Activity

So, I have been following all the replies here, though I’ve not had much time to get on and actually say anything. 😛

@princess-foo Yessssss, Brandon Sanderson. I loved that book and am on the next one.

I guess I would say it becomes a steampunk when the technology is steam powered, or it is set in the historical time period, and futuristic when it goes beyond the current technology.

Yes… but what is the ‘current technology’ of a world one creates and has several millennia of history planned out? I should go look though because I know there are various kinds of fantasy–a whole long cool list.

@sarah-inkdragon That sort of villain sounds hilarious. XD I want to read it. And yeah, I like how there are improvements, but it’s not past the fantasy age/tec. Things like forging and metals and mining… there are lots of ‘little’ things that improved before all the big things like steam and electricity came along.

@evelyn That is interesting. But… I want it all to be fantasy. XD Actually, I just want to mix fantasy with everything else and see what happens. Dragons in a western or griffins bring people to a spaceport. That sort of thing.

@daeus-lamb

I think it’s important here to realize the two schools of fantasy here. On the one hand, we have mythic fantasy and fairytales. On the other hand, we have alternate realities of all different shades.

Good point. The second aspect could be any number of genres. The first… I think one thing that can help with fantasy tec. is to give them technology we don’t have. Such as things being powered by stormlight in the Stormlight Archive. Or there being wind currents or water or weather or other science/magical elements in that the people in this world can modify to give them a culture that has a decent amount of technology. Just not the kind we have.

The question for that ends up being how much one wants to develop the unique resources of a world and/or make up their own science and physics.

@devastate-lasting That sounds interesting. 😛 Complicated, but interesting. And yeah… my brain is too tired to try to process it enough to come up with something clever to say in reply. XD

@seekjustice Ooo, fun. I just have flying wolves.

@karthmin Ah, definitions is it? 😉

Though… I actually don’t have a clear cut definition of fantasy. I ought to read this On Fairy Stories deal you guys keep mentioning. I feel like I might have at one point but I don’t remember.

That is interesting though. I’d known some bits about Tolkien and technology but hadn’t considered fantasy itself being against tecnology. Just that it was ‘standard’ which was all the more reason to make something less cliche.

Now I’m wondering how both the systems might be combined. Bringing out the beauty of nature but, because of a magic system/how the world runs, being able to harness that beauty and powers in ways that could be considered technology. Or even just nature. A city built next to a volcano where they channel lava to produce heat or a warm glow along the gutters of the streets. Or particular metals or plants being used to delve huge caverns under oceans or rivers.

Really… even Tolkien’s standard was a bit arbitrary because it was a past he romanticized. But if the people from that period read fantasy they would likely romanticize a time even further past. Or they’d mark out inconsistencies of what matched their time frame and what was even further past. Because medieval life was hardly static either. It just didn’t have the ’70 years from flying to landing on the moon’ sort of leaps.

And… I feel like there’s more to say but my brain is tired and I have to go to work. So maybe later if I think of something else. 😛