Is magic or supernatural/magical creatures and races a NECESSARY element for fantasy books?
I've been working on a series of books and I'm wanting to start pursuing publishing, so I kinda need to know what genre to advertise them as. I've been thinking of them as fantasy. However, there's no magic, no elves or fae or other fantasy-esque races, nothing supernatural. It's an entirely fictional world with a mix of an ancient Greek/Roman era and typical European medieval-style backdrop. I've tried looking up other genres that may fit this better but I'm not confident in anything else. Someone suggested historical fiction but given this is a fictional world and doesn't share Earth's history, I am wary to accept this suggestion.
The only fantasy-like (as far as magic) element is a broken stone where the individual pieces are thought to protect and defend the country in possession of the piece, but if they're reunited, it gives the country in possession of the full stone the power to overcome another country's defenses. This is really only relevant in one book, and the existence and power of the stone is not known to most. Those who know of it (just a small portion of the respective royal families) have varying degrees of faith that it's even magical. The countries that have each piece have been at peace for nearly a millennia and haven't tested its defensive vs offensive abilities since it broke apart, so it's unknown if it even works as advertised.