META: Magic in Fenspace

[robkelk]

On Retcons And Secret History: Nobody - and I mean nobody - knows this; any hints that somebody does will be persecuted with extreme prejudice. Clear? Okay, good. So. The big retcon/secret history is that magic existed in Fenspace but at a level nobody could really use or even experience. That changed on whatever the whateverth, 2008, when interdimensional traveller Doug Sangnoir used his magic on a sample of handwavium. The feedback loop from this acted as a catalyst, causing an exponential spike in the local background count that spread outwards.

Supplementary: There are only six people who have the necessary data to possibly make a stab at guessing this might be the case. Of those six, Doug Sangnoir and Yoriko Nikaido are long-gone, and Noah and Yayoi aren't analysts. That leaves Sora and Kohran... and by Word of Principal Authors, they never put two and two together.

So, yeah. Nobody gets to figure out why magic suddenly started working in Fenspace.

On Magic and Genetics: A genetic basis for magic makes some sense to me (also it makes my Perpetually-Threatened Shadowrun Crossover easier to swallow) though I’m not sure of percentages. It’s only in the mid/late-2020s that natural affinity for magic should start appearing, though - manufactured affinities (like say, Honami Ambler or Jade Hasegawa’s abilities, or Noah’s magegift activated via his interactions with the Girls) can show up earlier but the background count’s only been high enough to ‘trip’ the genetics in the last couple years. As the man once said “it’s your kids! Somebody’s gotta do something about your kids!”

Supplementary: Not very many people get to interact with The Girls, either. And most of the ones who do - the Boskonians on Ganymede and in Crystal Paris - aren't mana-sensitive. (Or, in some cases, alive.)

If you really, really, really want your character to be one of the exceeding-rare people who get to interact with The Girls in a non-fatal context, PM or email me and I'll see whether I can squeeze you into an already-tight storyline. But prepare to be disappointed unless you've got a really good idea for a cameo...

On Technomagic: In my initial rambling screeds on the Soviet manadynamics project this is where I was focusing. Because inherent magegifts are only just starting to show up (and even then ~all the new mages are, like, toddlers) the majority of work on magic so far has been aimed at poking at it using modern scientific & industrial tools. Which makes sense if you think about it in a historical context, but that’s a rant for another post. Anyway, while it won’t get to the level joked about in the thread for a good while (the Soviets have been laboring away with a Giant Space Brain and so far have achieved 1% of an enchanted ENIAC. This is gonna take some time) I think the close integration of magic and technology is the way most Fenspacers will go.

Hello, Nanoha... And you know that Safety's going to be mistaken for an Intelligent Device even more often than she was before magic became known, ne?

On Rules: Sky’s the limit. Bear in mind that these are early days and nobody yet has the ability to get really gonzo. People sussing out the operational envelope for their particular system is encouraged and expected. Also expected are headlines along the lines of “researcher accidentally implodes self.” Paradox can be a right bitch.

So we're going with Kohran's suggestion from a few months after A.C. ran The Gauntlet, and everybody can have his, her, or its own magical paradigm?

On Fenspace and Amber: No, non, nein, nyet, nix, nuh-uh, not happening.

Thank you.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012