Enchanted "versus" Wondrous World?
There's a (key?) component of Science Fiction that gets discussed every so often - the Wonder that advancements in technology awaken in us. The idea, from what I recall + reading that link, is that something like an Orbital or Space Elevator or Dyson Sphere or Singularity Level AI is that it runs in accordance with the sacred-in-SF Laws of Physics. Even if there are impossibilities in the story (for example FTL is arguably one of those) there is still enough that is - according to our current knowledge - at least possibly if not plausibly in our destiny based on what is assumed to be our trajectory as a technologically progressive species capable of Reason.
So the Wonder comes not from confrontation with what is impossible (though some of that is probably there too, again see FTL) but with what could be done without violating any (or at least many to most) of our sacred-to-SF Natural Laws.
This can be contrasted with the bizarre, sometimes surreal landscapes one encounters in fantasy. To some extent you might have something impossible for your PCs to ever reproduce (say a City of Doors leading Everywhere while barring the Gods from entry) that evokes Wonder by being, at least where PC stats are concerned, Transcendent. Other Wonders, like a flying city, might be out of reach without a carefully worded Wish spell but it's at least conceivable how advanced knowledge in the magical arts could get you from a flying carpet to a city floating above the clouds.
Wondrous as these are, I'm skeptical any of the above are describing an Enchanted World where:
-Internal mental/emotional states & moral norms have causal efficacy
-There's some applicability for the "laws" of Magic - Sympathy, Contagion....something about Essences...probably others I can't remember...
Even barring Gods may simply be quantifiable field effects of some kind. If you can write out some detailed mathematical rules - even rules of magic - it feels more like a scientistic conception of reality rather than that of an Enchanted World.
The easiest to make Enchanted would be that City of Doors - turn it into the actual City of Doors, Sigil, from Planescape and the fact that portal keys can be things like "true love" or "memory of betrayal" in that setting does the heavy lifting. Of course one might argue that even in a Scifi setting a portal could do something parallel to my Enchanted examples - just scan the person's brain & body to determine their emotional states.
So we need something more to really be convincingly Enchanted. If a kiss from a true love can break a sleep spell that's a start. If serving a cause you're dedicated to adds to your bonuses it might begin to feel more Enchanted though better if this bonus changes with your roleplaying decisions.
D&D also has the type of undead or extraplanar being you become dependent on circumstances and emotional states, but this is really "fluff" that can take place long before the PCs ever come face to face with the creatures in question - at which point they're a grab bag of stats. (Though if the PCs are responsible for a person entering into a particular post-life state...)
So a setting with mental/moral status directing post-life state is nominally Enchanted in its fluff and maybe full blown Enchanted if PCs drive someone to a particular emotional state and particular death, while a setting with a few pluses/minuses to the math here & there is weakly Enchanted if those pluses/minuses have something to do with moral/emotional states.
You get further on the Enchanted Spectrum if you include regents, rituals, and some good botches like LotFP does for summoning. Regents & Rituals because Essences (Feather for a Feather Fall spell, ingredients for gunpowder for Fireball, etc), Botches because it makes magic seem less like technology and more like magic. Rituals also add a bit of Enchantment, possibly, if there's something about them where one is enacting something like the journey of Ishtar to the Underworld for a Resurrection Spell.
So all that said, what kind of Enchantment and "Sense of Wonder" can we have in the Void?
So the Wonder comes not from confrontation with what is impossible (though some of that is probably there too, again see FTL) but with what could be done without violating any (or at least many to most) of our sacred-to-SF Natural Laws.
This can be contrasted with the bizarre, sometimes surreal landscapes one encounters in fantasy. To some extent you might have something impossible for your PCs to ever reproduce (say a City of Doors leading Everywhere while barring the Gods from entry) that evokes Wonder by being, at least where PC stats are concerned, Transcendent. Other Wonders, like a flying city, might be out of reach without a carefully worded Wish spell but it's at least conceivable how advanced knowledge in the magical arts could get you from a flying carpet to a city floating above the clouds.
Wondrous as these are, I'm skeptical any of the above are describing an Enchanted World where:
-Internal mental/emotional states & moral norms have causal efficacy
-There's some applicability for the "laws" of Magic - Sympathy, Contagion....something about Essences...probably others I can't remember...
Even barring Gods may simply be quantifiable field effects of some kind. If you can write out some detailed mathematical rules - even rules of magic - it feels more like a scientistic conception of reality rather than that of an Enchanted World.
The easiest to make Enchanted would be that City of Doors - turn it into the actual City of Doors, Sigil, from Planescape and the fact that portal keys can be things like "true love" or "memory of betrayal" in that setting does the heavy lifting. Of course one might argue that even in a Scifi setting a portal could do something parallel to my Enchanted examples - just scan the person's brain & body to determine their emotional states.
So we need something more to really be convincingly Enchanted. If a kiss from a true love can break a sleep spell that's a start. If serving a cause you're dedicated to adds to your bonuses it might begin to feel more Enchanted though better if this bonus changes with your roleplaying decisions.
D&D also has the type of undead or extraplanar being you become dependent on circumstances and emotional states, but this is really "fluff" that can take place long before the PCs ever come face to face with the creatures in question - at which point they're a grab bag of stats. (Though if the PCs are responsible for a person entering into a particular post-life state...)
So a setting with mental/moral status directing post-life state is nominally Enchanted in its fluff and maybe full blown Enchanted if PCs drive someone to a particular emotional state and particular death, while a setting with a few pluses/minuses to the math here & there is weakly Enchanted if those pluses/minuses have something to do with moral/emotional states.
You get further on the Enchanted Spectrum if you include regents, rituals, and some good botches like LotFP does for summoning. Regents & Rituals because Essences (Feather for a Feather Fall spell, ingredients for gunpowder for Fireball, etc), Botches because it makes magic seem less like technology and more like magic. Rituals also add a bit of Enchantment, possibly, if there's something about them where one is enacting something like the journey of Ishtar to the Underworld for a Resurrection Spell.
So all that said, what kind of Enchantment and "Sense of Wonder" can we have in the Void?
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