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Empathy for Elves?
13 years ago
Bahhhh! What a silly idea!
Let's face it. There are two kinds of fantasy elves-- the oppressed underclass struggling against development, and the arrogant sadists that fling lightning bolts and arrows at lesser creatures.
Truth be told, the Maenid Empire is closer to the latter than the former.
The struggle, then, is trying to form some personal connection with the Elves and their national problem- or at least enough of a connection that enables something very important in the audience: Empathy.
Empathy is key in storytelling, especially fantasy storytelling. Readers do not know the people and places of the world, and they will never be able to visit them in person. All that remains, then, is to establish some personal connection to the problems the realm and its citizens face.
Thankfully, the Maenid Empire has a problem. A BIG problem. It's not the Republic, not really.... It's the ECONOMY.
Let me brief everyone a bit. Surely few of you have documents for the Realm of Sejhat pertaining to the Elves. To expect that you've read all of them is frankly silly. The Maenid Empire is the most populous and oldest continuous nation-state on the continent, populated almost exclusively by Elves. It is a fairly insular nation that, in its apex, enjoyed vast wealth, culture, and a high standard of living thanks to a monopoly on the sale of Mana, the mysterious substance that is the source of all magic in the realm.
Their miserly use of Mana, however, inadvertently encouraged the other, 'lesser' nations of Sejhat to find alternative sources of energy and set off the industrial revolution. Now the Maenid Empire is clearly past its prime. There is less demand than ever for Mana.
In summary, the gradual decline in the importance of Mana is directly attributed to the decline in the relevance of the Maenid Empire. The Maenids have an entrenched landed aristocracy unwilling to give up their high standard of living. The land is overpopulated, and as money becomes more scarce, the taxes rise for everyone. Somehow, all the wealth and glory of the empire seems to have disappeared, and hope with it.
The Maenid Empire now faces extinction at the hands of a violent, widespread revolution: The Elven Republic. The landscape of once verdant, meticulous cropland and picturesque towns is now a mayhem of warfare, banditry, and destruction. One by one, the aristocrats are being dragged onto the streets by their subjects and grotesquely murdered as revenge for the predicament they are in.
But a question continues to nag everyone from the Emperor himself down to the lowliest peasant rebel. Where did all the money go? What happened to the wealth and opportunity? How can there be so many Elves, but so few jobs?
Emperor Lusitanius II, a mere child at age 19, has some very interesting ideas on how to both save his Empire and his people. He realizes that the Empire must be reformed, and quickly. He has made many enemies among the aristocracy thanks to this very idea. He sees the truth beyond the cries of injustice and inequality. With surprising alacrity and clarity he understands that for peace and prestige to return, the Empire needs money. Fast.
As long as the Maenid Empire remains closed to the world, as long as international commerce is stifled, as long as bandits and blackguards prowl the roads, the Empire is doomed. Yet the Maenid Empire still has tremendous wealth- it has twice as many citizens as any of the other nations on the continent, it has rich land, and it has heritage and pride in abundance. Turning this into money will require something unprecedented in the Maenid Empire's history- it will require a light touch.
Let's face it. There are two kinds of fantasy elves-- the oppressed underclass struggling against development, and the arrogant sadists that fling lightning bolts and arrows at lesser creatures.
Truth be told, the Maenid Empire is closer to the latter than the former.
The struggle, then, is trying to form some personal connection with the Elves and their national problem- or at least enough of a connection that enables something very important in the audience: Empathy.
Empathy is key in storytelling, especially fantasy storytelling. Readers do not know the people and places of the world, and they will never be able to visit them in person. All that remains, then, is to establish some personal connection to the problems the realm and its citizens face.
Thankfully, the Maenid Empire has a problem. A BIG problem. It's not the Republic, not really.... It's the ECONOMY.
Let me brief everyone a bit. Surely few of you have documents for the Realm of Sejhat pertaining to the Elves. To expect that you've read all of them is frankly silly. The Maenid Empire is the most populous and oldest continuous nation-state on the continent, populated almost exclusively by Elves. It is a fairly insular nation that, in its apex, enjoyed vast wealth, culture, and a high standard of living thanks to a monopoly on the sale of Mana, the mysterious substance that is the source of all magic in the realm.
Their miserly use of Mana, however, inadvertently encouraged the other, 'lesser' nations of Sejhat to find alternative sources of energy and set off the industrial revolution. Now the Maenid Empire is clearly past its prime. There is less demand than ever for Mana.
In summary, the gradual decline in the importance of Mana is directly attributed to the decline in the relevance of the Maenid Empire. The Maenids have an entrenched landed aristocracy unwilling to give up their high standard of living. The land is overpopulated, and as money becomes more scarce, the taxes rise for everyone. Somehow, all the wealth and glory of the empire seems to have disappeared, and hope with it.
The Maenid Empire now faces extinction at the hands of a violent, widespread revolution: The Elven Republic. The landscape of once verdant, meticulous cropland and picturesque towns is now a mayhem of warfare, banditry, and destruction. One by one, the aristocrats are being dragged onto the streets by their subjects and grotesquely murdered as revenge for the predicament they are in.
But a question continues to nag everyone from the Emperor himself down to the lowliest peasant rebel. Where did all the money go? What happened to the wealth and opportunity? How can there be so many Elves, but so few jobs?
Emperor Lusitanius II, a mere child at age 19, has some very interesting ideas on how to both save his Empire and his people. He realizes that the Empire must be reformed, and quickly. He has made many enemies among the aristocracy thanks to this very idea. He sees the truth beyond the cries of injustice and inequality. With surprising alacrity and clarity he understands that for peace and prestige to return, the Empire needs money. Fast.
As long as the Maenid Empire remains closed to the world, as long as international commerce is stifled, as long as bandits and blackguards prowl the roads, the Empire is doomed. Yet the Maenid Empire still has tremendous wealth- it has twice as many citizens as any of the other nations on the continent, it has rich land, and it has heritage and pride in abundance. Turning this into money will require something unprecedented in the Maenid Empire's history- it will require a light touch.
My guess is that the Maenid Empire will have to jump into the new industrial revolution, and fast. Fortunately, they have one thing that other countries attempting to modernize usually didn't: the money to pay for it. Attract the best and brightest minds from the rest of the world and pay them handsomely for their services. Use the new industry to harvest the rich resources of the land, which in turn will create jobs for the populace (I'm guessing that mining mana isn't exactly a job creator like strip-mining would be). Open up trade and sell quality elven goods and raw materials to the other countries and races. Invest the profits in education, grow your own technological experts, etc. etc.
Of course, an ongoing rebellion and high crime rate in the countryside is a significant obstacle here. Creating an Elven Republic with a constitutional monarchy sounds like the way to go to get the commoners to settle down, but you have that old-school aristocracy to worry about, especially considering that they probably have a good amount of the Empire's wealth and military power tied up with them. I'm guessing that this may end up like a Meji-era Japan-style confrontation between the elven republicans and the aristocracy. Depending on how much the Emperor wants/needs the nobles to be a part of this, he will probably have to offer them prominent roles in the new government and economy, turning them into senators House of Lords-style and industry barons.
Of course, there's also using your wealth to hire a bunch of foreign mercenaries and killing them all (inside and/or outside the empire), but something tells me that Lusitanius II is not "mad emperor" material.
The Emperor has his hands full, but there are some simple actions he could take to get a bit of capital to play with. Relaxing tariffs and breaking down part of the literal wall between Elves and Humans is a start, encouraging exports of all the luxury goods the Elves have that the elves themselves don't want or can't afford. They need to restore and reorganize the Navy so that the vital sea commerce can return. They also need to evaluate which aristocrats are a direct threat to the emperor, which are simply lethargic, and which are desperate enough to give up power and accept Imperial mandate.
Still don't like elves though.
Damn Elves! >8U
I always thought that making the Beastfolk engaging and fun would be the bigger challenge in creating this fantasy universe. In reality, the Elves have been the biggest challenge of all- how do you engender love for a people that people are so accustomed to hating?
Now you've got a delayed-reaction time bomb that's just been set off. The Maenids have to react to the arrival of modernity with a useless feudal aristocracy and a professional army on the verge of mutiny. Interesting times indeed!