Underhill Technology

Level of Technological Advancement
There need to be some rules about tech levels in this world. The Dwarves kept the highest level of advancement, even though they lost a bit of ground. They were able to mine and smelt and forge metals still, used hydroponics when they weren't sure they could trust the water/life outside the mountains (where the bombs hit closest), and eventually turned living metal into a very common thing to enhance armor with. Also, they made the dragons, and a few other flying/transportation type vehicles.

The Changed dropped most of their tech when they went back to Old Earth. They were still far more advanced than the people there, having more knowledge of farming techniques, sanitation, building, etc. But the trade with the Dwarves was very, very limited, and eventually the Changed wound up being not as far off in tech as the humans around them. Having to hide a lot of their advancements, or letting people think magic powered everything, also played a part in this.

When the Changed started to come back, around the early 1800s, they found themselves nearly in the same situation they'd had when they went to Old Earth. Underhill had healed and adapted. Those who'd made it their 'most of the time' home were better off, having claimed good lands and strengthened their position and gotten used to how the planet works. Those who were too young, hadn't spent much time on Underhill, or were otherwise crippled in their adaption to the planet, they had to start fresh.

At some point, between the Dwarves regaining space flight, the Jormunger being built on the bones of the old interstellar ships, and the final return of the majority of the Changed, the larger of the two moons was inhabited and terraformed. The Grove may or may not have had something to do with this. But those of the Changed who were too weak to claim lands on the surface, or couldn't handle the gravity where there was unclaimed land, made the moon their home instead. Ironically, they needed to increase the gravity of its surface to something approximating Earth's, in order to make living there bearable too. For a while, humans who visited "Underhill" were actually ending up, by and large, on the moon or one of the Jormunger sections.

The Orks are the Dwarves who split off. When they left the mountains and returned to the lands outside. They too gave up a large level of tech to do this. No anti-grav, no hydroponics, no mechanized vehicles. They found the genetically engineered dogs in some areas and bonded with them. In other places, they tamed various local wildlife, experimenting until they found animals that were stable enough genetically to breed.

They too, traded with the Dwarves, bringing in the plants highest in Ambrosia compound for trade with the Old Earth Changed, and getting metal goods and gems and such in return. As the Grove expanded its influence, various Ork groups tried to either hem it in, fight with it, or work with it. In some places the Grove lost. In most it won. The Orks developed very strong magic related to the amount of Ambrosia they got in their daily diet. This, along with the eventual alliance they made with the Grove, turned them shamanistic in their practices and beliefs. They dropped a bit more of their tech level, but could wield a plant and animal magic that more than made up for it.

The Land-Elves are the higher ranking Changed who eventually settled into their genetic changes as a humanoid almost indistinguishable from baseline humans. They are the ones who came back from Old Earth earliest, either permanently or to reestablish temporary strongholds and bases of operation on Underhill. They almost entirely settled in the old territories bounded by anti-grav generators, and their holdings were generally smaller, a few hundred or a few thousand acres, depending. The are more adapted to heavier gravity than those on Jormunger or the moon, but not as robust as the Orks who live in full gravity. Their tech levels when they came back to Underhill weren't much further ahead than the humans they left. What they didn't have tech for, they used newfound magic, which was stronger for those making their primary home on Underhill (and thus they rose to command the peoples who lived mainly on Earth) *maybe there was a time where the only magic they could manage on Earth were things like fire lighting? Because they saved most of their power to make portals back to Underhill and try to stabilize the changes in their genes*

By the time the story rolls around, there is blend of magic and tech, but it is inconsistent depending on location, power of the local Lord, trade agreements with Dwarves, etc. Those who are at odds with the local Dwarves aren't going to have the best weapons, or a working interface with the computers on the Jormunger, etc. Either they compensate, or they figure out how to manage on their own. Jormunger Changed were some of the first to make it up to the abandoned ships after the Psych and Constitution factions were booted out. (left on foot, through gates/portals set up by the changed? Or on ship). They stayed while most of the other changed left. With the Dwarves help, they refurbish the ships, and started the skeleton of what would one day be the Jormunger system of satellites. They are accustomed to lighter gravity than those on the surface, more like Earth norm. They are also more engaged in cybernetics and cyberbiotics, some of their changes having involved adapting tech into their bodies, hosting minds in the computers, and development/upkeep of ship based defenses and weapons to both protect the Jormunger itself and project power if needed. As Changed came back to Underhill, some chose to settle on the satellites. A few stations were built entirely for one lord or another. A few were used to house humans, before the planetside villages were developed. Some are communal. Some serve as embassies or waystations for the folk who moved to Jotunheim and the Desert planet (name?). The tech levels include hydroponics, closed system water and air circulation, and space-based ship development (Whales are large cargo drones? Drakes are passenger based).

The Moon was settled and terraformed by still more changed, the ones who couldn't adapt/get along with the other races overtaking the planet. At first it was started as a refuged from the Grove, during one of the first wars between the Dwarves/Orks and the expanding Grove. (Only the Dwarves have mining rights, anywhere. Rights for foresting or new crops have to be negotiated with the Grove now). After the wars, some stayed on the moon and continued terraforming it with plants that weren't Grove-linked. Mostly Earth offshoots bred for the location. Eventually, the Moon became a sort of space Australia for people who couldn't cope on the planet or threatened the habitability of Jormunger scales. Tech there is spotty, depending on the people and location. Its gravity has been artificially increased, and those spots that serve as anchors are very well guarded. Magic is in low usage there, since the number of Ambrosia plants is at a bare minimum for survival. The Drow/Dark Dwarves are at the lowest end of the tech scale. They split from the Dwarves and went even deeper into the mountains and crust of the planet, mining in places Dwarves hadn't reached yet and sabotaging efforts when the Dwarves did make it down. They have limited hydroponics, fish from the deep water basins and underground rivers, and live off a lot of fungi. They're not stone age tech, but what higher levels of tech they have, they probably stole.

Humans are the last of the bipedals with a presence on Underhill. Almost all baseline, with varying degrees of Changed ancestry, the humans all come from pre 1800s Old Earth as adults. Anyone brought over from a more recent time is going to be a baby or very very young child. Although there were never many brought to Underhill after they reached 12 or so anyways. The Changed wanted their charges to be young enough to forget Earth, for the most part. Easy enough to teach the new ways of living. And not from a time with enough scientific advancement to want railways, flight, or other things that came with the industrial revolution. Communication crystals are one thing. Instantaneous transport from one place to another is only available to those with power and those attached to the powerful. No TV, no internet, no inclinations to say 'it's not scientifically possible' and cause trouble. Find the Change-blooded as young as possible.

This means that the tech the humans have available to them varies some, although usually within a range of options. It all depends on which Changed lord/person of power is dominant over a certain set of humans. Most Fae keep their humans down to foot power, water mills, and livestock-powered tilling and transport. Others will allow limited magic, such as communication crystals and powered printing operations and heating elements so that cooking doesn't need to be over a fire. Since cutting a lot of wood isn't an option, foresters are usually some of the highest trained of the humans, having to be so in order to deal with the Grove and the regulated tree cutting.