High Fantasy advanced to the Modern World: What would it be like?

[Disliker of the mary sue]

I unsure if this thread has been made already but I searched and did not find anything.

Something I always wondered was what would a typical fantasy setting with like magic and many kinds of other sapient species be like when they reached our tech level. In general you just never see them really move forward with tech when they do take place over the course of thousands of years (Like to give video game examples...Zelda where the furthest they ever got is inventing steam trains.).

I guess my general questions 1. Are are their books, movies, games ect that have this sort of concept of fantasy with modern tech?

2. Is it even possible to reach modern tech with magic around, since the general excuse thrown around is with magic being able to do stuff, no one ever bothers to look into technologies?

3. Is it possible for multiple sapaints beings on the same planet to reach similar tech levels without killing each other first?

4. Assuming things go well and you do have a world where fantasy and modern technology co exist how would it be different from our world?

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by Disliker of the mary sue

I guess my general questions 1. Are are their books, movies, games ect that have this sort of concept of fantasy with modern tech?

The most modern I've seen where magic is well known throughout the world and has had an impact is steampunk, like in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

The Legend of Korra could also count, though that's not magic in the standard sense.

Everything more modern seems to be either "Magic is secret and used in parallel with technological advances" (similar to Harry Potter and World of Darkness) or "We now suddenly have magic available in our technologically advanced society" (like Shadowrun).

2. Is it even possible to reach modern tech with magic around, since the general excuse thrown around is with magic being able to do stuff, no one ever bothers to look into technologies?

If everyone is capable of magic, then there seems to be less of an incentive to make advanced machinery that operates without magic. Depending on how hard it is to actually use magic.

Then there's using magic as an alternative power source, instead of coal, gas or electricity. This could likely happen if there was any way to reliably harness magic, regardless of how many people can do it. The amount of people that can harness magic to power devices should realistically only change how much they charge for their services and consequently how much it costs to acquire and repair a powered device.

Some fields of science will have radically different ways to advance or reasons not to compared to what we have today. It boils down to how magic works in that world along with any deities taking (in)direct interest in the matter.

For the end user, the difference between a phone powered by a magic battery and a phone powered by an electrical battery would be minimal.

3. Is it possible for multiple sapaints beings on the same planet to reach similar tech levels without killing each other first?

I can't see why not. But it would depend on the races involved and how they interact.

4. Assuming things go well and you do have a world where fantasy and modern technology co exist how would it be different from our world?

Too many variables to tell. What races are there, what cultures are there, what's the histories between all the nations, how does magic work in that world, how technologically advanced are they in different fields, and so on.

[tantric]

I can't see why not. But it would depend on the races involved and how they interact.

Well, the why not is that humans kill off competitors. The best way is for the different races to have their own continents and the tech to defend them. That means large areas of the world progressing technologically at the same speed without much contact.

I've done a lot of similar noodling, figuring out how Bantu Africa might use magic to develop to the Age of Sail. The most important bit is nailing down how magic and the supernatural work, and what its limits. Consider magical medicine and what it means: Cure Disease is better than anything we can do now - it doesn't matter what the disease is. Should it work this way in your world, or should there be different spells for each disease? You might see a very early population boom, and the need for enchanted agriculture to feed the people as soon as magic becomes systematically applied.

It's a lot to think through. In my world, for instance, there was never widespread deforestation because people use Cook Stones and magical forges (actually, hammer that make iron malleable at cool temps). They have magical chamber pots, so there are no sewers. In general, it's a MUCH cleaner, nicer development.

[vicky_molokh]

IIRC the world of Spellcast 101 seems to be something like that, with magic studied about the same way as science is in our world.

[Astromancer]

Start working with the Ars Magica setting. The Order of Hermes is pretty scientific in it's study of Magic. Look at the Transforming Mythic Europe book first. Also try Art and Academe.

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

GURPS Technomancer lacks the evolution from low magitech to high magitech aspect, but it does have a fully fleshed out high magitech setting.


Hans