Hey, author here. It's been a while since Ive done one of these "talk" chapters, but I wanted to go over a few things I haven't really dived into yet.
First off the political issues in the world.
As you know, there are seven countries. And just like in real life, the weaker ones don't exactly get to speak up when things go wrong. The kings and queens of Ostara and Korraval have been in conflict lately, mostly about how elven forces keep attacking villages near their borders.
Why's that happening?
Simple like in the real world, the more territory you take, the more resources you get. So, little by little, the elves have been expanding into human lands. No official war has been declared, but it's pretty much a silent takeover slow, subtle, but constant.
Now about Illys.
He isn't really meant to be some "mysterious" character right now he's just a calm, cool guy. His story will be explained soon enough, but for now, we won't see too much of him. There's a reason for that: he's just way above the current characters in terms of strength. But don't worry he'll have his moment later.
Lastly, about constellations.
You might've noticed I mostly use the basic constellations. That's because sub constellations naturally choose far fewer people not because they're weaker, but because they simply don't feel the need to bond with as many.
For example, Frynja, a sub constellation of water (they're basically like cousins or offshoots of the main branches), is actually one of the strongest constellations right now only behind Thalora, Ignara, and Elynor in that order.
So yeah, that's why you don't see many of them around. Nobody forces a constellation to choose someone, and that's also a big reason why Hollowborns exist in the first place.