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Firstly I agree, we do use information from theories centuries old because facts remain the same no matter the time period. With that said however, people are constantly continuing the research and updating the information. Take Darwin's theory of natural selection for example. After Darwin came Mendelian inheritance, the Boveri–Sutton chromosome theory, genetics, DNA, etc all to form our modern day understanding of evolution. And now we have practical applications like selective breading, gene editing etc. Yes, Darwin laid the groundwork, but the research into the topic went beyond just him.

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The study of the nature of magic on Lore is a deadly, dangerous, life-changing, and rewarding field. Those mages that find themselves lucky enough to master the flow of mana are few and far between, and unlikely to share their secrets.
Unfortunately, much research has been lost to time and disaster, and so further exploration of the leyline and other theories of magic must be left to those who are brave enough to risk their lives in search of greater understanding.

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The book also makes it clear in the introduction that (at the time) this was the prevalent theory in Greenguard. From the story we've seen in DragonFable, it can be inferred that the different continents and countries of Lore don't seem to have regular communications. Sure there have been an amount of refugees from the Shapeless Empire, but certainly not any traditionally educated mages. The closest one being Gaelan, who, while knows a lot about how the Magesterium works, was not inducted into their extremely secretive upper echelon.

Perhaps Jaania would have been that Darwin, had she not been frozen. But, as far as I'm aware, there is no evidence of organized research into the nature of magic in the Kingdom of Greenguard. Any is mostly into the applications of the elements. And if any mages did make any independent concerted effort to pursue this research, would there be incentive to share it? There's no educational body to present the research to, no guild of mages, no acclamation to gain.

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And remember, we've seen a civilization ruled by mages- the Shapeless Empire. And there is certainly a clear divide between them and the Kingdom of Greenguard.

The systems and cooperation and patronage that were available in Earth's past were not available in Greenguard. And thus research stagnated.