Quote Originally Posted by nukemind View Post
How Allag fell. Basically the idea that a single Earthquake led to the collapse of a civilization (and yes, it had rot, don't get me wrong), and that all that tech was lost.
There was a giant revolt against the emperor right at the very end and the earthquake swallowed up the Crystal Tower and likely the capital. The Crystal Tower was also the main power source for the entire empire’s technology.

We never see what the average Allagan citizen’s life was like and how much technology was involved in their day-to-day. We’ve only visited their secret labs. The average person could very well have only experienced life improvements like the better roads while stuff like the robots and airships were only used by the military.

On top of all that, by the late empire all their knowledge was being put on tomestones. If they suddenly lacked the ability to read from the tomestones at the same time the fall of the empire, civil war, and the and power source for everything gets swallowed up in a calamity, I can see technology falling backwards. IIRC the reason why Principia was a magic familiar in a paper book was just in case something like that happened so she could assist future generations with primal problems.

That said, not all knowledge of technology was lost since the Onishishu seem to have been able to keep knowledge preserved through generations unbroken since the Allagan Empire.