Quote Originally Posted by Buffalobiian View Post
More so than anything else, they isolated themselves so that their power doesn't leak out and destroy the world. That's what I got from all of it. This was especially the case during the drought since their power would be even more noticeable. One could argue that there were better ways to do things though.
Yeah, the only other choice worse than this would have been to conquer the world using their magic. Now it's the classic case of forgetting they are still a part of the world. A country's first priority should be the well-being of its citizens, even a kid like Livi realised that as the regular folks in his country (and possibly the countries he conquered) are now enjoying a time of peace, economic growth, and a boost in state sponsored infrastructure. The Rain country totally failed that based on what we know, and they did that out of fear, even though they should have nothing to fear. So they are afraid for the sake of being afraid. Livi certainly had the better attitude of caring only for the present, not what might or might not happen in the future.