As part of my intention to design a fantasy setting where nature is part of magic, I looked to obsolete scientific theories in the real world. Over the course of history, people have believed in a lot of stuff that was later proved false. In the fantasy world, however, these make a great alternative to real science and should help make for a more consistent fantasy setting.
One of the elements of my setting is that everyone has four humors made of the four elements, not just elementals. There are no periodic elements, just different flavors of the classical elements.
Another is spontaneous generation and Lamarck evolution, because magic is everywhere. It creates life, both real animals and fantastical animals. It mutates existing animals and passes those traits to future generations.
Vitalism, orgones and so forth are also true. This was also the case for standard fantasy, but it always worked at odds with the magic/nature division. Manipulating orgones is what makes healing, necromancy, etc possible.
Magnetic fluid, as described by mesmerists, is the magical winds. Mesmerism, animal magnetism and so forth is another name for magic that manipulates the mind and the body through the mind, particularly psychic magic or psionics.
Aether is both the sense of the classical element and the luminiferous aether exists. Aether is both the element of space-time and a substance that affects space travel (see Aether & Flux: Sailing the Traverse). When congealed, it forms the substance of the ethereal plane and aether elementals.
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