Classism in Elderling society? (spoilers RotE books incl Blood of Dragons)

['thul]

These beings agree that it may take time for a single such eruption to affect an entire continent. However, it is quite possible that there were in fact multiple eruptions all at once in many locations, combined with other disasters. There has not appeared any obvious evidence of a volcanic caldera in the books, so either the crater(s) are big enough to be unnoticeable, or beyond the edges of the map. Do not make the error of comparing such eruption to those recent ones on Iceland. active Icelandic volcanoes are to a large part submerged beneath glaciers, and so they do not erupt the same way. Supervolcanoes also have much larger ashclouds, though that depends on type of eruption. If you make there be such eruptions all along the upwind side of elderling territory and combine it with numerous other disaster types like earthquakes and the tectonic plate impact described earlier, you will have enough to cause quick extinction. Especially if the eruption occurred beneath the so-called "jet stream". Dragons, like humans and Elderlings need to breathe and it is proven that it is unhealthy for humans to breathe volcanic ash. These being presume it is the same for dragons and Elderlings.
These being have no knowledge as to whether the Elderling disaster be natural or unnatural, but being what they are, they try to explain it using natural science of this world.



There is indeed evidence the Elderlings had some scrolls. But they did not rely on that solely. Most of the scrolls Fitz found on Aslevjal were the stolen skill scrolls of Buckkeep, not Elderling scrolls. A lot about Elderling culture was probably never written down, as you would not write a scroll to describe what a horse is. It was once too common to write down, as anyone with questions would instead travel to ask instead of reading. Especially when text was written on parchment, not on paper. Parchment requires animal skin to make, so it is much more precious and would not be used to write down common knowledge.
With their sudden extinction, the option to write it all down disappeared virtually overnight (not saying the disaster took just a night).


As for their place of residence, it would seem to these beings that you misunderstood the meaning behind 'thul's words. Evidence has been given that humans also lived near Elderling cities, yes. But not all humans. Whatever killed the dragons and Elderlings, would also have killed off those humans residing near the Elderling cities. Only humans to survive would be those that were far enough away.
When it comes to the skill pillars, yes those were available, but they were not commonly used, and possibly only a fraction escaped. Of those, the majority reached Aslevjal where they eventually met Icefyre. (Is that his true name? Or is it a name like Skymaw?)
In a society that numbered in the (tens of) thousands, it is impossible to rebuild it from around one hundred individuals.

The learning in the Skill may in fact be all that remained of those Elderlings once they died off. That and the Elderling blood present in various lines. The last heritage of the Elderlings. All evidence of the books so far indicate that magical abilities like the skill stem from having Elderling blood, however thin it may be. To attain certain Elderling attributes humans would have to have Elderling blood. Most humans would not be able to fathom the abilities, let alone attain them.

In order to access information contained in the memory stones, the humans would have to know of it first, and it is not too likely that many knew of such stones, let alone possessed them.

As for your procreational questions... Yes, Elderlings can reproduce, but not as easily as humans. The reason for that stems from their long lifespans. Long-lived species do not reproduce as quickly as short-lived species. If they were to reproduce as quickly as humans, they would quickly outnumber humans. These beings had a theory a while ago that beings that are neither human nor Elderling, but something in between are incapable of producing live offspring due to the genetic changes in progress.

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Off-topic
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It is finally good to have another good-natured argument like this...