Well my last brainstorm thread didn't get me anywhere, so here's another shot. Unlike Thread 1 this brainstorm actually has a central idea to work around:
Info-magic fantasy.
This bears some explaining:
Info-magic is "techno-magic" taken out of the Industrial Age and given to the Information Age. Industrial magic is about creating clunking behemoths of squish-squashing war machines and dark, overcrowded cities that must be constantly maintained with the sweat of normal people. Information magic gives people access to the world through self-education and increased communication and makes their ordinary lives easier, cleaner, and healthier.
But I'm not going to stick stringently to developing that logically. That sort of technique is the wrong kind for me: it eventually weighs characters down with all sorts of things they "have" to be because that's what's logical. I'd rather allow a free character for the price of some illogic. I'm a comedic author, this helps me anyway.
Beyond that there are sub-ideas that may still be just as important:
Nature isn't a monster
There is no such thing as the supernatural, only the natural
There is no chaos, there is no order, only change and less change
I'm really not sure I want to build this using a theme as it seems like a theme would relegate the characters to actors rather than motivators.
Quote from: SilvercatMoonpawNature isn't a monster
Why is this a point to be made? Nature has never been a monster by default. Some settings may use it as a monster but most often it's just a backdrop.
Quote from: SilvercatMoonpawThere is no such thing as the supernatural, only the natural
Wouldn't that mean that there is no such thing as magic? If it's simply different laws of physics at work, why bother to use the word 'magic' - you could just add a statement that physics/technology works differently in your world.
Quote from: GhostmanQuote from: SilvercatMoonpawNature isn't a monster
Why is this a point to be made? Nature has never been a monster by default. Some settings may use it as a monster but most often it's just a backdrop.
I recently watched a program on ancient Greek myths, and when they talked about how the monsters in the myths it also reminded me of some of the attitude I get from pulp fantasy/sword & sorcery/dark medieval fantasy. I felt I should make my position clear.
And I still tend to feel that settings that use nature as a backdrop still consider it more frightening than I do.
Quote from: GhostmanQuote from: SilvercatMoonpawThere is no such thing as the supernatural, only the natural
Wouldn't that mean that there is no such thing as magic? If it's simply different laws of physics at work, why bother to use the word 'magic' - you could just add a statement that physics/technology works differently in your world.
Because I don't have a word for it yet. What do you call "magic" that isn't magic?
Um, weird science? Oh wait, that's a TV show x.
To the people of the world it's probably "just" an aspect of technology, if from their PoV it isn't anything unusual. Some kind of OOC term might still be useful, to more easily explain to player/readers the differences of your setting vs real world.
How about pseudomagic?
Quote from: GhostmanTo the people of the world it's probably "just" an aspect of technology, if from their PoV it isn't anything unusual. Some kind of OOC term might still be useful, to more easily explain to player/readers the differences of your setting vs real world.
The thing is that "magic" of the world is not only technology-based but biologically-based as well. So you have trees that grow healing fruit in addition to your metal rod that serves as a flashlight.
And then there's the third source, which is really asking energy creatures to alter the process of change that ultimate creates reality (though this sounds powerful enough that it should be super-rare).
Quote from: GhostmanHow about pseudomagic?
That might work.
For in-world I suppose I could call the whole thing "techno-[something]" since the prefix means "art, skill". I'd have to find a suffix other than "-ology" because that comes from the meaning "word, speak" and I'd rather associate this skill with something else.
The problem with magic in a modern era is that people won't call it magic. They'll call it 'something we haven't quite figured out yet.' In your fruit example, they wouldn't call it magic fruit, they would call it by a scientific name, and state that it has some acceleration property on one's natural healing, or whatever their theory is.
I'm not sure what you're trying to do here, I guess. Isn't a world like this the same, essentially, as this one, since they're doing the same things, just in a different manner?
We name different facets of science. Back in the day there was Alchemy and Astrology, now there's Chemistry and Astronomy. If this world has an energy source that can be tapped into by arcane rituals, then there's no reason it wouldn't have its own name separate from other fields of science. It could be called Yellowfluffballistry for all we know, but that sounds stupid. Magic could be the name of the energy, and Magistry could be the name of the science.
Silvercat, I like this start. It is sort of how I'm approaching my world (minus the "there is no Order or Chaos", though I guess that is a truth). Magic is natural, and animals are not monsters (even the unique ones like drakes); though my setting does have monsters, but they are definitely unnatural.
Quote from: Stargate525The problem with magic in a modern era is that people won't call it magic. They'll call it 'something we haven't quite figured out yet.' In your fruit example, they wouldn't call it magic fruit, they would call it by a scientific name, and state that it has some acceleration property on one's natural healing, or whatever their theory is.
Except you're assuming one very important similarity that doesn't exist: this world never found that's it magic didn't work. We don't call things "magic" anymore because that word has meanings we don't want to base our lives around anymore. But if there were some sort of magic that
did work and we kept using it then why would we rename it?
Quote from: Stargate525I'm not sure what you're trying to do here, I guess. Isn't a world like this the same, essentially, as this one, since they're doing the same things, just in a different manner?
It's my fault: when I called info-magic "magic of the information age" I meant "only that technology which exclusively characterizes the information age". Industrial technology was skipped over: this world is a hybrid between a (more or less) traditional fantasy world and computer technology disguised in the form of magic items, all the middle cut out.
Quote from: Kapn XeviatIf this world has an energy source that can be tapped into by arcane rituals, then there's no reason it wouldn't have its own name separate from other fields of science. It could be called Yellowfluffballistry for all we know, but that sounds stupid. Magic could be the name of the energy, and Magistry could be the name of the science.
Exactly. Although I'm thinking of calling it "chorotechne", "dance skill" in comparison to "technology", "word/speaking skill".
Quote from: Kapn Xeviat(minus the "there is no Order or Chaos", though I guess that is a truth)
Another ancient myth commenality that I want to break: "at first the world was chaos, then something imposed order". I want something this time that somewhat rejects the idea of order (it's probably going to be a conflict: "order" vs. "there is no such thing"), and was originally going to use only "chaos" but decided the word had too many connotations. "Change" really is more what I mean.
Magic/Chorotechne (or does technochora sound better? I might change them to chrotecn/tecnchor, even if they do sound a little silly, so they don't sound so obvious)
[ic]The universe is eternal change. The change may be so slow that most beings won't live long enough to notice, or so subtle that beings believe there is a distinct difference between states. Regardless the universe is a flow from one point and state to another.
It is possible to influence that flow (or the flow influence happens anyway and one is along for the ride) and to alter it: this is what is known as magic. Alter it enough and the flow that emerges is concentrated, livelier, capable of greater feats than usual. The most direct way is via one's own body: changing its position and condition. The second way is to create something that inherently alters the flow or can be manipulated to create this state at certain times.
There is rumored to be a third way: it is said that the flow has patterns in it, patterns capable of thought. If one could ask a pattern to change its position the flow would be greatly altered.
The fourth/third way is, obviously, to trick a bunch of suckers into doing the whole thing for you.[/ic]
From this rough piece of IC explanation we can see a couple important facts about how magic (as it is called in the world, not magic necessarily as we know it) works in this world:
1) The universe is a constantly flow.
2) That flow can be (naturally) altered to become different from usual.
3) There are two regular methods for doing this: doing it yourself with your own body, or creating another body/object to do it for you.
4) There is a third type: directly asking the "spirits" to change the flow.
So now why I chose to name it "chorotechne = dance skill" becomes apparent: the oldest method is probably the do-it-with-yourself one. Dance and martial arts would be integral to this older form, which, requiring a lot of training a practice, would be rather exclusive.
Then enter the device method. In this world you don't have to give the thing magic, the way you put it together is what makes it do magic. So anyone with a schematic (and the skill) can do this kind, and you can have one person make the devices and then everyone else uses them. Less input = less exclusive. But how'd they come across it? It's likely that magical animals have these sorts of parts (potential for movement-based magic is probably limited by intelligence, excepting instinctive/a few behvaioral techniques), and maybe if cut out they still sort of function. Tinker with trying to make your own and eventually you get devices. (And then movement- or device-magic gives you the potential to create your own biological magic items, assuming there isn't some other way to do it.)
So now comes my important question: "Who's going to live there?" This doesn't just mean races/species but cultures and professions.
From the movement-magic I think it's clear there are going to be a lot of martial arts disciplines and ecstatic shamans/sacred dancers. This would be the old order, deeply embedded in the culture and probably the ones in power, able to keep themselves there because their art is difficult to learn or steal.
The made-magic creates a group of upstarts: artificers, scientists, and anybody who can make use of the newer info-magic including mega-famous entertainers, slick politicians, and the inevitable entrepeneurs. Education and communication gives power to people who previously wouldn't have had any.
For species I want at least one common non-humanoid. I like the idea of a perspective without thumbs, including the mystical one. I'm thinking a canine species with a wolf/wolf-like dog majority and a foxish minority. There would be at least one, maybe two others, a cervine and pinniped. Very mystical creatures like dragons are their own category.
Add to that some anthropomorphic forms. I do these sorts of races for mixing between humanoid mind and an animalistic body. There are a whole lot of good possibilities for what to include here, though my main idea is an inversion of the commonness of the animals: no wolf, few foxes, mostly cervines and pinnipeds. However rare groups of reptilians can be interesting spice: snake and odder-than-dragonborn dragonites.
The final category is straight humanoids. I question whether I want humans or anything that could pass for human without some disguise (so that would leave out elves). Maybe drawing from fey forms: horns, insect wings, and aquatic traits.
Quote from: Stargate525I'm not sure what you're trying to do here, I guess. Isn't a world like this the same, essentially, as this one, since they're doing the same things, just in a different manner?
Well that does have its advantages: you can make up the world however you want rather than having to follow Earth canon.
So what does this brainstorming so far suggest? A focus on movement and the idea of flow suggests water being an important association for cultures, and the idea that seals, anthro or otherwise, also suggests bodies of water are common (which would further reinforce culture and water).
Islands, with some more substantiative coastline somewhere. (And this is why the canines are more common than the deer and seals: the deer are awkward traveling over water, and the seals are limited in how much they can move on land, but the canines don't have those problems. Possibly the anthro deer and seals were once "exploratory" forms, but have since become their own thing.) A mixture of island sizes so you can have tiny places with a single free port and larger islands that support warring states. Just add pirates as needed.
For religion I'm thinking there's a monolithic water goddess religion that wiped out or incorporated most of the others. At least one split over a dispute of succession, possibly taking a portion of newly-converted islands with it.