Wonderings

[khyle]

To quote Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

[numbie]

You raise a very good point... on what grounds to homins define what is magic and what is (for lack of a better term) physical phenomina.

I wonder how magic is taught to homin children (btw, is there any evidence that homin children exist?) I mean, a child can accidentally grab fathers dagger and cut mom's carpet. Does it mean that homin children from age 0 can accidentally produce a poison spell? If it requires special education, then it can be the difference between "physical" and "magical".

[dracolych49]

Acid, not poison. Poison is the Matis racial spell. And the answer is probably no, since I doubt that they are born knowing how to makes boots, too.

[fenerismoon]

True... but I think the point they are trying to make... is does a child know how to use the most basic of magic instinctivly?

[sidusar]

That which can be crafted, and that which can not.

Why yes, we know this is how homins distinguish technology from magic. But what I'm wondering about here is how they distinguish magic from natural phenomena. In a world where magic exists, isn't it really just another natural phenomenon and not really magic at all?

A lightning that strikes from a cloud, we call a natural phenomenon. A lightning that strikes from a homin, we call magic. But why is that magic? Why isn't a homin producing lightning just as natural as a cloud producing lightning? How do we know that on Atys, the lightning that strikes from clouds isn't also magic in nature?

True... but I think the point they are trying to make... is does a child know how to use the most basic of magic instinctivly?

Exactly! If magic requires conscious thinking to use, that's a clear criteria on how to distinguish "magical" from "natural". But we know primates and even plants can also use magic, and it's unlikely that's something they learned at some point, so it seems that it is possible to use magic instinctively.

And the lore does mention homin children, yes.

[fenerismoon]

The basis of concious thinking seems to be the dividing line between magic and the physical world. Afterall, animals, primitives, and intellegent plants can use magic. But, not non intellegent plants, or anything without some basis of thought.

A bigger question, is whether homins themselves have a boundry between magic and natural phenomena, and are they both one and the same acording to common thought.

[sidusar]

Also, the lore says that homins didn't always have magic - it was taught to them by the Kami at some point. So it's obviously not something they can do by instinct.

Still leaves the question if other creatures can use magic instinctively, or if the Kami are actually going around teaching the intelligent plants how to cast spells.

Even the plants seem to have to 'concentrate' in order to cast spells though, seeing as how their casting can be interrupted just like that of a homin caster.