03-15-2016, 08:56 PM
You know, the more I think about it, the more I think that the Avali would never have left the stone age if they hadn't been dragged out of it by the malefactors. First of all, their subzero world would make working with metal a nightmare. I can see an advanced civilization overcoming that problem, but how do you become an advanced civilization without metal? On top of that, most of the surface of Avalon is ice sitting on top of a water ocean--the amount of metal they can actually get to will be severely limited.
Further, they're predators rather than hunter-gatherers and they never domesticated animals. Farming might never have occurred to them on their own, and without farming there's no way they could produce enough excess food to build a civilization where some members have enough free time to devote themselves to, say, inventing or philosophy rather than gathering food day in and day out.
And finally, their lousy eyesight renders the written word clumsy and awkward for them. I recall reading that they use stringed instruments as an analog to writing, but that sounds horribly awkward. I can carry information-dense books like a technical manual or War and Peace around in one hand, but imagine trying to render War and Peace with strings you have to pluck... it would be many meters long! And imagine having to assemble up such a device in the first place!
Further, they're predators rather than hunter-gatherers and they never domesticated animals. Farming might never have occurred to them on their own, and without farming there's no way they could produce enough excess food to build a civilization where some members have enough free time to devote themselves to, say, inventing or philosophy rather than gathering food day in and day out.
And finally, their lousy eyesight renders the written word clumsy and awkward for them. I recall reading that they use stringed instruments as an analog to writing, but that sounds horribly awkward. I can carry information-dense books like a technical manual or War and Peace around in one hand, but imagine trying to render War and Peace with strings you have to pluck... it would be many meters long! And imagine having to assemble up such a device in the first place!