setting aside what happened in the Ember War so The Beef™ doesn't create yet another war

Lidisina also creates the Starsworn Council in Zodiana to remove some ruler duties from herself because now that war is over she has to deal with a whole lot of shit and also because, well, her immediate family is dead so she doesn't want to solo rule or appoint a singular advisor she may have to marry to for public image

She also sails to Yinorael as a second thought realizing that it would be a good idea to make the two kingdoms over there enter a Non-Aggression pact so war doesn't break out there since it was terrible in Elorinar Both Hikarina and Yūregina choose to ratify it, but on terse agreement, so now there's the Order of Yiagilia but it's not a very stable order Good enough for now though So now it's year 233 post-Ember War, what's going on now? Yūregina, in a bid to try to stop the plague, has been experimenting with necromancy since it turns out that dying and being reanimated does actually stop the progression of the plague, but of course, no reproduction(if anyone wants further elaboration on how Yūregian necromancy works and why it's only them that can do it, just ask in my ask blog Consulting the bored Altersaean) and Hikarina doesn't like it at all They're still at their trade disputes though There's a running problem along trade cities(usually on borders of kingdoms) where a strange shadowy elf-like being is sowing chaos in the cities and capital cities are on high alert The Fractured Span, a section of the sea floor that's basically collapsing in on itself, is, well, collapsing in on itself and Walekrian researchers are trying to figure out wtf is happening Yukiosan researchers are still researching strange relics that are out of place in the technological skill of the modern and Classical Kingdoms(as far as they know because they don't know about big brain Estellis) Jivankova only opens up their barrier every 5,000 years for a week at a time so right now there has only been one expedition from outside kingdoms to document and understand the lands of Kavathanar and the Jivankira Elthir, missives are sent between kingdoms to exchange information about each other Hikarina just has a little cultural dispute with some people petitioning for the capital city of Arenlia to have the name changed to Punjaranm-Ka-Sanhar, as Hikarinian culture has diverged much from Solarian culture. The royal family has left the name as is to keep as a reminder of the legacy of the Three Kingdoms And of course, some brewing political problems in Föllen Alatsa because classist divides. So basically, Caldivelle is the only city at the mouth of the caves and sprawls along the sides and ground of the cave mouth. The higher up you go, the more wealthy the people are, with some manors built into the cave walls or protruding from them. Closer down you go and into the cave are wealthy craftsmen, and anything further than surface level overshadowed by extravagant buildings from the upper echelons of society are mostly upper middle class dwellings. Even further down are workers. Some people have openly questioned the nobility and royalty about wtf is with the very obvious divides, but they've been dismissed so far since there's no one actually homeless and people live pretty okay lives because of employment and shelter programs to account for a slowly growing population. Very little social mobility though, especially for those that come from the Lower Gem Deposit Tunnels. Caleivelle's Alhiana Alatsi residents especially take issue as if the tunnels collapse one day, they all go down. There isn't a way out other than lifts and long winded routes and a small amount of teleporters, and there aren't many Alhiana living in Caldivelle to relay their complaints to

Oh yeah Pre-Fall Elvaria was roughly like 1990's advancement, post-Fall they were set back to medieval levels of advancement since a lot of knowledge was lost through the older peopled dying off and not being able to pass it on, while also being unable train someone younger because of resource scarcity since the continents just got rearranged