Re: What is a "conventional engine"?

>  > another thing that bugs me: does the elven flitter move its wings when
>>  flying? the name implies that, but i didn´t read a description yet. the
>>  same goes with the dragonfly, damselfly or wasp: do their wings move or do
>>  they just "glide"?
>>
>>  i am for the moving-wings- version, because the description of the flitter
>>  states that it can go OUT of an atmosphere, which would be kind of
>>  difficult with a glider- the pilot would have to rely on upwinds that
>>  actually blow his ship out of (!) the athmosphere.
>
>I'm told that in some cases it is a matter of 'fantasy style',
>and that vehicles move through space, or 'sail', because they look
>as though they ought to. I am not very happy about that as an
>explanation.

If you are referring to some of my writing, the 
idea is that helms work through a form of 
sympathetic magic, like voodoo.  Yes, sails are 
need because they look like they should be 
needed, but the reason is deeper then a simple 
case of 'looks cool'.

Sympathetic magic is one of the oldest ideas of 
magic, going way back to pre-historic man.  It is 
essentially an outgrowth of mythopoeic thought 
(for a good, but detailed look at mythopoeic 
thought check out 'The Intellectual Adventure of 
Ancient Man' by Frankfurt, et al.  Great source 
for ancient Mesopotamian or Egyptian style 
cultures also.)

Brokedown simply, Mythopoeic thought believes 
that everything has a will, an awareness. 
Everything is therefore for, or against, man. 
This means literally everything, chairs, rocks, 
trees, snails, ect.  Beyond that, everything is 
connected, and like is more strongly connected to 
like.  So, two chairs, while different, are 
connected, even almost one chair. In practical 
terms, and as an example, if you kick a chair in 
new jersey, a chair in California may break 
beneath you weeks later in revenge.

This connectedness  refers to images as well, 
hence the belief sometimes ascribed to various 
aboriginal cultures that if you destroy the 
picture of a person you destroy that person as 
well.

So, in my view, helm magic uses the same 
principle to allow the appearence of motive force 
to become actual motive force.

Now note, I'm mixing up a great deal of real 
anthropology and history with magical concepts. 
This is my explanation, not the official one, and 
I chose it because it explains all the 
contradictory rules and images of spelljammer 
without requiring any of them to be ignored.

--
"...How shall a man judge what to do in such times?!"
"As he has ever judged," said Aragorn "Good and 
evil have not changed since yesteryear..."
J.R.R. Tolkien, _The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers_

Paul Westermeyer,  westermeyer@????????.net