The Olm are Odd

Due to the Buried Records secret discovery, I was thinking about the groups in Wynn prior to Fruman colonization. We know Ragni had some name prior to contact with Fruma, so could the Olm have given it that name? Possibly, but we don't see any evidence of the Olm in the Ragni area. The only places where the Olm are confirmed to have been are pre-dark Silent Expanse, Time Valley, and the Dernal Jungle, with large structures that were probably made by the Olm in the Nesaak Tundra and Troms Jungle.

What feels weird about that is that prior to the corruption, there is no natural barrier between any part of the Wynn Plains besides minor rivers and a mountain that can be gone around fairly easily. Therefore, we should see Olm ruins throughout the plains, not just Time Valley. The fact that there aren't any ruins naturally leads to the question of why that is, which has a few possible answers.

1. The Olm mostly avoided exploration and didn't want to go further than Time Valley in the plains. This is possible, but again, why would this be?
2. The Olm were prevented from expanding into most of Wynn by some pre-Fruman group. If the Olm weren't looking to fight, this makes sense, but than the question is "who are these groups?".
3. The Olm did expand, but their settlements became towns occupied by Frumans, and other structures were destroyed or collapsed and disappeared. This feels unlikely due to there being very little to suggest extensive Olm-Fruman Human contact in game, but who knows.

Another question is how the Olm seem to have gone functionally extinct. While yes, the darkness and crystals seem to have killed most of them, Bob's mom was alive until 854 AP, and there is still an Olm merchant in Tempo Town, although time-warping magic can explain that. Still, there is proof that the Olm did not go extinct due to crystals. So, what happened to the surviving Olm? Did they intermarry like Bob's mother? Again, possibly, but the fact Bob is the only known character of mixed Olm-Fruman Human ancestry raises questions, especially due to the lack of mention of Olm existing in towns (again with the expectation of the merchant and Bob's mom).

There's also the question of how an Olm can have a child with a human, which is either answered by the Olm having left Fruma like other pre-Fruman groups in Wynn, and thus being human and not from Dern, or MAGIC. Maybe we don't need a detailed lore answer to this one, lol.

If I'm getting any of the lore painfully wrong, let me know (politely, please!)

 

You might be referring to something that's slipped between the cracks of my knowledge, but if you're referring to "Rashniv" or however it's spelt, that's a name given to it by Frumans, as it was a colony established as they expanded out into the province.

________________________________

In real life, similar species can produce offspring (i.e., lions and tigers can make ligers, dogs and coyotes can make coydogs, and neanderthals were integrated into the human species through interbreeding). Most flesh-based humanoid species in Wynn seem genetically compatible with one another (Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Olm, Villagers, and potentially even Orcs) and can thus produce offspring... it just doesn't happen often enough for the cases where it does to not be particularly interesting (perhaps due to a lower chance of conception / successful childbirth, and perhaps also due to the isolation a lot of groups have from one another)

 

"Our will is that the town of Sikshahrath be henceforth called Ragshniv."

 

Sikshahrath is also the old Fruma language

 

Option 4. Time valley cataclysm came far before the Olm were finished building Time Valley, or didn't and just retroactively retconned a lot heck ton of stuff. (To those of you who say, what is the Time Valley Cataclysm? It is something not very backed up by lore, but I think TLS is evidence enough.

Also see very old Olm in Desert theories