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

[redchild]

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).

Impermanence is definitely something that is impossible to combat. It brings to mind of how so many societies today rely on maintaining digital databases, even when computer data is so inherently so fragile in nature. An incidental power surge, static electricity, or even spilled coffee, can corrupt volumes of precious data. The strength in digital information is that it is kept in several places, so that even if it is destroyed, there remain other copies stored in other locations. I come to think of dragons as living databases that continually grow and evolve as they consume the bits and pieces of memories of other living beings. However, despite this ability and a dragon's long life expectancy, even this strategy proved to be insufficient and fallible when pitted against....whatever it was that rendered them nearly extinct.

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.

Perhaps this is why I think dragon/Elderling enthusiasts like Chade and Alise will probably be instrumental in their work extracting, deciphering, and documenting the knowledge gained by speaking with dragons and perusing Skill scrolls. The dragons on the Tarman expedition have bits and pieces of their past lives, while the Skills scrolls hold bits and pieces of human knowledge painstakingly gathered throughout the centuries. The extinction of dragons and Elderlings allowed humans to grow into prominence, and now they meet again. The Fool's interventions may bring about a great change in human/dragon dynamics. What will happen if you combine several millennial worth of ancient knowledge, with the innovations of human ingenuity and experimentation?

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.

Not necessarily true in all cases, as there are species of plants that can live for hundreds of years, and asexual organisms live forever in a sense. But in most cases you are correct. I also think that a long-lived sentient species would most likely give a lot more thought into the grand scheme of things and would not worry so much about perpetuating its species. And if an animal were to live so long as a dragon or Elderling, comparatively speaking, there should already be more competant defenses or checks against mutations, so that any instances of cancer should be minimal until time of death. I think it's more psychological than biological that Elderlings do not procreate as often as humans.

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

Yes, while I do like engaging in arguments, I hope I never come across as argumentative. Most of the time I'm just trying to play around with ideas and should no one bounce ideas back and forth I don't think I'd ever really explore such topics to any significant breadth or depth.

The preceding arguments have led my suspicions of ulterior motive between human factions and Elderling ones leading to the demise of their civilization to diminish to an extent. And while I understand that most of the time, extinctions occur because of natural phenomena, I still think the sudden (and thorough) destruction of such a seemingly powerful and enlightened civilization to be anomalous and possibly contrived. Could the White Prophets have played a role?

(God, look at this essay, I really should get some sleep and maybe do something more productive.)