Welcome to Gaia! ::

Does anybody else see something wrong with somebody ripping a carrier apart with their mind?

The problem with magic is that because it's not defined there is no way to scale it.

i said i pulled there shield generator apart not the carrier. for crying out loud i have a hard enough time trying to make a barrier or pickup a chunk of a mecha. sheash theres so much air movement outside that would make it very difficult for me to move the bolt in the right direction. have you ever tryd to hold onto a kite in 80 mile an hour wind?

(yes full metal alchemist is on finaly! yay!

goldbrease: Ambiguity is something that grammer, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling all help you to avoid. You said you destroyed "it" with your mind, but "it" was not clearly defined by your previous sentance.



I see no credentials on the page you linked; no research studies, no institutions, not even a "DR So-and-so". The article also provides no reason for a common phenomena; having a simple concept in mind, but having to consciously grasp for a word that matches the idea best.

I contend that people do not think in english, but we think we do.

Regardless, reading a person's mind does not require magic.



I meant a slug enchanted so that on contact it would drain energy from whatever it hit. Thanks to being the b*****d child of magic and technology, everybody's opponents can have an achilles hangnail.

I can.
I can write it, too.

It's faster to use a high-level language, but machinecode is no less readable than it was in the 1950s.



I'm not saying it would be fast, I'm not saying it would be reliable, but non-magical mind reading is still possible.

Language barriers would serve to protect linguistic data - which should happen with magical methods, unless they use a translation spell- but that wouldn't help somebody from pulling-out a person's image, a visual of the target pushing a keypad, or the target remembering a vivid encounter with a $5 whore.



Nope, if you look at the higher-level magic spells in D&D, you can oblitterate a person by simply hitting their cape or the like. Magic, unlike proven emperical laws, does not need to make sense.

-

Sorry for being snappy, people. I've got a cold and way too much work on the docket.

It seems to me that any attempts to reconcile magic and technology is doomed inevitably to failure. Magic is based in the impossible and mythological; Technology is based in the possible and scientific.

Science Fiction and Fantasy can sometimes be united, like in the Star Wars franchise. However, Star Wars fails to fully explain how some technological elements can use the Force. For example, in KotOR (I have yet to get the second), the game developers couldn't come up with a proper explination of how the Star Forge drew from the power of the Dark Side to produce matter.

With this theory, however, some aspects of Magic can not be explained in terms that are useful for the scientist. Magically Immune people are immune to all spells cast at them, correct? Well then why aren't they immune to a blast from a Technological Laser or a Projectile Weapon? Based on the Aethereal Theory, they would be, in essence, the same thing. However, a person who is magic immune is not immune to the physical, and that does not compute.

Also, there is a way in which energy is shot out as a result of the Aether's flow. A Mage can cast a Lightning Spell by manipulating the inherant Aether in all things, but what is it that's moving it? There is nothing physical moving. The Aether, which mirrors the physical, should not move drastically either. Could it be something in the plane the Aether is located? I am unconvinced. How could mouthing certain words for a spell produce effects on Aether that mouthing words in a conversation would not produce?

I was a proponent of the Theory, until the underlying flaws became evident. This is why Magic is not real.

Sure it is; magic immunity comes from being a void in the magic energy field. I'd like to see you try to hit somebody with no physical presence with a laser or projectile.

People can choose to play as intangible creatures, but they have to accept that they're vulnerable to magic disruptions - both technological like field generators, and magical like wards.



It's not the mouthing of the words, it's the mental focus that chanting enhances.

The aether does not move; it doesn't have to. By way of example, barring costal effects water doesn't really move much when energy is transfered through it.



Indeed, magic is very flawed, but without it Gaia wouldn't be as much fun.

True, but the magic immunities I was referring to are those people who are born with immunity to all magic. This is different then the magic immunity you are talking to, which is probaly an alteration spell or enchantment.



I see what you mean, but what about the mental focus moves the Aether? There is no explination for how the Mage can manipulate the Aether. It just seems like a child asking "Where do babies come from?" and the parents saying, "The Stork."



If I understand the Theory correctly, the Aether isn't the medium for energy transfer, like water would be in that example. In fact, it isn't even on the same plane as the Mage. Aether would be the substance that is manipulated to create a reaction. Again, though, how is it manipulated? If it is beyond our plane, it is beyond our reach. Yet we effect it by effecting our own plane. Every move we make, the Aether moves as well since it mirrors our own plane. Yet there is nothing moving but thoughts in a spell, so what causes the Fireball or Lightning?



Heh. No question there.

First of all, I never said "Wizard did it" as my explanation. In fact, I am trying to say that this explanation is merely less-then-adequate. I believe a system based in Chi or Chakra would be a better system then one based in this Aether, though still flawed. I wonder why the system was rejected by physicists to explain the travel of light through space? Because deep down it is illogical. Basically your explination didn't explain magic at all, it only said that "magic is capable of using aether as a transmission medium". in fact, it merely adds more weight onto the minds of those trying to understand Magic in the Roleplaying sense.

Second of all, having no background is better then having one that sets limits to the ability to RP with other topics. Leaving things the way they are would work better then anything else. My understanding of gravity is or no relevance to the inherent flaws of this theory. However, I can say that gravity, due to it's nature of being *true* is potentially understandable to a much greater extent then any mythical magic could ever be. In saying that the disturbance travels through the Aether and effects the tangible world you again are struggling with the question of "How?"

The reason why magic can not be esplained in any theory is because it is not real. To try and explain that which does not exist is an effort doomed to failure. I assert that there is no possible way to set any theory over all systems or Magic on Gaia. The sources of the said magic is just too diverse. You have magic from divine sources on one side, you have demonic magic on the other, you have bodily magic between that, then you have every type of natural and elemental magic all together. It is impossible to set any theory over all the said magic to explain their sources and thier properties.

It is better for someone to say "Wizard did it!" then saying "I manipulated the Aether to achieve my desired results." Both of which are equally lacking in explanation.