Desdichado
Hero
Not limited to D&D style magic; let me just say that up front.
Lately, I've become increasingly keen on settings that blend fantasy conventions with science fiction trappings, or vice versa. I've been working off and on for a couple of years now on a setting that's got a lot of steampunk-like influence, complete with some alternate technology. Mk. I of the setting was slightly more realistic, with Mk. II (which I've actually been running for a while now) being more overtly fantastic with floating islands and all that jazz. Mk. III, which is percolating in the back of my head, and starting to come out in big chunks like a bucket of chunder goes back to a much less overtly fantastic vision, and one that owes more to science fiction.
Yet, it has magic, and I couldn't really do the setting without magic. I'm not using D&D magic -- something more like Midnight or Call of Cthulhu would be my preferred mechanics. The thing is, I have little use for the "it's magic" handwave, and I'd ideally like to have some kind of explanation for my magic, where it comes from, and all that.
I've had an idea, thanks to my hobbyist research into advanced string theory and M-theory, but I'd like to toss it out for comments; I'm sure it can be improved upon. Here's the 50¢ background; if you want more, wikipedia is more detailed looking up M-theory or brane cosmology, and Parallel Universes by Michio Kaku is a book just published less than six months ago that is pretty up-to-date, well-written, and informative. This link is also pretty comprehensive and informative.
Essentially the 4-dimensional universe we know and observe has some cosmological problems that lead to the formulation of the theory. And I'm only hitting on the relevent points here; but for many years now, we've suspected from astronomical observations that the visible matter compared to the dark matter -- unknown matter of some kind that surrounds galactic halos and other areas, is a small proportion. What is even more interesting and strange is that despite earlier beliefs that dark matter balanced the expansion of the universe, leading to a "flat" cosmos, what more recent observations seem to be suggesting is that actually the acceleration of the expansion of the universe is increasing at a runaway pace. The explanation for this is some kind of dark energy that makes up 70% of the universe (remember that mass and energy are interchangeable via the famous e=mc2.) Nobody really knows what this dark energy is, or where it comes from, or why it seems to be counteracting gravity. It seems to be the energy of emptiness, and why it is such an important factor in the eventual fate of the universe is completely baffling to cosmologists.
Now, let's turn our attention briefly to the Grand Unifying Theory -- the holy grail of physicists when I was a teenager. Some theory that united the strong and weak nuclear forces with electromagnetism and gravity. Brane cosmology has partially helped to do this; essentially it states that the 4-dimensional universe that we know is actually one part of a higher multidimensional whole that is sometimes called the bulk. Our universe is a brane (a contraction of membrane) in this bulk, and other branes may well have other 4-dimensional "universes" on them, some even with different physical properties. While string theory helped to unite the nuclear forces and electromagnetism, gravity was still a stranger, in particular why it was so relatively weak. M-theory and brane cosmology explain this by saying that some of the force of gravity is "leaked" into the bulk, or perhaps to another brane in the bulk. Interactions such as this between branes, or with the bulk itself can have impacts on our own universe, including (possibly) where dark energy comes from, where the runaway acceleration comes from, and whether or not that runaway acceleration will continue, or change or what have you.
Using extremely complex mathematical formulae (and maybe some kind of focus or device of some type?) it seems reasonably pseudo-scientific that effects that are similar to "magic" could be had by those who were aware of this cross-brane energy source and how to manipulate it. And voila! I've concocted a pseudo-scientific explanation for how magic (at least of some kind) could exist in a setting that is otherwise leaning much more towards sci-fi than traditional fantasy.
Any comments or helpful suggestions?
Lately, I've become increasingly keen on settings that blend fantasy conventions with science fiction trappings, or vice versa. I've been working off and on for a couple of years now on a setting that's got a lot of steampunk-like influence, complete with some alternate technology. Mk. I of the setting was slightly more realistic, with Mk. II (which I've actually been running for a while now) being more overtly fantastic with floating islands and all that jazz. Mk. III, which is percolating in the back of my head, and starting to come out in big chunks like a bucket of chunder goes back to a much less overtly fantastic vision, and one that owes more to science fiction.
Yet, it has magic, and I couldn't really do the setting without magic. I'm not using D&D magic -- something more like Midnight or Call of Cthulhu would be my preferred mechanics. The thing is, I have little use for the "it's magic" handwave, and I'd ideally like to have some kind of explanation for my magic, where it comes from, and all that.
I've had an idea, thanks to my hobbyist research into advanced string theory and M-theory, but I'd like to toss it out for comments; I'm sure it can be improved upon. Here's the 50¢ background; if you want more, wikipedia is more detailed looking up M-theory or brane cosmology, and Parallel Universes by Michio Kaku is a book just published less than six months ago that is pretty up-to-date, well-written, and informative. This link is also pretty comprehensive and informative.
Essentially the 4-dimensional universe we know and observe has some cosmological problems that lead to the formulation of the theory. And I'm only hitting on the relevent points here; but for many years now, we've suspected from astronomical observations that the visible matter compared to the dark matter -- unknown matter of some kind that surrounds galactic halos and other areas, is a small proportion. What is even more interesting and strange is that despite earlier beliefs that dark matter balanced the expansion of the universe, leading to a "flat" cosmos, what more recent observations seem to be suggesting is that actually the acceleration of the expansion of the universe is increasing at a runaway pace. The explanation for this is some kind of dark energy that makes up 70% of the universe (remember that mass and energy are interchangeable via the famous e=mc2.) Nobody really knows what this dark energy is, or where it comes from, or why it seems to be counteracting gravity. It seems to be the energy of emptiness, and why it is such an important factor in the eventual fate of the universe is completely baffling to cosmologists.
Now, let's turn our attention briefly to the Grand Unifying Theory -- the holy grail of physicists when I was a teenager. Some theory that united the strong and weak nuclear forces with electromagnetism and gravity. Brane cosmology has partially helped to do this; essentially it states that the 4-dimensional universe that we know is actually one part of a higher multidimensional whole that is sometimes called the bulk. Our universe is a brane (a contraction of membrane) in this bulk, and other branes may well have other 4-dimensional "universes" on them, some even with different physical properties. While string theory helped to unite the nuclear forces and electromagnetism, gravity was still a stranger, in particular why it was so relatively weak. M-theory and brane cosmology explain this by saying that some of the force of gravity is "leaked" into the bulk, or perhaps to another brane in the bulk. Interactions such as this between branes, or with the bulk itself can have impacts on our own universe, including (possibly) where dark energy comes from, where the runaway acceleration comes from, and whether or not that runaway acceleration will continue, or change or what have you.
Using extremely complex mathematical formulae (and maybe some kind of focus or device of some type?) it seems reasonably pseudo-scientific that effects that are similar to "magic" could be had by those who were aware of this cross-brane energy source and how to manipulate it. And voila! I've concocted a pseudo-scientific explanation for how magic (at least of some kind) could exist in a setting that is otherwise leaning much more towards sci-fi than traditional fantasy.
Any comments or helpful suggestions?
). But then, explain why magic requires a trained individual (with spell points, spell slots, or whatever) instead of just techno devices. 
