#because one can prevent large scale conflicts and keep the original vision going for a long long time

[deathbirby]

"She knew that gods, who are just as fallible as humans, have no right to rule over humans. They don’t."

BITCH BY THAT LOGIC HUMANS DON'T HAVE THAT RIGHT EITHER LIKE HOLY FUCKING SHIT. HOW DO THEY NOT SEE THE RACISM WHEN THEY LITERALLY POINT IT OUT. SHE IS LITERALLY SAYING THAT NABATEANS SHOULDN'T RULE OVER HUMANS BECAUSE THEIR RACE MAKES THEM INHERENTLY UNWORTHY AND UNTRUSTWORTHY (UNLIKE HUMANS, DESPITE HUMANS BEING EXACTLY FLAWED LIKE NABATEANS, LIKE THIS GUY LITERALLY ADMITS) AND THEY’RE SAYING SHE’S RIGHT???????

I've heard people say the Nabateans are colonizers and invasive species so there is no hope.

I would much rather trust an immortal descendant of god to rule over humanity. Like, Rhea's issue was that she made a false history and tried to revive Sothis. Her rule itself was fine in that Fodlan didn't have many major wars in the span of a thousand years, which is impressive considering TWSITD was around.

Even Sothis was a fine ruler. Her issue wasn't that she did something wrong, but that humans decided they were better than her.

[houseki-no-suffering]

I love all your analyses on gem society and what makes it so fatally flawed, (from how childish gems are to the collective ideal of conformity for the benefit of all) and I've recently been thinking a lot about how much of a role Adamant plays and has played in how gem society has turned out. It's not fair to say he's completely to blame for it, being a machine who is just trying his best for his gem kids, but what are your personal thoughts on Adamant's role in how messy hnk society is?

ty! i think sensei played a fundamental role in shaping gem society, if nothing for the simple reason that he comes from a specific cultural and social framework that was built for humans, not gems, and that he tried to share with the lustrous.

this prevented the lustrous from going through a long period of experimentation, at the end of which they would form their own culture and society. 

The best way I can reply to your answer is by imagining a timeline where the lustrous were left alone to develop, an island where there is no sensei (and, consequently, no lunarians). What follows is an analysis of the society these rocks could build.

Time & Technicalities

Not being able to build on any preexisting input about civilization, on any direction or clue, these rocks will develop a civilization only much, much later than the lustrous we know. They have everything to learn and all the time in the world to do it.

Keep in mind that societies are born around a large-ish group of individuals and it takes each gem thousands of years to be born, so it will take a very long time before they reach a relatively high number of members. But lustrous don’t die and, since without sensei there would be no lunarians and thus no way for lustrous to diminish in numbers, their society would keep on growing. 

With larger numbers comes greater job specialization (and thus technological development), greater complexity, greater diversity. When societies grow to a certain extent, in-groups start to form and separate from the original group. The lustrous could build cities and form separate sub-groups and cultures.

Language & Communication 

The gems are taught human speech by sensei. Without him, they would communicate in whatever manner lustrous are naturally attuned to. 

If gems are unable to naturally produce sounds unless someone chisels their throats (how gems speak is still a mystery to me: they have no vocal chords, they don’t even breathe) and if they naturally possess the intelligence required to process language, they could develop a complex form of sign language. 

Gems are also unable to see as we understand it: sensei has to make eyeballs for them sot that they can focus the light that filters through their crystal eyes. So that will definitely play a role in what type of language they can come up with. And how complex that can get. For example, if they eventually invent writing, it could be similar to braille. Or something so alien we can’t conceptualize it.

Values

Sensei chisels gems to make them equal. I’ve gone over this a lot in the past: sensei is forcing his own values on the gems. He thinks equality is of absolute importance, but what if no one teaches the gems about (sensei’s own brand of) equality? 

The gems are prone to gossiping, they’re childish, without anyone to chisel them, the lustrous will be able to be physically different and difference breeds conflict. The perceived dis-equality could stem from something as simple as beauty. 

Even the gems we know have a concept of beauty, but what happens when they’re free to carry it to its extreme consequences? some gems will be deemed beautiful, others won’t, some will be considered less worthy, inferior, or superior, and this can be manifested in a variety of ways. 

Desirability and social status will no longer be dependent solely on your work and what you can do for the society. If all gems are different and allowed to be different (with or without repercussions), they will come up with different values and there is no telling which vision of the world will become the dominant one. 

Gems are naturally childish, but this could have been accentuated by sensei’s presence. If left alone to develop and grow, will they eventually mature? learn from their mistakes? Or will they become selfish and hostile?

Social Classes

Currently, high hardness gems and fighters are an elite group in lustrous society, and this depends mostly on the war between lustrous and lunarians. Even with no war, I believe the gems will still develop a hierarchical society, if nothing because they managed to create one even under sensei’s imposed ‘equality.’ 

I can see older (and thus more knowledgeable) gems taking up positions of power. More beautiful/more durable gems could also be in a position of power. Keep in mind that with no one teaching the gems about hardnesses and minerals, they will have to learn it all on their own. They’ll probably come up with different scales and that’s why I wrote ‘durability’ not ‘hardness.’

Mostly, though, i can see doctors becoming an elite group. Since gems don’t eat, the only indispensable job would be that of doctors: a broken gem is as close to a dead gem as you can get. 

Medicine is an indispensable craft for the lustrous and with this comes power and with power comes control and influence. Depending on how cooperative gem society is, doctors might even repair gems on the condition of payment, or refuse to repair certain gems.

Medicine and body modifications could also develop in an opposite direction than the lustrous we’re used to see: no longer pressured to be identical, the gems might develop surgeries to diversify themselves, attach new parts to their body, increase their hardness, or for merely aesthetic reasons. Body modifications could be linked to symbolic, possibly magical reasons or to status.

General culture

Technological development takes a long, long, long time. The gems would come to be in what is essentially a stone age, with the exception that they have no natural predators and so no natural danger that doesn’t come from their own society (ie conflict) and nature (ie shattering). 

When (if ever) will the gems discover the wheel? weaving? house building? tools? how advanced can their technology become? what about their history? will they come up with laws (like confinement, shattering, loss of privilege…)? will they come up with religion? magic? a mythological system? 

The gems seem naturally more predisposed for math and memorizing detailed information than for more artistic endeavors. For example, I always found it odd how sensei never taught gems music since music is such a fundamental part of being a human. Will the gems eventually invent music? What about literature, sculpture, theater, dance, visual arts?

Finally, overpopulation would be a huge threat. With endless lifespans and a limited amount of land, the gems’ numbers will keep increasing until they reach a critical point. 

War could ensue, shattering could become a punishment or a routine solution to prevent overpopulation. For example, gems might decide that, past a certain age, a gem must be shattered (a social and symbolic form of death) to leave room to the new generations. Or, on the contrary, prevent new gems from being born by patrolling the shore of nascency and shattering newborn gems.

Alternatively, gems could colonize the seabed, maybe befriend the admirabilis and form an alliance with them, exchange goods and knowledge... Without being under the constant threat of lunarian war, gems and admirabilis both would have the numbers and time to develop complex political and economical systems, which would be extremely unique in the case of the lustrous because gems don’t age, don’t die and don’t need to produce food to survive. 

In the end, anything could happen. It’s like playing with ‘universe sandbox,’ except with an alien civilization.