The Future of the World?

[FrankTrollman]

Its true, anyone know why in fantasy its allways more magical in the old days?

Comes directly from mythology. Magic is anything you don't know how to explain. So the farther away something is in time or space, the more of it is "magic".

The classic example is Beowulf's thistle shirt. At the time of his actual exploits, thistle was simply something that people made cloth out of (you soak it first, it doesn't sting or anything). In fact, the mentioning of his thistle shirt is there to show how completely ordinary his equipment was. Over time, techniques of making other cloth improved and people stopped wearing thistle and wore linen or cotton even if they were poor. The people stopped using thistle and the techniques of making it into cloth were lost.

But the mentioning of the thistle shirt persisted. And as people grew up so rich in linen that they never had to wear thistle, they also grew up without the knowledge of what thistle was like to wear. And well, if you poke a thistle with your hand it hurts. So that line of poetry began to mean to people that he was wearing some sort of magical shirt that was woven out of pain spines somehow.

What was at the time a perfectly ordinary list of clothing and equipment eventually transformed into a depiction of a man decked from head to toe in powerful magic.

And that's why the past is more magical. Technology isn't only discovered over time, it is also lost. So the ancients demonstrably did things different than you do. Everything you do is technology (not magic) and everything they did was magic. Therefore, the ancients had a lot more magic. By definition.

-Frank

[Morkilus]

Well said, Frank. The same could be applied to literature about the far future (usually sci-fi). The galaxy at peace through the technology magic of robo-intelligence, contact with ancient races, etc. The near future, on the other hand, is much easier to write about without "magic".

[Archonsod]

The problem with that of course is that in Dominions, the 'magic' (probably we would call it science) is something which could be researched. That being the case, you could also argue for it becoming more powerful in much the same way we went from the bow and arrow to automatic rifles.

I'm not so sure all is death in the future of Dominions, well, unless your on the losing side in the battle to become God . Older empires are dying, much like Rome did, but other Empires appear to be doing fine. I get the feeling it's moving towards the stereotypical "time of man" concept you get in much fantasy, where the humans exterminate or out compete everyone else.

[Tortanick]

Has the "time of man" ever come to an end in fantasy books? I'd love to see how writers do that.

Actually why is the "time of man" so common? pure mankind is rather boreing, and unrealistic, its hard to see how mankind would dominate many of the other fantasy races especially in dominions where there is such a large veriaty. I'd bet on R'lyeh

[Archonsod]

Is it actually fading away, or is it simply that more mundane tools are proving more effective?
If all you have are sticks and spears, then a guy who can hurl a fireball across the battlefield is a god. Invent composite longbows and the same guy simply becomes a target.

[Tortanick]

Its actually fadeing away, Abyssa, Vanheim, T'len Ch'i, for example. just read their entries in the manual.

In addition there are less magic sites as the ages go on (but thats just a default setting)

[Archonsod]

Can't because I'm at work at the mo

Doesn't Abysia give a reason for their loss in magic though, since the interbreeding has diluted the purity of the daemonic population? (again, humans outcompeting...). At least that's how I've always read it.

[Nerfix]

Yeah, but the magic of the Smouldergone is also apparently fading. The magical Vanirs are getting rarer and T'ien C'hi got invaded by spirit-worshipping barbarians and propably had large amount of their magic might killed in process. Etc.

[Morkilus]

Tortanick said:
Has the "time of man" ever come to an end in fantasy books? I'd love to see how writers do that.

Actually why is the "time of man" so common? pure mankind is rather boreing, and unrealistic, its hard to see how mankind would dominate many of the other fantasy races especially in dominions where there is such a large veriaty. I'd bet on R'lyeh

I would make that bet too... but you might have to consider Lovecraft to be a science fiction writer instead of someone using mythology conventions. In that case, Mankind always loses.

I would guess the "Golden Age -> Iron Age" trend is more interesting because we would like to think of fantastic things as something that might have actually happened ages ago. Consider the Conan mythology, where he used a Europe that might have existed thousands of years ago. It's more fun to think about Conan and crew running around our real, though distant world rather than some goofy place like Faerun or Krynn.

Speaking of which... who wants to play on a Hyborean Age map? Maybe I'll mod the Enigma of Steel heroes. Conan probably wouldn't play well with your pretender though:

Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, and why we died. All that matters is that today, two stood against many. Valor pleases you, so grant me this one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, the HELL with you!

[Tortanick]

Makes sense but I would have thought that a wider veriaty of fantastic beasts running around a mythical world would easily be more fun than having to give them up just to use earth.