Chapter 3: On the origin of peoples

Matyas—Greetings Ingrid, what is it that you called me for?

Ingrid—Well, I thought I'd ask you first... But, if I want to know what type of person someone is, what's the right question to ask? Where I come from there was only people like me.

—Hmm. The preferred terminology is different in every country, between ancestries, races, kins, lineages, clans, folks—there's more I might be missing. Here in Lustel, ancestry might be the safest option, even when it's not always ideal.

—Why so?

—"Ancestry" implies who your ancestors were is important, and there are those who deliberately separate themselves from their progenitors, sometimes to the point of changing their shape through arcane means. There are also those who have no ancestors, though they are rare and often unique individuals who can't exactly be categorized.

—Like... If a mage were to create a sentient creature?

—For example. That would be illegal, of course, but the creature itself would not at fault of its creation.

—Ok... but then what about all the other terms?

—Well, each has its problems. If you just consider their appearance, then shapechangers complicate the story. Not everyone has the same knowledge of their family tree, which complicates the matters of lineages. There's arguments that folk has cultural connotations, rather than taxonomical; we'd both be "city-folk" even if I'm human and you're a doll. As for races, there's the problem of mixed ancestry taxonomy... At one point there were official categories, for example if your parents were a half-elf and a half-orc, you'd be a "hell fork"—it'd be pointless to keep track of all combinations at this point though. Another question is if you consider high elves and wood elves different races or not, for example, and if so, what about those with both high and wood elf ancestry? 

—I see... But then, what about, you know, the adventurer cards? Don't they have this information?

—You mean relying on the System of Ilargi? There's evidence that the results of appraisal spells are correlated with each individual's self-identification. Hypothetically speaking, if I were to truly believe I was a goblin, appraisal results would suggest so too, even if by any other metric I'd still be considered human—and that's without getting into all the ways to deliberately hide information to the System—and if you're going to get the same answer, why not ask the person directly? Politely, if possible.

Conversation between Matyas and Ingrid, City of Magic, Lustel, 993

---

Gunnar—Ok, ok. So what did you want to ask?

Ingrid—What is your ancestry?

—Take a wild guess?

—... are you a goblin?

—Exactly! Is that all you came for today?

—No, no! I also heard about this... goblin theory of evolution?

—So, because I'm a goblin, I must know about the goblin theory of evolution? Well, you're not wrong, most of us do know about it.

—So could you tell me about it?

—Huff, ok. Here we go. Do you know of hobgoblins? Goblins can become hobgoblins over their lifetime, and many try to do so—you'd be able to live longer after all, in addition to all the other benefits. To become a hobgoblin you require... training. Tebans would call it "cultivation", Ilargians would call it "levelling up". Increasing one's mana reserves, one way or another really. When a goblin becomes a hobgoblin, we call that "evolution".

—I see... so is that the theory then?

—No, no, that's just the evidence for it. It's not just goblins who evolve. Hobgoblins too can become "goblin lords", then "goblin kings", then "goblin emperors". 

You are reading story The world of Sustelas at novel35.com

But then there's more! In western Hathor most monsters are capable of evolving, too; as do some monsters around the world; slimes and wolves for example—you're heard of fire slimes and ice wolves, right? And Teban cultivators often have significant changes to their bodies as they cultivate, which we would consider evolution, and they call "reaching the next stage of cultivation".

So, the crux of the goblin theory of evolution is that everyone can evolve, though perhaps some races might not show as large changes in appearance... or maybe their criteria for evolving are more difficult to attain. And the conjecture we have is then that... maybe the origin of most peoples is that they evolved from others? For example, what if elves are just evolved humans? Or maybe humans can evolve into the various beastfolk instead, depending of which mana type they internalize. So the theory is that maybe the origin of most peoples is that they evolved from other peoples, at some point in the distant past.

—I think I get it! Humans and elves do look kinda similar, I guess...

—Don't! Just don't mention that in front of humans. Or elves. Especially elves. Most non-goblins have very strong opinions about what their true origins are.

Ekled—What's this about elves?

Gunnar—Oh, hey Ekled, Ingrid here wants to know more about elves—I, uh, I have to go. Bye!

Conversation between Gunnar and Ingrid, City of Magic, Lustel, 993

---

Ingrid—What is your ancestry?

Ekled—So is this what this is about? I'm an elf.

—Ah. But are you, like, a wood elf? Or a dark elf?

—Well, my mother's a dark elf and my father's a high elf, so I just go by elf. I've put "eclipse elf" on a few forms in the past, actually, but the terminology is not quite right.

—Why so?

—Well, the distinction between high elves, wood elves and dark elves is related to the mana types they have an affinity to, celestial mana, natural mana and dark mana respectively. I myself have affinity for both dark and celestial mana, while "eclipse elf" would imply I had affinity to eclipse mana. But, as you might imagine, eclipse mana is rather rare.

—I see! So it's like, the wood elves evolved by cultivating natural mana, while the high elves evolved by using celestial mana instead?

—Uhhh... if you believe in the goblin theory of evolution, maybe? But that's not what most of us believe. The high elves' myths tell we come from the stars, while the wood elves instead claim they descended from the fae. I don't think either of these are exactly true, personally, but there's no convincing theory yet. Elves have been around for a long time, and we don't have records from that far back, only oral tradition.

To begin with, there's many possible alternatives to evolution for the origin of a people. First and foremost would be creation, by a god, great spirit, or powerful enough mortal. You yourselves were reportedly created, right?

—Goddess Ninme breathed life unto us, yes.

—Other alternatives include... materialization. You could say it is the opposite of evolution; when a spirit gains physicality. There are records of individual spirits doing this, and some—wood elves, more recently the kitsune—claim that this was their origin. There is also conversion, such as werewolves or vampires who can have other peoples join their ranks. And finally, intermarriage. For example, the beastfolk clans claim to be descendants of the divine beasts, the first beastfolk supposedly being their direct offspring with mortal consorts.

—Is that also where half-elves come from?

—Ehh, you could say so? "Half-elf" is a broad category, really. It originally was used to describe those with both human and elf ancestries, but now it is mostly used for those with mixed ancestry who look kind of elvish. Someone with mixed elf and orc ancestry will be called a half-orc or half-elf depending on if they look more orcish, or more elvish. Then, there's the fact that some who are designated half-elves at birth later become elves, especially if they cultivate their magical affinity, while some others choose to be called humans. Most native Lustelans have some half-elven ancestry somewhere in their family tree, whether they're humans or elves. One of my grandmothers was a half-elf, for example.

—Fascinating...

Conversation between Ingrid and Ekled, City of Magic, Lustel, 993

You can find story with these keywords: The world of Sustelas, Read The world of Sustelas, The world of Sustelas novel, The world of Sustelas book, The world of Sustelas story, The world of Sustelas full, The world of Sustelas Latest Chapter