Nainoxia

With the establishment of the Divine Seal, the Elven Gods could no longer remain on Ulathian. For a year, they discussed with the elves about the best way to structure their society, and on their departure, the Elven Republic was formed. Its goals would be the safeguarding of elvenking, and the continued cultivation of elven minds.

With the events of The Schism, and later AngelDeath, the mortal races inhabiting the world quickly realised that they would have to adapt and invent in order to create the arms and armor to defend themselves with. For a time, humans were only able to find wooden and stone tools, and whatever divine artifacts they could scrounge, to defend themselves, which led to utter devastation against the beings of chaos and evil that attacked them. While the scattered remains of the mortal races were being purged by the demonic invaders, the infighting between the invaders would allow time for the first Bloomeries to be created.

The invention of Bloomeries took place around 31 B.F. , and is widely regarded by historians to be what turned the tide, and allowed for the founding of the Empire. As the bloomeries became more advanced, and techniques evolved, men and women were able to be armed with sturdy iron weapons and armor, that they used to great effect to take back their land. While Gondor Lionell was armed with divine weapons and armor, the armies of the First Crusade  were fed by iron and charcoal.

Most recently, the invention of the Blast Furnace has shocked the world, and increased potential production of metals exponentially. While bloomeries were slow and could not fully melt metal, with bars having to be imported from the dwarves, Blast Furnaces can run continually for years, and while fuel and ore is shoveled in, keep producing molten metals with unrivaled efficiency. While their adoption has been slow, and mired in political turmoil, they are steadilly expanding, and being refined. This is heralded by some as the end of dwarven hegemony over metallurgy, allowing even alloys such as steel to be produced cheaply, but many are not so certain. One thing is for sure, if this continues unimpeded, the industry of the Empire will explode in the coming century.