this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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Does anyone know of any good magitech series that go into detail about how magic works and how it's used? I've always found the engineering aspect of magitech really interesting, and having a flexible magic system is cool. An example of the kinda thing I'm looking for is Eragon. Eragon never got into magitech, but the magic system was fairly well explained, enough so that I was disappointed when magitech was never established as a thing.
The Founders Trilogy (book 1: Foundryside) by Robert Jackson Bennett uses a system of magic called Scriving wherein objects have written upon them instructions that sort of convince the objects that the laws of physics work in different ways. Over long ages engineers found ways to build engines for scriving that had commonly used instructions and essentially allowed more advanced technologies by creating "programming languages" of a sort, if you will, that work in proximity to the engines. So you get this very advanced society with technology built over this magic system, and a main character whose MacGuffin allows for messing with others' scriving as your setting.
I quite enjoyed the trilogy, and they seem to fit the kind of vibe you're looking for. Over the course of the books they dive a lot into both the way the magic functions and the history behind how it came to be as it is.
Someone else already suggested it, but thanks for the suggestion!
Brandon Sanderson tickles that itch for me. His Mistborn series is really fun and has some rudimentary magitech without really spoiling anything - all of the magic works in specific ways but how people interact with it changes over time as people learn new (mostly martial) techniques. His Stormlight series has a system of magical doodads that ultimately evolves into full-on magitech, in addition to the kind of magic ninja stuff of Mistborn. Oh also magic mechsuits.
Thanks, I'll try to remember to check it out!
I agree 99%. I just wouldn't describe the Mistborn series as fun. (I'd say the first first 3 Mistborn books are among his more depressing books. I still recommend them because they are great in other ways.)
you mean shardplate?
Yeah doesn't it augment your strength a little or something?
yes, sure. But I would have counted those as "regular magic".
Oh yeah sure those are magical artifacts like the little doodads but later in the series they start using the doodads in innovative ways
Terry Pratchett's Discworld approaches magic as a fundamental force akin to gravity or nuclear force. It even has a unit of measurement (the Thaum, further broken down into millithaums, etc)
There are a whole host of reasons you should read Discworld but this just adds another.
I've been meaning to get into the Discworld series, just haven't gotten around to it. Thanks for the suggestion!
Robert Jackson Bennett's Founder Series is a meditation on Big tech and the magic system is primarily based on enchanting objects to the point where the most powerful people in the world are master engineers and the people who control them
Highly recommended
Thanks for the recommendation!
Ascendance of a Bookworm has really good world building and magic has implicit rules that are upheld throughout the series. The royal academy arc where protagonist goes to school to learn specifically how the magitech works is named Part 4. It begins in 17th book in the series so it's quite the journey to get to it.
That sounds like a lot, but I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion!
Unpopular opinion: any magitech that works according to consistent rules is just "tech."
I think you're technically correct (for the most part); the only reason why we use "electricity" instead of "arcane energy" is because the person who came up with the name had no imagination.
That said, while technically correct, you're wrong.
No, I will not elaborate.
The best kind of correct!
Well yeah, but by the same logic i 100% consider our real actual physics to just be magic, at the smallest scale there is absolutely absurd stuff like wave-particle duality and LITERAL ACTUAL GENUINE TELEPORTATION.
And of course there's the old quote "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".
I don't think the distinguishment between "magic" and "technology" is particularly useful, what's important is whether the reader goes "ooooh that's so fucking cool", and you can totally get that from youtube videos by people working with particle physics.
You can't convince me that using ruby rods surrounded in flash tube and reflective materials to create lasers isn't magical.
I though some time ago about a world full of magic and then, in the middle of the story, an spaceship comes and the ones that come in it say something like "wow! All this ancient tech still works?" meaning the dragons, spells, ...
Here, try the Inheritors of Eschaton. Yes, it's on reddit, yes it's hfy, but it's a similar concept to what you're describing.
Thank you