Fictional culture and technology

[Jkaen]

I think with regards the original "could there be a haunted woods next to my city" question it depends on outside pressures, if its monstered up enough that peasants cant jsut wander round and map it up then an official foray would have to be made into it, if no danger came out of it, and there were negihbouring countries on the borders that warranted more attnetion for the military they may not get round it it.


With regards magic, bear in mind those in the woods may well have access to high magic too (thinking of the standard wood elf illusion approach here)

[torstan]

I guess the most important forms of magic to consider in this context are divinations. If you can cast commune and ask a deity "Are those woods haunted" and have the deity say "No" then mystery disappears pretty fast. Equally, divination magic of this form would screw up technological innvation a bit. Imagine a rather advanced technopriest casting divination "What's the relation between energy and matter?" and his god replying "E=mc^2". That gets rid of all mystery in the world. I'd make sure that such magic tools are sharply limited.

The second thing to do is consider forms of magic that mimic real world technologies. These will have an impact on your world that are predictable. Common use of Sending mimics the invention of the telephone and allows for instant communication between dispersed troops - which is very important in any warlike fantasy setting. Rock-to-mud mimics real world sappers - making fortifications very vulnerable. You'd expect the fortress builders of the world to spend the money to counter these sort of attacks. Fly allows for the equivalent of airborne spotter planes and also bombers. These appeared in the first and second world wars. Fireball mimics artillery and will mean that no fortress will have exposed battlements any more - fortresses will have overhead cover as well. Those are a few examples, but in most cases the magic proposed in fantasy settings mimic some technological advance we have today (exceptions like polymorph are fairly common too!). I'd start with those to figure out the effect they would have on the world.

And remember that people believe woods are haunted even today. They just believe science can't explain ghosts so there are elements of the world that lie outside our current means of acquiring information. The same will be true in any setting. Just make sure that there is some set of occurrences that can't be accounted for by commonly understood phenomena. Then you have a mystery.

[Karro]

I think with regards the original "could there be a haunted woods next to my city" question it depends on outside pressures, if its monstered up enough that peasants cant jsut wander round and map it up then an official foray would have to be made into it, if no danger came out of it, and there were negihbouring countries on the borders that warranted more attnetion for the military they may not get round it it.


With regards magic, bear in mind those in the woods may well have access to high magic too (thinking of the standard wood elf illusion approach here)

Hmm. My ultimate goal is to produce a setting that's logically consistent and realistic within the bounds of reason, yet has an air of mystery and the unknown. I'm hoping for something at once familiar and yet distinct and flavorful with enough new ideas to be worth the doing. So... I wanted to see what other factors I could find in play besides the "standard wood elf illusion" you elude to. For my own benefit, I think I've seen a lot of good perspectives here...

I guess the most important forms of magic to consider in this context are divinations. If you can cast commune and ask a deity "Are those woods haunted" and have the deity say "No" then mystery disappears pretty fast. Equally, divination magic of this form would screw up technological innvation a bit. Imagine a rather advanced technopriest casting divination "What's the relation between energy and matter?" and his god replying "E=mc^2". That gets rid of all mystery in the world. I'd make sure that such magic tools are sharply limited.

The second thing to do is consider forms of magic that mimic real world technologies. These will have an impact on your world that are predictable. Common use of Sending mimics the invention of the telephone and allows for instant communication between dispersed troops - which is very important in any warlike fantasy setting. Rock-to-mud mimics real world sappers - making fortifications very vulnerable. You'd expect the fortress builders of the world to spend the money to counter these sort of attacks. Fly allows for the equivalent of airborne spotter planes and also bombers. These appeared in the first and second world wars. Fireball mimics artillery and will mean that no fortress will have exposed battlements any more - fortresses will have overhead cover as well. Those are a few examples, but in most cases the magic proposed in fantasy settings mimic some technological advance we have today (exceptions like polymorph are fairly common too!). I'd start with those to figure out the effect they would have on the world.

And remember that people believe woods are haunted even today. They just believe science can't explain ghosts so there are elements of the world that lie outside our current means of acquiring information. The same will be true in any setting. Just make sure that there is some set of occurrences that can't be accounted for by commonly understood phenomena. Then you have a mystery.

WRT divinations, I feel like the best way to handle these is not to have access to pure knowledge like that simply through a spell. Vague, symbol-laden and often conflicting prophecies are one thing for flavor... straight-up D&D-style Q&A's with the divinity of your choice are a little tougher for me to swallow. Then again... I guess vague, symbol-laden and conflicting prophecies are kind of a well-worn trope...

But your point on how magic mimics technology was similar to the stance I was taking in an earlier post, and largely I agree with what you're saying.