Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

"Yes, as I was saying, us elves are generally a peaceful group, and prefer to not get involved in any conflict that we can avoid.  If Rathland decides on some form of conflict, we'll stay out of it, as I'm sure most of the other elves will as well.  We'll just sit back, as we've done in all other conflicts in the past.  After seeing your village and talking with you, I don't see your country as an aggressive threat, so I believe that any defensive pacts that Rathland would attempt to invoke are null in this case."

"Well, that's a relief at least."  I let out a sigh before asking, "You wouldn't happen to be interested in some trade?  I don't know if we have much to offer, but living on an island has its drawbacks, so we're always looking for new imports."

"Well, as long as there isn't conflict, we'd be willing to negotiate for some things, although given the distance the price won't be cheap."

"I expected as much.  I have a few questions that are relevant to what we'd be interested in trading for, but they'll likely lead to long discussions, so please feel free to stop the discussion at any time if it seems like it's taking too long."

"Hah!  That's unlikely to be a problem.  If anything, most conversations are far too short.  I said before that the other races are far too caught up fighting over minor details, well they're all also too impatient.  Perhaps its their shorter lifespans that are the reason for this, but I'd be happy to talk for days."  Elora says with a sincere smile.

I take a look at Shasta, and I can tell she's not looking forward to the potentiality of an exceedingly long conversation.  I feel like I've gotten access to a great wealth of knowledge, and I'd like to extract as much as I can even if Shasta might have to suffer through translating it.  I'll give her some form of compensation afterwards to make up for the inconvenience.

"Well, I don't know about days, but I'm more than happy to talk for a long time.  First, if you wouldn't mind enlightening me about what life is like where you're from?  That will probably give me the best insight into what goods we might be interested in trading for."

"Life in the elven lands is quite different from life in the other two continents and here.  Foremost, we live in harmony with nature much more than the other two races, and more than you appear to.  Not that we are opposed to the other ways of life.  In fact, many elves choose to spend some portion of their lives living among those other races.  We do not have any domestic animals, and eat mostly plants, though we do hunt and have small amounts of meat in our diet.  Cutting down trees is a hazard in the great forests of the elven continents due to their sheer size and age, so the wood we cook with is gathered from naturally fallen branches.  Some among us have the ability to manipulate nature to some degree, which is used to help with housing or plant growth."

As Shasta was repeating what Elora said, I ended up borrowing a sheet of paper myself, and using some charcoal to make notes.  So much info, and so much more that I want to ask based of that info.

"I'm quite impressed with the quality of your clothes.  For a people who don't have domestic animals, the quality is superb.  What is it made of, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Specialty silk-vine.  It's a particularly difficult plant to cultivate in a way that makes it useful for clothing.  We have druids who keep constant management of the plants to ensure they're growing in the correct way.  They're prone to thickening and knotting if you don't keep a constant eye on them, but if managed properly, you get this wonderfully strong and light vine that is so thin you'd think it was hair."

"Ah, probably not something we could manage then.  Do all elves have a set of clothes like that?  I believe the other elf I met, Ambella Elloetta, was wearing more normal clothing."

"Ah, no.  This is actually quite expensive, as an emissary I have a few sets of it, but generally most people don't wear this.  In the last many centuries, it's become quite normal for us to import woolen clothing from the other two continents, although many elves still wear leather from hunted animals.  In the past we also made woven clothes from a species of vine similar to the silk-vine, although it hasn't been cultivated in some time, at least not within any of the more civilized groups.  It wasn't quite as tricky to grow, but it's still much less convenient that just trading for wool."

"I see, so we'll be unlikely to be able to cultivate any of those plants.  What of the plants you eat?  What sorts of plants are those?"

"We have many varieties of plants we cultivate, but they tend to come in three types.  The first are fruiting vines.  We grow them weaving through the canopies of the great forest, harvesting their fruiting bodies when ripe.  They come in many varieties of fruit, but considering the difference in climate and distance to you island, as well as the different environment, I don't believe that any of those vines could grow here, nor would the fruit last on the long journey.  The second type are a sort of parasitic plant which burrows into the wood of the great forest trees, surviving off their nutrients, after some time, their main bodies are harvested and eaten.  We have strict requirements on how many of those we grow on a given tree, to make sure we don't tax their life force too much.  The trees here are far too different from the great trees to support any of those plants as well."

As Shasta translates all this, Elora has a slightly telling smile on her face, like she knows that the next item is going to be something I'm interested in.

"Finally, the third type.  These plants live off decaying matter.  When a small portion of their spores are dusted over dead plant matter, they'll eventually produce a fruiting body out of it, as long as there is enough dead matter.  There are a few varieties that we have of this, including two which prefer to use dead animal matter.  I think these plants you might be interested in, as they're pretty hardy, and can be useful for breaking down dead matter.  I've noticed that your small forests here have floors littered with dead plant matter, and all that could be used for growing food in the form of these plants."

That definitely sounds like fungi, until the modern era fungi were considered plants so I'm not surprised they're called that.  Plus who knows, maybe these are just weird plants.  Thinking about it further, there is quite the lack of fungal species on the island.  Sure, I've seen mold and mildew, but no fruiting bodied fungus. 

If we can get our hands on edible fungi, I'm sure we could farm it quite effectively.  We could easily excavate underground farm locations where the fungi could be grown and provided with plenty of decaying matter.  When we cut trees, outside of the wood itself, the leaves and roots are currently burned, and could instead be used for making food.  Nevermind all the fish skeletons and skins that we currently have to deal with as waste.

"Yes, we're very interested in these plants.  I'll make a note to return to this subject for negotiations later.  I've heard you mention a few times the great forests where you're from.  Could you elaborate on them?  I've only ever seen the trees here.  What makes the great forests different?"

"The great forests are unique to our part of the world.  The trees grow to nearly a thousand feet tall, and a little over a hundred feet wide.  They live for much longer than us elves do.  Our lifespans reach nearly seven-hundred years, and although we've seen the trees die, we've never seen one that was a seedling die within our recorded history.  As I'm sure you've heard by now, the other races cut trees down.  However, cutting a great tree down results in a painful death for anyone who does so.  The other races call it levelling sickness.  We've learned to manipulate the trees to keep them alive and live with them, rather than against them.  The floor of the forest is as dark as a moonlit night during the middle of the day, and most of us live among the canopies, although we do descend for various reasons.  Save for a few unique locations, the great forest spans the entire continent without break."

That definitely puts things in perspective.  I guess I don't know how long us demons live for, and none of us have died of old age yet, so I have no insight into how much longer my life is.  That sudden realization gave me a sudden sense of dread, but I moved passed it to continue the conversation.