User:Narc/Magitech

It all started with:

"<~Narc> Hrm. I just had this odd fragment go through my head: 'We had the Industrial Revolution all right -- but our machines were powered by magic, not steam. Well, that's not exactly right, actually -- the magic is what makes the steam, you see, and it still requires coal as fuel... but instead of burning the coal, the stoker pulls energy from it into himself, and then pours it into the boiler.'"

Now, to nail down this magitech thing and figure out why it works the way it does:


 * Organic molecules are easier to convert into magic energy than inorganic. This suggests coal, oil... or maybe even blood, would make for better fuel sources than, say, Uranium.
 * Heat is easier to create out of magic energy than kinetic energy. This gives us a reason why we make steam in a boiler to make a machine go instead of just giving it a magic push.
 * Efficiency-wise, conversion to and from magic energy is better than, say, burning the coal directly. Multiple reasons:
 * Mass-energy conversion is more efficient than oxidation in the first place.
 * The heat can be generated inside the water being heated to steam, leading to better caloric transfer -- less waste.
 * Magic conversion has no air, ground water, etc., pollution associated.
 * Magitech practitioners are fairly rare, about 1 in 1,000, and genetically determined.
 * Magitech practitioners are fairly rare, about 1 in 1,000, and genetically determined.