Fantasy is often associated with the concepts of magic and world building in fantasy often includes a lot of mention of magic and magic systems. However, there are some fantasy stories that like to combine the worlds of technology with magic (magi-tech). This could be due to a number of reasons, like writing a sci-fantasy story or something similar. Either way though, magic and technology provide unique ways to be combined, but how do you balance the two if you’re writing a fantasy story? My series, The Fallen Age Saga, is a sci-fantasy story that includes magic and technology combined, so I had to learn how to balance them well. So, for today’s post, I’ll be explaining how you can balance magic and technology in fantasy worlds.
Magic and the World of Fantasy Stories
Magic is one of the most essential components of any fantasy story. If you look at all the fantasy books, movies, games, etc… that exist out there, you’ll find that they include some form of a magic system that depends on the story’s context. Magic systems in fantasy serve to define many rules in the world as well as represent the mystical, ancient, and sometimes unknown. The idea of magic is something that has been a staple piece of any fantasy story and the creativity of a writer in fantasy often shines when writing a magic system.
In many fantasy worlds and stories, the idea of magic is depicted as something that exists far beyond human understanding. Many stories portray magic as having been passed from the divine to mankind and the use of magic varies depending on the story presented. Some fantasy stories have magic utilized for war (such as military fantasy) while others have it utilized for productive things. Some combine the usages, but it all depends on the confines of the world.
If you want to learn how to design a high fantasy magic system, then check out this post!
How Technology Works in Stories
Technology has often been utilized in sci-fi as the replacement for magic. Instead of a magic system, sci-fi stories have delved into the technological premises of the future and what technology could be like in the world around us. Technology, however, exists in fantasy as well. Anything like blacksmithing, construction, war machines, etc… these are all pieces of technology. Technology may sound in our heads like some cyberpunk world, but that’s not necessarily what it means.
Technology sometimes exists in contrast to magic. Whereas magic is the mystical and unknown, technology often requires research, science, and innovation. These things may come into conflict in some stories. However, they may also actually coexist in stories where technology is created using magic and magic is used to power technology.
Check out this post: Sci-Fi vs Fantasy
Technology represents the concepts of innovation, human progress, and sometimes even control.
Combining Magic and Technology
Whenever a story combines the worlds of magic with technology, you get a pretty interesting mix. Like I said before, some stories choose to create contrasts and others choose to blend the two. In my series, The Fallen Age Saga, the Ones Above utilize magic produced from glyphs but they oftentimes add these glyphs to highly advanced weaponry in order to channel the magic through an item. There are even pieces of technology that exist in their world that require the utilization of magic.
In some cases, magic and technology being in conflict is typically a depiction of the old guard that favors tradition vs the innovators who see a way forward using technology. In some cases, it might be the opposite. In the Netflix series, Arcane, magic is considered forbidden and dangerous but Jayce sees magic as a way forward to boost and enhance technology.
There’s a lot of room to create an interesting story with deep thematic elements when you combine magic with technology. You could show real-world contrasts through these sorts of clashes, or you could show the way societies change and progress via these changes as well. Ultimately, it’s up to you how you portray these combinations, but now we’ll get into how there may be some challenges when it comes to trying to balance magic and technology in a story.
The Challenges of Blending Magic and Technology
Trying to combine magic with technology is a very interesting concept and it has a lot of potential for something interesting in a story. However, it can also lead to issues with storytelling. Firstly, there is the challenge of letting one system dominate the other in a story. If magic is too powerful, it overshadows technology and then it leads readers feeling like such technological changes are unnecessary. If technology advances far beyond magic, it may make the presence of magic in your story feel unneeded.
Another challenge is in world building and the consistency of it. Once you have rules for magic and technology, you need to be able to follow them. Establishing these rules in your story ensures that you know the confines of your world and can apply them properly. However, if your rules are broken frequently, then readers will feel bothered and will definitely notice these flaws in your world building. World building is something that I think is very important and you need to pay close attention to it. If you aren’t sure how to get started with world building, then you want to check out this post!
Additionally, you don’t want to try and make everything fixable using magic or technology in combination. It will feel just too convenient if every single problem can be solved using the two systems in combination. As a writer, your challenge is to balance them and show how they each have their uses in your world.
Characters and the Divide
One interesting thing about including magic and technology is the ability to play with character dynamics. Characters may prefer one system over another, which could lead to natural rivalries and alliances. An innovator who works with technology might despise magic or consider it primitive, while a mage may see technology as soulless and a tool that poses a threat to the world. A person who combines both in their daily life may find no issue. However, the ideological differences that could be posed are very interesting and should definitely be considered in this case.
You also have room to create some internal conflict here. If a character is used to one thing over another but they are suddenly forced to contend with this “other side,” then they may find themselves conflicted initially and may need to take a good amount of time to adapt to the new systems out there. If you want to learn how to create internal conflicts for your characters, then check out this post!
You could also create some interesting jobs with this combination to enhance your characters. If you want to learn how to create jobs for a fantasy world, then check out this post!
World-Building with Magic and Technology
When it comes to world building with magic and technology, what you have to keep in mind is that you will need to work on both with the same amount of effort. You also need to consider the beyond: How does magic affect technology? How does technology affect magic? How do they hinder each other? How do they help each other?
These sorts of things are very important because if you aren’t thinking about this, then you’re going to find yourself at a loss when you’re writing your story because these elements are essential for striking a balance in the book. The world building will impact the way a reader perceives your story, so make sure you focus on this point well.
Conclusion
Balancing magic and technology in a fantasy world is something that requires a good amount of effort and balance. It’s essential to work on both elements and to also think about how the world around these elements is impacted. You want to portray these two worlds with your characters and portray potentially how these things clash or intersect and how things have changed over time.
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get updates on all my latest WIPs, book releases, posts and more!