(redirected from Main.CommonMisconceptions)
EF is based on a unique world with a whole heap of quirks and customs that set it apart from ours. This stuff is on the wiki somewhere, even if it's just in the FAQ, but we can't expect you to read everything -- so here's a list of the most important of the "little things" you should know to help you jump straight in.
- Books are very rare and very expensive.
- I can't stress this enough. While to us it seems natural for characters to have a pile of books and magazines stashed around the house, it just doesn't happen in Elysia. To them, a book should be an artistic masterpiece as much as it is a means of recording information. They are highly decorated, from gilded pages made from naga skin to ornate lettering using metallic inks, and they are to be treasured -- so the few printing presses that do exist in Elysia are scorned and put to use mostly on newspapers (for the larger towns, at least; small towns still prefer gossip and cryers) instead. The three libraries in Elysia (at the Cloud Palace?, in Alexandria? and in Espur?) are often seen more as art museums than as a place to learn. :+ (Information is more widely available on the CORWW, Elysia's version of the internet, though to what extent we don't yet know. In general, Elysians are all about the gossip and pass on their knowledge orally, through practical application and training, rather than academic theory. Also, please note that magazines don't exist at all.)
- It's made by hand.
- Everything -- and I mean everything -- in Elysia has to be made by hand. There is no such thing as mass production.
- There are no department stores.
- Shops are small and usually run by the owner, or the owner and his family. They also usually split into two parts: the storeroom, better known as the store, where they put their products on sale; and the workshop where they make those products. The most successful shops are the ones where the workshop can be active all day, which means having an assistant (usually a family member) to deal with the customers. :+ It's also important to note that, in smaller settlements, only those shops that are needed (clothing, tools, etc) can survive. Unless there's a lot of traffic from tourists and merchants (like in the cities), locals don't have a lot of use for anything else (most rural settlers grow their own food, too, and then trade the excess, so they don't need to buy anything in).
- Elysian technology is dramatically different.
- Nothing pollutive works here, so there are no guns, no weapons of mass (even a little bit mass) destruction, no televisions, no electricity, no cars, no trains, no airplanes, no space rockets or anything of that sort. Some things do have an Elysian equivalent (HoPs, for instance), but they are sourced and powered naturally through hard manual labour and organically grown crystals or, in Zanarya?, the elements. Likewise, transportation is via beasts of burden or under your own steam.
- Animals are not sentient.
- Unless a creature's profile specifically states that an animal is meant to have some measure of intelligence, they are not sentient. They can't talk, they can't understand what characters say to them (beyond, in some cases, being trained to follow certain orders), they cannot communicate outside their own species, and they do not step outside the bounds of their racial traits without strong justification. :+ Obviously, some animals are better equipped for following orders and may have a marginal understanding of what's being said (dogs, for instance), and the companion bond offers a degree of increased intelligence for bonded animals, but please bear in mind that a character's pets are just that -- pets, not children -- and treat them accordingly.
- There are no doctors.
- With two separate healer classes, very few academic tomes available, and a largely informal education system, Elysia has no doctors. The closest you can get without the Heal? skill is to become a wildcrafter, herbalist or apothecary, both of whom are trained organically as apprentices on the job. Herbalists focus more on natural remedies with the wildcrafters harvesting ingredients for them, while apothecaries make potions and poisonous concoctions.