wtffff

....I'm thinking their food is pure chemicals and artificial in taste.

Talk to the hand Pablo...

Not a very diplomatic "uhuh"

Oh they’re trying to imitate the liv diplomat suits! Cute!

It seems a bit different than steam, but aside from that, the tech also doesn't seem to work very well either.

That hand made of black smoke is very reassuring.

That plume of smoke looks like a shadowy hand.

Or maybe it's a shadowy hand that looks like a plume of smoke.

Either way, it doesn't look good.

"According to the Codes of Alvarall, there is no difference between the theorist and the terrorist. Even the most cherished desire disappears in their hands. This is why Alvarian diplomats have black hands. "
-- Excerpt from "Lessons for Livarians in Alvarall"

I actually believe they might be. I could totally see Alvarall being one age behind all the others!

(Or, for that matter, Liverall, their most obvious competition, being one age ahead!)

Thst steam looks a lot like a hand...

I sense a mixture of pride and envy. Prenvy.

Petrochemical power in wearable technology seems dangerous and impractical. Also probably really hot.

It's interesting that they refer to themselves as the most technologically advanced country in the world, when we know that other parts of Heroland and even Lorg have access to more advanced technology than steam or clockwork. Even though it's been implied that a lot of the advanced tech is not well understood, there is enough stuff more advanced than that being used that at least some of it must be understood enough and manufactured by humans. (Though I'm not sure I understood the whole thing with the upside-down city beneath Lorg and the explanation of the tech they used. Even with all that, the empire also has comparable tech to the upside-down city, and as an isolationist nation it can't be getting it from outside, so guy's car is in theory made in the Empire. So then are Alvarians somehow not aware of the tech level of everyone else? I could understand them not being aware of the Empire's technology, like cars, walkie-talkie's, fricking nuclear bombs. (They outlawed casting spells, but legalized nuclear bombs.) I suppose they could mean that they are the most advanced nation that makes and understands their own tech, (excluding the Empire.) Still there is enough of the tech in seemingly common use that it can't all be from the upside down city. (I could be misremembering how that whole thing worked I suppose.

All that being said. Being able to make a steam engine that fits comfortably in your hat is still very impressive, regardless of how temperamental it seems to be, as is Pablos's clockwork hammerspace hat.

@Sporf

It honestly wouldn't shock me if tech is weird and poorly understood, and as far as engineering rather than just copy-pasted designs, Alvaria is actually pretty high in the leaderboards. (No way they beat Liveral, but entirely possibly that they discount magitech and that Liverian tech *is* magitech.)

It's also possible that they do this to troll Livarian Diplomats, and they know full well that they're upper-middle of the pack.

Also also, entirely possible that there are factory-ruins that still can produce things - for now - but nobody knows how to replace or replicate them. It would fit with most of the setting we've seen so far, allow for a certain abundance in tech, while still making most tech we see infrastructural and/or a sign of wealth and status.

...Clearly modern architectural knowledge wasn't lost with the technomancers, though!