Re: What is a "conventional engine"?

In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Fri 04 Mar, Paul Westermeyer wrote:
> >> 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'.

I was referring to the 'It Flies Because it Looks Cool' school of
SJ engines.


> 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.

This is the sort of background that I like to see!

Using this, you can get all sorts of ideas about new ways to make
things work, in a SJ, and a more general fantasy, setting.


I assume when you say 'helm magic', you are also referring to
ways of moving things around without a helm, as well.


I wonder how you mix the above, in with the Tinker Gnome
approach! [grin]

Scaring/intimidating things into working? [grin]


Cheers!

-- 
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/