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The Twilight Age - Tale of Post-Apocalyptic Mars

The Cover Art
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Credit goes to my friend.
 
I meant my response for both posts, actually, including this one:



I wanted to limit the readily available magitek to prevent anything that could be considered a "I-Win button" but in the same time actually allow magitek to canonically exist in the setting.

Magic usually have a clearly defined rules and restrictions readers can readily understand.

Easiest way to give magic rules is to make it dependant on skills, knowledge or focus of the caster. Spirits, being inherently magical beings that don't care much about physics in the first place, are harder to limit, but still, you can limit it by knowledge of both caster and Spirit. Perhaps despite the fact Spirits don't quite understand humans or even laws of physics, most of them started to understand responsibility etc.
Well, when I wrote 'liberating', I meant if it can be used to allow technological imitation of basic Magery, giving the none-Mage the taste of what's coming in future, without messing up everything. I also had an idea of rediscovered radio technology being the foundation of Magitek (while being useless in its original role).

Or is it a too dangerous path to take?
 
Well, when I wrote 'liberating', I meant if it can be used to allow technological imitation of basic Magery, giving the none-Mage the taste of what's coming in future, without messing up everything. I also had an idea of rediscovered radio technology being the foundation of Magitek (while being useless in its original role).

Or is it a too dangerous path to take?
Magitek normally isn't a problem in the setting that wouldn't have any advanced - or should I say post-medieval - technology on its own. It's mostly window dressing for fantasy shows to look differently, is not a mean to resolve the problem of main plot / story-line.

In setting where normal, non-magical technology exist alongside with magitek, there should logically be some form of competition, which one is better, or competitive, cheapest, or easiest to use, which would eventually lead to one being ultimately superior to other as has no downsides or very little limitations (especially magitek if it breaks physics), while people simply stop using other.

If you were an only writer, I would say, go ahead, it is your story and conflict is what you make it to be. People may still asks why everyone isn't using magitek if it is truly magical solution to everything, but ... hey, it's your story.

However, in setting that started almost entirely as a fluff / lore, with no story tied to it whatsoever, and with potential that you might eventually attract other writers to make a stories for you, you need to think more about possibilities, limits, what is allowed and what is not. Shared settings need to worry about such a thing, because in time, writers will stop being on the same page as you and someone will eventually try to win the setting rather than writing the story.

On the other hand, I wanted to be enabling with magic ... so I didn't want to make magitek impossible. So I am thinking about how to balance things off, and it is challenging to think of a way that absolutely isn't abuseable
 
Maybe it can be something like this:

You once wrote that everything, including technology, is in process of acclimatizing to the changed physics of the new world. Maybe the Augmentation discipline is a Mage temporarily 'unlocking' the acclimatization of a technological item. The Magitek would be a step further from that, a piece of technological item that has been fully acclimated to the Magery, which would either make it a permanently Augmented item, or item that could replicate Magery effect, but just as Mages are rare, Magitek items are rare - even more so considering that technological item can't breed themselves, and likely kept out of reach of most people for studying.
 
You once wrote that everything, including technology, is in process of acclimatizing to the changed physics of the new world. Maybe the Augmentation discipline is a Mage temporarily 'unlocking' the acclimatization of a technological item. The Magitek would be a step further from that, a piece of technological item that has been fully acclimated to the Magery, which would either make it a permanently Augmented item, or item that could replicate Magery effect, but just as Mages are rare, Magitek items are rare - even more so considering that technological item can't breed themselves, and likely kept out of reach of most people for studying.
Let's take this from a different angle.
Instead of thinking how, let us think what you actually want in the setting, i.e. what can be done, and what can not be done to avoid breaking the story.
What you don't want in the setting?
 
What you don't want in the setting?
What I don't want: Needless Grimdark. Earth-man. Aliens (except for Spirits). Advanced electronics. Evil Empire/overlord final boss. Magery being overpowered and completely replacing technology. Society treating Mages like a shit for no good reason. World War 2 expy. Explicit political message and resulting shitstorm.

What I want: Well-written and interesting ecosystem. A fragmented world with numbers of free cities and statelets. New frontiers and badlands open to exploration. Bandits and quirky isolationists. Female airship captain. Magery well-integrated into setting.

...Probably not the answer you are seeking here. Sorry. But I wrote everything I can think of currently.
 
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What I don't want: Needless Grimdark. Earth-man. Aliens (except for Spirits). Advanced electronics. Evil Empire/overlord final boss. Magery being overpowered and completely replacing technology. Society treating Mages like a shit for no good reason. World War 2 expy. Explicit political message and resulting shitstorm.
We already made steps to enforce some of those rules / goals.
Hopefully, we avoided grimdark and it's aspects like needless abuse of mages etc. and we hopefully avoided some fantasy tropes like Evil Overlords.

We will also hopefully avoid (too many) political messages. We can't prevent this entirely, as almost all works of fiction have some political underlines, but we can avoid triggering a lot of people.

Aliens aren't much of the problem either. We ruled them out of the universe, and it is unlikely they will be implemented outside actual crossovers (and you need to be pretty famous to get a lot of crossovers messing with your setting established rules)

World War 2 expy is ... harder to rule out, because it is bound to happen in the setting eventually, but we can rule out it will happen anytime soon. People do understand themes.

Earth-man is .... actually, not too much of the issue, you only need to explicitly forbid authors writing for your setting to use self-inserts, or other character from Earth, or ISOT's from another time etc.

What would be a nightmare is to rule out factions under self-insert mentality, i.e. have broken powers, and are too ahead of time and out of theme. You can regulate it to some point, but as you noticed on SB, people do try to make those somehow instinctively once they are given an option.

As far as advanced electronics go, and magic replacing technology, my ideas are based around restricting options for immediate advancements in both routes - even though, I can be erratic at times, as you have noticed. You can't rule out progress from the setting ... well, you can, but it won't make any sense whatsoever ... and your setting another 30 years in the future will be different, but you can rule out immediate advancement, so stories will take place in your setting.
Generally, integrating the magic system into a world building is hard, and even most entertaining (and written by professionally written) stories can break apart under sustained scrutiny should anyone try to pick apart their rules of magic in detail...

BTW should you get more writers, rule out stories taking place in past or in future, always sent in universe's "preset time". It may cause temporal paradox if you have several writers who all has been canon.
 
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Spirits naturally crave interaction with an intelligent creatures and will, instinctively, try to interact with anything that even remotely resembles intelligence, which to (Spirit's senses) includes advanced electronics. This usually results in a destruction of an electronic device, and was a primary cause of Sorrow disaster, and reason for a current state of the world. What really causes electronic to burst out almost spontaneously, while humans, animals and generally delicate biological neural system to be unaffected, is not known. Spirits themselves do not understand this phenomenon, beyond the fact it exist.

Electronics can be prevented from being tampered on by a Spirit by the process of Warding. Warding prevent Spirits from enter a designated area, however this is enforced by one of the Spirits mage made contract with. However, no advanced electronic survived the Sorrow, and ability to actually make those has been lost to people of Nerio, hence it is not possible to verify whether advanced electronics work when warded.

Spirits also interact with radio waves, causing a massive interference, making simple radio unpractical for communication.

Crude devices containing some electrical mechanism are usually under Spirit's interest, and are safe to operate, and theoretically can be operated without any warding. Purely mechanical devices, or chemical processes. etc. aren't tempered with.

Contrary to popular belief that Spirits only work through mage, they can also interact with almost anything in physical plane, even with items that normally doesn't interest them. This allow them to enhance functionality of device, as long as that device is mechanically sound, like engine. Limits associated with that are usually two fold: First is Spirit's motivation in doing so, as they always prefer to seek attention of living being that can perceive them. Second is lack of actual knowledge, mechanic or physical laws they try to imitate, Spirit doesn't understand the mechanics of the engine so in order to overclock its function, they have to be guided by educated mage, which forces mages that want to deal with technology to be also educated in engineering, along with being very balanced mentally, as it involves guiding the Spirit carefully through the process.

This process has been occasionally abused to create a Magitek: A spirit seems to be able to generate force or electrical current seemingly out of nowhere, and despite the fact it usually don't understand a limit or measurement of such force or current, it can be abused to theoretically create an infinite energy. This however, have limits. There is no way to permanently imprison a Spirit without assistance of another, hence Spirit powering the device must be willing, and do so on its free will. Spirit can be also bored, and simply leave the device, which requires a mage to interact with Spirits, either through the duration of the process, or at least regularly if Spirit is especially patient.


*) In this write-up, Spirit's power can break laws of physics, but outside some passive interference (with radio waves, with electronics), magic is always "set on manual" for mage and Spirit alike.
 
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What would be a nightmare is to rule out factions under self-insert mentality, i.e. have broken powers, and are too ahead of time and out of theme. You can regulate it to some point, but as you noticed on SB, people do try to make those somehow instinctively once they are given an option.
Eh, it's to be expected, as you have noted. I can always intervene/retcon if it goes too far.

even though, I can be erratic at times, as you have noticed.
Can't be worse than me, as you have noticed.

You can't rule out progress from the setting
However, I can get the result of progress away from the hands of characters, either because they are out in the boonies, or because it's not really something anyone could use individually or in everyday life (radar, for example), or because it's still in prototype stage (which would make it plot item rather than gadget to be used).

BTW should you get more writers, rule out stories taking place in past or in future, always sent in universe's "preset time". It may cause temporal paradox if you have several writers who all has been canon.
Yeah, that's my worries as well.
 
However, I can get the result of progress away from the hands of characters, either because they are out in the boonies, or because it's not really something anyone could use individually or in everyday life (radar, for example), or because it's still in prototype stage (which would make it plot item rather than gadget to be used).
It's a question whether radars in general even works ... it either gets false images, or at very least require warding to properly function. I think this wasn't clarified in the technological limitation write-up.

I'd like to include this on a fluff article on Spirits and Magery, with some editing. Are you okay with that?
Of course.
 
It's a question whether radars in general even works ... it either gets false images, or at very least require warding to properly function. I think this wasn't clarified in the technological limitation write-up.
Currently, no one has radar, and it might not work, as you noted. I'll clarify.

By the way, how is my What I Want in my story list? Would they be workable?
 
By the way, how is my What I Want in my story list? Would they be workable?

What I want: Well-written and interesting ecosystem. A fragmented world with numbers of free cities and statelets. New frontiers and badlands open to exploration. Bandits and quirky isolationists. Female airship captain. Magery well-integrated into setting.
Most of it isn't really a problem.

World will not remain fractures for a long time, eventually it will recover, unless you find out some unusual explanation why it never can.

You can, however, set a stories immediately after the war, mere months after a peace has been signed, making sure world is still either fractured, or in chaos, from what it experienced. This - combined with a rule that story must be set in what is "present time" for a setting - will assure world described in stories will be in status you want it in, and easily justify why it is so.

Female airship captain is not much of the issue either. We have faction or two which won't have a problem with a woman holding such a position, just give character appropriate background and you are golden.

Magery well integrated into the setting - it depends how you mean it. If you mean it on meta level, like integrating a magical system into the world building, this is obviously a challenge, and can be picked apart by people who pay attention (or rather, nit-pick). If you mean, in-universe, you obviously achieved that by the lore already established, and we can further solidify it by further write-ups. Just getting entertaining story may be an issue right now...
 
World will not remain fractures for a long time, eventually it will recover, unless you find out some unusual explanation why it never can.
It can, however, stay that way for the duration of the story.

You can, however, set a stories immediately after the war, mere months after a peace has been signed, making sure world is still either fractured, or in chaos, from what it experienced. This - combined with a rule that story must be set in what is "present time" for a setting - will assure world described in stories will be in status you want it in, and easily justify why it is so.
Well, this is a problem since I want my story to be some years after the war - after the immediate chaos has been calmed, leaving only new frontiers (and new problems) to be explored.

Female airship captain is not much of the issue either. We have faction or two which won't have a problem with a woman holding such a position, just give character appropriate background and you are golden.
What if I want to make her from Dar-es-Salaam?

Magery well integrated into the setting - it depends how you mean it. If you mean it on meta level, like integrating a magical system into the world building, this is obviously a challenge, and can be picked apart by people who pay attention (or rather, nit-pick). If you mean, in-universe, you obviously achieved that by the lore already established, and we can further solidify it by further write-ups. Just getting entertaining story may be an issue right now...
Meta-level, obviously.
 
It can, however, stay that way for the duration of the story.
Yes. Stories usually don't span over period of several years, hence immediate chances aren't going to be visible.

Well, this is a problem since I want my story to be some years after the war - after the immediate chaos has been calmed, leaving only new frontiers (and new problems) to be explored.
You won't get that many bandits if society had a chance to stabilise itself after the war. Yes, you can imitate a status Weimar republic was in after the war, but only to certain point.

What if I want to make her from Dar-es-Salaam?
Do you really want to?

Because, this matter touches the real world politics, and there is no correct answer. Both yes and no leads to its own set of problems.
 
This is what I am most worried about - ideas clashing with politics, unintentionally.
Luckily (or sadly, depending on perspective) you aren't famous, so activists won't jump on your every word.

Fan-fiction sites, even one political as SV, won't pick on things you forget to mention. You just ... need to leave things in the air, so to speak.
 
The Spirits
The Spirits are perhaps the most bizarre lifeforms encountered by Humanity. They are incorporeal and invisible beings, capable of being perceived only by those with Magery talents in their blood. Perhaps they do have physical bodies in their home dimension but have long since learned how to free their consciousness and project them to a distant place, like Nerio. The Mages have described the Spirits as resembling "...twilling lights, with long, graceful tendrils."

The presence of the Spirits shaped the history of Nerio and its inhabitants. Their first incursion caused the Sorrow, and that stigma is still there albeit being faded by the passing of times and inability of Humans to affect Spirits in any meaningful way. Unfortunately, that stigma sometimes manifests as misguided distrust of Mages who could interact with Spirits and can be affected by other Humans.

Their later contribution, the introduction of Magery, is much more appreciated. Considering that Magery includes the process of Warding that could hamper the activities of Spirits, their motive to grant Humans the Magery is much speculated. Some believe that Spirits simply saw it as a necessary sacrifice to sate their cravings for interaction with Humans, others see it as their gesture at reconciliation and few, mostly Mages, speculate with a hope that it is a sign of Spirits learning a measure of responsibility.

Spirits naturally crave interaction with intelligent creatures and will, instinctively, try to interact with anything that even remotely resembles intelligence, which to Spirit's senses includes advanced electronics. This usually results in the destruction of an electronic device and was a primary cause of the Sorrow, and the reason for a current state of the world. What really causes electronic to burst out almost spontaneously, while humans, animals and generally delicate biological neural system to be unaffected, is not known. Spirits themselves do not understand this phenomenon, beyond the fact it does.

Electronics can be prevented from being tampered on by a Spirit by the process of Warding. Warding prevents Spirits from entering a designated area, however, this is enforced by one of the Spirits the Mages made a contract with. However, no advanced electronic survived the Sorrow, and ability to actually make those have been lost to people of Nerio, hence it is not possible to verify whether advanced electronics work when warded.

Spirits also interact with radio waves, causing massive interference, making simple radio unpractical for communication.

Crude devices containing some electrical mechanism are usually beneath Spirit's interest and are safe to operate, and theoretically can be operated without any warding. Purely mechanical devices, or chemical processes. etc. aren't tampered with.

Contrary to popular belief that Spirits only work through mage, they can also interact with almost anything in the physical plane, even with items that normally don't interest them. This allows them to enhance the functionality of a device, as long as that device is mechanically sound, like an engine. Limits associated with that are usually two-fold: First is Spirit's motivation in doing so, as they always prefer to seek the attention of living being that can perceive them. Second is lack of actual knowledge, mechanic or physical laws they try to imitate, Spirit doesn't understand the mechanics of the engine, so, in order to alter its function, they have to be guided by educated mage, which forces mages that want to deal with technology to be also educated in engineering, along with being very balanced mentally, as it involves guiding the Spirit carefully through the process.

This process has been occasionally abused to create a magically-powered device. A spirit seems to be able to generate force or electrical current seemingly out of nowhere, and despite the fact it usually doesn't understand a limit or measurement of such force or current, it can be abused to theoretically create an infinite energy. This, however, has limits. There is no way to permanently imprison a Spirit without the assistance of another, hence Spirit powering the device must be willing and do so on its free will. Spirit can also be bored, and simply leave the device, which requires a mage to interact with Spirits, either through the duration of the process, or at least regularly if Spirit is especially patient.

The constant interactions with Spirits can be very taxing to Mages. The Spirits are naturally inclined to gravitate toward a Mage in search for interactions, something that all Mages must deal with in their every waking moment throughout their life after their 'Awakening' into their talents.

The newly-awakened young Mage is often incapacitated as their senses are suddenly overloaded by the maelstrom of audio and visual sensations, as every Spirits around him or her rush them to interact with them, to the point where it can be mistaken for a serious case of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses (and before the Magery was widely recognized as what it truly is, often treated as such). Even after they adapt to their newly awakened sixth sense and learn how to tune out and ignore much of sensations, it is still a very tiring life as Spirits does not have the Human limitation of stamina and exhaustion, and would never cease trying to interact with Mage if given a chance.

Not surprisingly, Mages often suffer from migraines and seen by non-Mages as absent-minded and attention-deficient as they are forced to deal with Spirits and material world at the same time. Making a contract with a particular Spirit, or Spirits could serve as a mitigator and is a very basic part of Magery. Spirits take their contract very seriously and willing to dissuade other Spirits from annoying their contractor. Of course, that doesn't prevent Mage's contract Spirits from pestering Mage themselves. Sometimes Mage resorts to warding their personal space to escape from Spirits for a brief moment, despite it leaving them unable to access Magery.
 
Good job. Which other part of the setting remains unexplained, or warrants a further explanation?
Glad that you find it good. Unexplained or warranting a further explanation... I am not quite sure where to start, considering that this setting is still rather undeveloped. And I'd like to take some time off to think.
 
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