jseah
2013-05-18, 10:13 AM
I have read and heard alot about magical technology settings and well, to be frank, many of them fail to explore the applications of technological magic to daily life. Apart from war, that gets alot of focus.
So here I am, trying to think of various applications of magic that have NOTHING to do with war... suggestions welcome.
Fundamental technologies:
These don't have any immediate applications without further engineering
- Electrical batteries that never run out
-> Can power hybrid tech like walkie talkies and radios
- Magical flywheel that keeps spinning
-> Basis of the magical industrial revolution
->> Also compatible with railways
-> Animated objects can do the menial jobs remaining in a production line
- Telekinetic propulsion
-> Directly moving objects with reactionless force can drive ships across water, cars across land and airships through the sky
-> It can also negates weight if you need to use this to do it; aka. very very tall buildings
- Vacuum line
-> Magic evacuates air constantly and this generates a vacuum that has all sorts of uses (not least being the quintessential carpet cleaner)
Appliances
Simple: These run off obvious principles and don't require any sort of complex math
- Umbrella
-> A low power deflection field makes raindrops miss you. Can go through walls so you can squeeze through small spaces and it doesn't block your vision; small and portable
- Ever-warm clothing
- Climate control unit (essentially a radiator that is hot or ice cold depending on environment)
- Fan
- Portable cloud
-> Essentially a giant shade that diffuses sunlight to make it less hot but still bright enough to do things
- Constantly glowing objects used as torches
- Convenience store ready meals with single-use heat/cool packs that cook your food or freeze your ice cream when opened
- Fire dampener
-> can work by making inert gas, sucking away heat or just a chemical suppressant
- Food preserving pot
-> Death magic kills everything inside the pot, stuff inside does not decompose despite not being refrigerated; opening lid turns it off
- Portable skateboard
-> Four balls that "grow" a board between them made of magic, rolls in the direction you lean in (all 4 directions)
- Perimeter fence that pushes off things that try to climb them
- Applying pressure to the inside of the body to stop internal bleeding
- Massage clots or bowels to make them move away from critical areas
- Keep airways open by force and without intubation
- Non-invasive scalpel that cuts at specific depth and orientation
Advanced: these need some math and knowledge of stuff
- Ultrasound source and receivers can be placed inside the body non-invasively
So far, I have made my magic very tame. The setting I am building this for has magic not able to do anything it isn't strictly told to do. There are no such things as scrying spells, detect X, find X, summoning, healing, ressurection, anything that involves magic understanding language... that which cannot be exactly described cannot be done by magic.
Magic does not think in this setting.
Feel free to write about those though, I might not find a use for them for my current setting but other people might.
In any case, most of my ideas are not very interesting apart from (if I may say so), the instant heat/cold ready meals, non-refrigerator food preservation and the magic skateboard.
So here I am, trying to think of various applications of magic that have NOTHING to do with war... suggestions welcome.
Fundamental technologies:
These don't have any immediate applications without further engineering
- Electrical batteries that never run out
-> Can power hybrid tech like walkie talkies and radios
- Magical flywheel that keeps spinning
-> Basis of the magical industrial revolution
->> Also compatible with railways
-> Animated objects can do the menial jobs remaining in a production line
- Telekinetic propulsion
-> Directly moving objects with reactionless force can drive ships across water, cars across land and airships through the sky
-> It can also negates weight if you need to use this to do it; aka. very very tall buildings
- Vacuum line
-> Magic evacuates air constantly and this generates a vacuum that has all sorts of uses (not least being the quintessential carpet cleaner)
Appliances
Simple: These run off obvious principles and don't require any sort of complex math
- Umbrella
-> A low power deflection field makes raindrops miss you. Can go through walls so you can squeeze through small spaces and it doesn't block your vision; small and portable
- Ever-warm clothing
- Climate control unit (essentially a radiator that is hot or ice cold depending on environment)
- Fan
- Portable cloud
-> Essentially a giant shade that diffuses sunlight to make it less hot but still bright enough to do things
- Constantly glowing objects used as torches
- Convenience store ready meals with single-use heat/cool packs that cook your food or freeze your ice cream when opened
- Fire dampener
-> can work by making inert gas, sucking away heat or just a chemical suppressant
- Food preserving pot
-> Death magic kills everything inside the pot, stuff inside does not decompose despite not being refrigerated; opening lid turns it off
- Portable skateboard
-> Four balls that "grow" a board between them made of magic, rolls in the direction you lean in (all 4 directions)
- Perimeter fence that pushes off things that try to climb them
- Applying pressure to the inside of the body to stop internal bleeding
- Massage clots or bowels to make them move away from critical areas
- Keep airways open by force and without intubation
- Non-invasive scalpel that cuts at specific depth and orientation
Advanced: these need some math and knowledge of stuff
- Ultrasound source and receivers can be placed inside the body non-invasively
So far, I have made my magic very tame. The setting I am building this for has magic not able to do anything it isn't strictly told to do. There are no such things as scrying spells, detect X, find X, summoning, healing, ressurection, anything that involves magic understanding language... that which cannot be exactly described cannot be done by magic.
Magic does not think in this setting.
Feel free to write about those though, I might not find a use for them for my current setting but other people might.
In any case, most of my ideas are not very interesting apart from (if I may say so), the instant heat/cold ready meals, non-refrigerator food preservation and the magic skateboard.