Is a good idea enough?

I'm sitting here, still feeling a little blah (taco Bell ruined my stomach last night, thats what I get for eating there) but I want to keep posting. I think the more I force myself to maintain as close to a post a day, the better.

I started wondering about whether or not just having the idea was enough. I'm not talking about the obvious stuff like writing and marketing the idea though. I think part of it is the willingness to realise the idea is itself malleable. So many people I've met ask for ideas and shoot them down nearly immediately, because deep down, they don't think the idea needs to be changed; to them, the idea is already perfect.

That's probably why you'll always see me mentioning my sources, or talking about whether or not I think a new idea is particularly cliche. I perhaps overthink my ideas sometimes, but I rarely assume the idea is itself perfect and indestructible. I doubt any story was (with the exception of Colridge's Kubla Khan, if you can believe the stories of its creation) and every author has had to retool, rewrite, rework what they've already done. I have no doubt that every author has, at some point wiped out dozens of pages simply because those pages no longer worked.

I'm definitely rambling, as I'm quite tired. But I suppose what I am shooting at is this: I think the willingness to change my own creation reflects a dilligence to simply create the best story, regardless of the time it takes. I could be sugar coating it for myself, who knows, but its certainly how I think for now.

Altan Barr Revisited

just a a quick apology for hte lateness, I had a serious case of indigestion last night, groaning and bitching like a baby.

The biggest thing I wanted to say about Altan, and it perhaps trumps a lot of things I've said about him in the past is that he is something of a three layer cake. Anger, frustration, revenge on either side of a very compassionate man. For all his goodness, he is driven by his hatred of Zayn, and the more he learns about Zayn, the greater that hatred grows. This isn't some light side/dark side thing, he won't necessarily have a redemptive moment. It might not even go down that cliched path where someone just like him sets it straight and he gives up the hate.

Maybe, just maybe, that hate needs to play out. It fuels him, and perhaps this hate ensures he'll never be the sort of man who lives in Boondis after the war, he'll still follow his path for his patriotism. I'm still not sure entirely.

I just wanted to make it really clear that this character is definitely angry.

Never bring a knife to a gun fight

Weapons being vital to war, what is the technological level of weaponry on Talaeasia?

Some things have advanced more than others, naturally. Brystl uses some rather advanced engineering and pharmacology to build and use large, man shaped, piloted robotics. Avionics via dirigibles is prevelent across the known world. Conversely, evolutions like telephony, television, the internet, never have happened, nor have major power plants of any kind. Coal (or something like it) is the source for most energy.

Weaponry in Talaesia teeters on par with the nineteenth century. Weapons like the maxim machine gun have been developed for brystl suits, and single shot derringers are common with most users. Civilian weapons tend to reflect the early nineteenth, with pepperbox pistols and long barrel rifles, usually single cartridge style.

The military grade weapons reflect later nineteenth century weaponry, in some cases even escalating to early twentieth century weapons. For example, something quite similar to the Colt 1911 is used, as well as multi-cartridge assault rifles.

Blades still remain extremely popular in some circles, usually the upper class who still see fencing as a method for honourable combat. Still, never bring a knife to a gun fight.

Its not revelations quality content really, just something that needed to be shared. I hope to focus on Altan and Bauzak tomorrow and wednesday, while some of there background is there, I suspect I have a few things more I'd like to say. Thanks for now.

Magic, the raging debate

First off, Holy Crap, I know, I almost didn't post today which would have ended my dreams of a 20 in 20 streak. Thank goodness I got online finally! What a relief.

So what's today's big question you wonder? I had wondered about that too. I settled on a straightforward question that, to be honest, I still haven't answered to my satisfaction.

Does magic exist in this specific fictional universe? The hazy boundaries between science fiction and fantasy blurs even more in Steampunk style content, can magic be made to fit with the star ships and mecha suits of this world?

Right off the hop, I want to say yes, and I tend to go with my instincts. Still, I find it somewhat difficult to fit magic in. It can't fall into place along the lines of more "hard" fantasy, with Orders of Magic users who train in musty old towers and have some sort of alignment or colour code (Gandalf the Grey? The Red Robes of Lunitari, et cetera). At the same time I don't want to take the standard science fiction style easy out that is psychics, psykers, telepaths, et al. Those have always struck me as the simple answer to magic in science fiction, and while psychics might come into play in this game, I won't do so happily.

So where does my magic come from? That's a fine question. I'm settling on the idea of a nearly scientific magic. As if the magic itself is not treated as the arcane, but as the scientific. Imagine alchemy, if it had been given the chance to simply evolve with its part mystical part scientific system. The idea that with a dose of simple science and a dose of "mystical" hoodoo, one could make lead into gold.
This way, "magicians" don't really see themselves as such, but rather see themselves as paranormal "insert scientific field here" where the paranormal aspects may be overlaid onto many various fields. The obvious one's of course are botany, biology, toxicology, and other natural things. But go further with metallurgy and the various smithings (black, gun, etc) even physics. mystically enhanced ballistic trajectories never sounded so sweet.

But let me reinforce this: it would not be seen as magic, rather, as science. If we assume that the bones of a newborn calf possess some mystical aspects in hoodoo, and a wild eyed young chemist decided to use such things in a salve for gangrene, would such a chemist see it as magic or simple experimentation. The possible examples could go on and on, with chemical bathes for metals and alloys playing a part in smithing.

Magical delivery would be less "sim sim salabim" and a finger gesture, and more ballistics. More thrown bags of components that when released create great effect. The best real world, entirely non-fictional example I can muster at this hour is potassium. Mix potassium with water and you get a relatively violent reaction. To those not versed in science, this might be seen as magic (could be magic too lol) but to a scientist its science, even if it's a new discovery.

Basically, these craftsmen, aiming to use new chemical mixtures for combat, would be more akin to petards than to Gandalf the Grey. Delivery would be through grenade like items, and reaction would be based on atmosphere, or on seperate items mixing after barriers in the grenade shatter. A grenade exploding into a stoneskin causing mist is still pretty damned magical if you ask me.

Now, such "magics" might only exist on select planets. I suspect the elements of human space still versed in human history - and thus connected to the idea of the "falsity of magic" - might disregard such things, and even shun the idea of mixing traditionally mystical components with traditionally modern science. But on worlds like Talaesia, where such a connection vanished centuries ago, the stigma against such mixing would not necessarily exist.

I think its the best way I can happily use magic. We'll see if I change my opinion later. Comments encouraged, desired, and welcome.