iwojimmy wrote:All have access to magazine fed projectile weopons.. and very little other "high-tech" stuff from the players point of view.
Yeah, the projectile weapons show nicely how the technologies of the homin are different. Judging from the firing animation, the Fyros guns use explosive combustion to fire projectiles, the Zorai ones seem to use an electromagnetic force to propell the bullets, the Tryker ones look like they operate on some kind of compressed air system, and the Matis guns look to be manipulated plants that kind of 'spit out' the bullets.
cloudy97 wrote:And when I'm at it - what do the homins know about technology? The blipping and blopping in Karavan's vessels could be seen as magic by primitive people. Any ideas how advanced homins are?
As far as I know, homins do make the distintinction between magic and technology. But, unlike us humans who are familiar with technology and see magic as mysterious, homins can use both magic and technology with equal ease. The Karavan have technology beyond their understanding just as the Kami have magic beyond their understanding. Both magic and technology are equally common and equally mysterious to them.
Humans might see technology that is beyond their understanding as magic, because magic is simply our word for anything that defies our physical laws and as such we don't understand. For homins, magic is something very normal that they do understand, thus they will never see advanced technology as magic. Though they will see it as something that is beyond their understanding, and if it is advanced enough they may have trouble to decide whether it's advanced magic or advanced technology.
In fact, if homins were more 'primitive' and knew nothing of technology, it would be even less likely they'd see advanced technology as magic. More likely they'd see advanced magic as technology, since technology would be what they don't understand.
cloudy97 wrote:And I think I got my question answered, from a homins point of view magic spells is considered Arcane, most likely even to the most religious type. It was here before Jena & co.
No, I don't think so. If I recall, it states in the lore than the Karavan have been around for as far back as homin history goes. Compared to that the Kami have been known more recently, and seeing they thought homins magic, the Karavan were around before magic was. The potential for magic may have been around as long as Atys has been, but homins knew nothing of it until the Kami came along.
I believe I even read somewhere that homins had only recently discovered how to use magic, and that is why the magic tree doesn't split off so much as the fight, harvest and craft trees do.
As for magic not coming from Jena, I'd point you to the Monsoon Sunset story:
"Hah, Jena, Jena, a figment of the imagination!" laughed Abecus.
"But, noble mage," returned Angeli in all seriousness, "then from whence do you derive your magic?"
"Not from the spirit of Jena, I can assure you! No, it is born of the knowledge of objects, thinking about them, learning how to look at them so that a science can be physically built up around them. I am sure that not one of your lot has ever seen Jena! Let a lone found out where she comes from!"
"Jena is in the breeze that caresses, the gusts that derange, the emotion that moves the heart. Thus we may feel though we cannot see. Only such sensations can allow us to suspect there is life after death on Atys," returned Angeli.
Obviously, magic is not divine in the sense that one has to follow a certain god in order to be able to use it, like the magic used by clerics in most fantasy. But apparently there are at least some who believe it's Jena who gave us the potential for magic. And I'm sure there are Kami followers who believe the Kami gave us the ability to use magic, even if you don't have to follow the Kami to use magic.
I wouldn't call Atys magic 'arcane' myself. It seems much less mystic and more natural than what's usually dubbed 'arcane magic'. It doesn't tap into some supernatural energy to defy the laws of physics, it taps into the power of the planet Atys and is used according to it's laws of physics. Compared with more classic fantasy, I think it's more the kind of magic you'd associate with druids than the kind you'd associate with sorcerers and archmages. Except for defensive affliction, that seems to be more like psionics.
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