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Do you design worlds according to fantastical physics?
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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 7577447" data-attributes="member: 177"><p>Or not, as their world has magic, and ours doesn't. Their experiences of their world could be very different than ours. In most works, they are not, but every once in a while, a writer goes deep, and brings up some truly weird stuff.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>D&Disms work fine, if you include parts of old D&D cosmology - the elemental planes, and the positive and negative energy planes, and say, "Arcane magic is simply drawing upon the energies of these other planes." </p><p></p><p>Any of Earths' classical cosmologies fall apart if you try to use them to predict how something will work, because those classical cosmologies are all *wrong*. Classical magic systems are after-the-fact rationalizations, not actual systems that tell you what will happen if you put elements of them together in a way not already detailed by the cosmology. And, if they did actually work, if you extrapolate from teh stated rules of magic, the world would look a lot different than it does.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I haven't had a chance to peruse the article, but... a note will come up in a moment....</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't recall anything in it that I'd call animism.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Problems arise if you think in terms of chemical elements, yes. But that's not the *only* way you get problems.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They do get into "bloodbending" at one point in the TV series. And control of plants via the water in them. But, broadly, I agree.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, no. Not in general, anyway. Specifically, magic does not have to follow *logic*. Some of the best magic out there doesn't follow logic. I wold generaly say that any magic system that does stick to logic is "scientific", in the sense of science as a logical, repeatable process. In these systems, magic really is just anoher form of science... and that's kind of boring, really.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Stop. Right. There. Why do you figure what the gods do has to "make sense" in human terms? I mean, look at the Greek or Norse gods. First off, in neither case did the gods outright create the world in the sense of their designing it. They may have taken actions that brought the world into being, but they do not actually control its nature or operation - these gods didn't *DESIGN* their universe.</p><p></p><p>And, if they did, most of these gods are like giant, powerful adolescents in terms of their level of emotional maturity. They don't do things because they make sense, they do them because they *WANT* a thing.</p><p></p><p>And, that's setting aside the options available to omniscient gods, who have perspective mortals don't. Asking our world to "make sense" is like asking your pancreas to make sense, if you don't know there's a whole rest of a body that pancreas works with.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 7577447, member: 177"] Or not, as their world has magic, and ours doesn't. Their experiences of their world could be very different than ours. In most works, they are not, but every once in a while, a writer goes deep, and brings up some truly weird stuff. D&Disms work fine, if you include parts of old D&D cosmology - the elemental planes, and the positive and negative energy planes, and say, "Arcane magic is simply drawing upon the energies of these other planes." Any of Earths' classical cosmologies fall apart if you try to use them to predict how something will work, because those classical cosmologies are all *wrong*. Classical magic systems are after-the-fact rationalizations, not actual systems that tell you what will happen if you put elements of them together in a way not already detailed by the cosmology. And, if they did actually work, if you extrapolate from teh stated rules of magic, the world would look a lot different than it does. I haven't had a chance to peruse the article, but... a note will come up in a moment.... I don't recall anything in it that I'd call animism. Problems arise if you think in terms of chemical elements, yes. But that's not the *only* way you get problems. They do get into "bloodbending" at one point in the TV series. And control of plants via the water in them. But, broadly, I agree. Well, no. Not in general, anyway. Specifically, magic does not have to follow *logic*. Some of the best magic out there doesn't follow logic. I wold generaly say that any magic system that does stick to logic is "scientific", in the sense of science as a logical, repeatable process. In these systems, magic really is just anoher form of science... and that's kind of boring, really. Stop. Right. There. Why do you figure what the gods do has to "make sense" in human terms? I mean, look at the Greek or Norse gods. First off, in neither case did the gods outright create the world in the sense of their designing it. They may have taken actions that brought the world into being, but they do not actually control its nature or operation - these gods didn't *DESIGN* their universe. And, if they did, most of these gods are like giant, powerful adolescents in terms of their level of emotional maturity. They don't do things because they make sense, they do them because they *WANT* a thing. And, that's setting aside the options available to omniscient gods, who have perspective mortals don't. Asking our world to "make sense" is like asking your pancreas to make sense, if you don't know there's a whole rest of a body that pancreas works with. [/QUOTE]
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