Fantasy with no magic

[was]

Alchemy and herbalism could be substituted for some healing and/or magical effects. Maybe certain plants/concotions/salves give special benefits.

 

[Hyper-Man]

Alternate history is an easy way to do this.

See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_series

I guess it could be labeled as sci-fi based on the initial setup but other than that it is not. The basic idea is that small town from modern America is transplanted to the middle of Europe during the 30 year war. From the perspective of the native Europeans these 'Americans' are practically sorcerers but they are just using better technology.

 

[Jhaelen]

I'm wanting to write a fantasy adventure without magic; not low magic, no magic . (period)

What else could I use besides magic that would give me 'poof it just happens?'
If it's science based (maybe I'm looking more for sci-fi than I realize) then it's not fantasy.

and just for the record, fantasy definition for me is something that is not of our world and not science/gizmo based.

Looks like you already found all the answers yourself!

Magic is everything that cannot be explained in any other way. So, if there is no magic, then there must be an explanation for everything. In order to baffle (ordinary) people despite that, it must require hidden (aka arcane) knowledge. That's what we call science.

If your definition of fantasy does not allow for scientific explanations you're out of luck. Personally, I feel that stories with an element of 'poof-it's-magic-so-there's-no-need-to-explain-it-in-any-way' are _bad_ fantasy. Good fantasy novels establish rules that describe how everything works, what's possible and what isn't, even (and especially!) magic.

 

[nomotog]

Just play with the laws of physics. Like I wanted to do spelljammer, but I didn't like how magic depended it was, so I changed the rules about how space worked. I put air in it and space winds so there wouldn't be a need for magic helms. The reason space had air in it wasn't magical. It wasn't because of some super wizard spell. It just was.

You can do a lot of changes and fantasy elements and just don't use magic.

 

[Derren]

What exactly is fantasy to you when it doesn't involve magic? And where does magic begin in your eyes? Are the existence of dragons count as magic because they are not possible by the laws of physics?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What exactly is fantasy to you when it doesn't involve magic? And where does magic begin in your eyes? Are the existence of dragons count as magic because they are not possible by the laws of physics?

My question as well. Sans magic, it would seem as if you're talking about alt-reality tales of the past (assuming an archaic, sword & armor setting).