I was thinking about that random, inexplicable Steam-Ship in Deltora Quest: The Maze of the Beast, and I realized something.
It’s not actually all that inexplicable.
By looking at the world of deltora as a whole (as opposed to the continent of deltora), it has suddenly become apparent to me that it’s not the steam boat that is out of place, but rather the technological deficiency of the entire continent of Deltora.
In every book Emily Rodda writes for this particular world, the main characters always start out in a socially or in some cases physically secluded area. Lief was in the city of Del, who lost contact with the outside world for approximately 50 years, maybe more, and only became more secluded during the period of time during which the Shadow Lord executed direct control. Rye of Weld lived in the walled nation-state of Weld, which had absolutely no contact with the outside world for about one or two thousand years, and further had a shockingly low metal content. Rin is a tiny village whose very existence is probably some kind of Maris national secret. All of these places, by their very nature, would have a lower technological level than the outside world, simply due to lower degrees of interaction.
Lets look at the notably more advanced technologies we have seen in the series. I will leave out the Shadow Lord’s technomagical machinations, as the comparison is hardly fair in that case.
There is, of course, the steamboat. It’s presence in the river isn’t all that strange, even considering the later use of the Star of Deltora in the series of the same name (a ship which appears to follow a late Renaissance design) as steam ships are only really effective in rivers, and would be unfeasible in the open water, at least not until modern-era ships start developing. Even so, it is canonically established that the Star of Deltora is around 40 years old by the time the series of the same name starts, and around 20 during the events of the original series. At least. This means, even if steamboats were feasible in the open water, they would still be in production, and likely not have fully phased out the wind-powered ships.
Further, we see evidence of massive technological advancement on the island of dorne, at least outside of Weld. The Fitzfee clan was shown to have developed a number of complex technological marvels, from intricate clockwork music boxes to actual flamethrowers. Many of the item’s in Tom’s shop can reasonably be assumed to have had their origin in Dorne, as Dorne is the only island known to have possessed both a large supply of working sorcerers (creators of miscellaneous magics such as the Sky Sphere) and techsmiths (clearly the Fitzfees). Thus, we can infer that perhaps some of the seemingly magical items in tom’s shop, such as the water eaters, may have actually been technological or alchemical in origin, raising the bar for the world’s average technological level even higher.
The island of the Zebak was certainly the home of an advanced, dare I say almost MODERN society, in stark contrast to the medieval-ish inhabitants of Maris. I mean, they literally live in a city made of solid sheets of metal, and have internal plumbing, as well as complex breeding techniques. Depending on how you look at it, they may even have developed hypnotism techniques. This makes sense, given that it seems to be the nature of the Maris to avoid contact with those outside their island, be suspicious of virtually everyone, and constantly wallow in tradition which was originally designed to keep them from killing each-other but has slowly been corrupted by their suspicious nature to stagnate their society. The Rin and the Travelers can hardly be at fault here, as they have neither the population nor the resources to develop technology to any reasonably extent (though the travelers evidently developed personalized gliders which work with their magical wind control, which is pretty impressive under the circumstances). In contrast, the Zebak have a large population, a strong desire to expand, and a desperation for more food resources, which is probably what fueled their rapid increase in technological development, despite the fact that I doubt anyone would ever willingly trade with them.
Even the people of Weld who I mentioned earlier are not without some impressive developments. Because their magical talents are masked by the rigid structure of their society and of their communities themselves, they have turned to other means for healing, developing a medical system which closely mirrors western medicine.
In other words, it’s not a matter of the steam-boat being to advanced for the world of deltora, but rather a matter of the continent of deltora being conspicuously underdeveloped technologically. And I think we all know the reason why that is the case. I’ll say it anyway, though: the Shadow Lord.
It would be in the Shadow Lord’s best interests to limit the level of technology his subjects had access to. After all, he can easily track powerful magic, but technological threats have a way of perpetuating themselves in a knowledgeable populace. Ultimately, he sees the nation of Deltora as a mining operation, from which he would gain food, weapons, and magical soldiers for use against the other islands. Thus his plans would not benefit from his slaves gaining high level technology. Further, his efforts to eliminate literacy in Deltora as a form of magical defense against the Belt and Adin’s heirs would have a secondary effect of limiting the spread of technology significantly. The only two places in the original series where we actually see advanced tech are in places which the Shadow Lord has limited control at best: Amethyst territory and Tom’s shop.
So that is why there is a random steam-boat in the river broad.
What do you think? @dragoninmypocket @rithmeres @deltoraquest-blog @jemthebookworm
