Magitek

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology."
- Larry Niven

Basic Information

Sometimes, fantasy settings go through their own Industrial Revolution. The result is usually magitec - devices which operate via magic, but which look and operate a lot like conventional technology. This is usually done to make this "technology" easier to understand for the audience - if it looks like a car and drives like a car, it essentially fulfills the same role in the story as a conventional car - even if it is powered by imps. Differences in appearance are often cosmetic instead of representing fundamental changes in how the vehicles operate.

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki entry

2. novel: Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson

3. rpg: GURPS Technomancer

Game and Story Use

• This is probably the easiest way of creating a fantasy setting with a relatively "modern" ambiance and society. Still, try to work out a few ways in which magitek is truly different from conventional technology - or else what's the point of using it in the first place?