What is the best way to explain a technologically advanced civilization

>>49228425
thats a cool tarantula

>>49228425
Technology is more reliable and easier to document than magic, and doesn't frizzle to nothing once you've cast a few spells.

>>49228425
Said civilization developed in an area that was a target of the magic equivalent of an EMP bomb. After that, it has become a deadzone of shorts, with all magic cast inside fizzling.

>>49228669
you answerd the question by getting rid of it.
At least you tried

>>49228425
magic isn't an instant free food, heat and light button you can press whenever you want.

Reliability
Scope
Ease of use
Connivance

In large part it really matters how your magic works and what it can do.

>>49228425
What if they're crazy paranoid? Having tech to rely on when you're out of magic is useful, and it's easier to take other wizards by surprise by not using the same spells.

Sure. I MIGHT be able to use a spell to send a message to someone at night, but I need the right spell, right material components which are notoriously ridiculously expensive, and I might need multiple castings to do so. Also I might not be at the level of expertise where I CAN take advantage of higher level spells because I don't know them, couldn't afford them, or didn't have the magic power of "level up and get two perfect spells of your choice out of the magic tomb of every spell ever created". Also, %30 is still a significant part of the population and maybe not every one of the other %70 are going to be lazy and reliant upon magic.

>>49228425
Just because you have access to magic doesn't mean that you can't improve your technology.

Actually, a civilization with magic has the potential of being more technoligically advanced then a non-magic one.

Just using magic to manipulate objets allows you to build machines without having to assemble the inside before the outside.

>>49228425
They are aliens/from an alternate reality/alternate dimension.

Or the always used precursor race that created things so advanced that after they disappeared or went into hiding, people saw it as magic.

>>49229223
Then why are elves, apparently perfect masters in any art they apply themselves to and have infinite life spans, still stuck in dark ages level of technology with magic sprinkled throughout.

>>49229158
You've just explained what a cell phone is

>>49229310
stagnant because infinite life spans is one explanation.
Evolutionary dead end could work too, just because it's been working for the elves so long doesn't mean it will be so great when humans and dwarfs have tanks and airplanes

>>49228425
Just because they're magical doesn't mean there's no knowledge to be gained. Man is a curious animal. Also, depending on the kind of magic, you could build technology to be "selfperpetuating". For example, a car will last until destroyed, but summon familiar horse might take effort, it only lasts for x time, who knows what else.

>>49228425
Even with magic, there is no free lunch: spells physically drain the caster as if they had performed an equivalent amount of manual labor to perform the task. Mechanization allows the substitution of fuel for human stamina.

>>49228425
It's technology, i ain't gotta explain shit.

>>49229310
So that the setting can stay in the middle ages, that or a better reason specific to a particular setting with elves.

>>49229310
Im the fuck plying.

Tolkien elves were putting the light of trees in really fucking shiny jewels before the dwarves got out of their caves. They were making metallurgical miracles out of mithril.

>>49229435
they were fantastic at giving objects magical properties but not particularly great at technological advancement
like they had mithril, but used it in incredibly inefficient and outdated forms of armor which still worked because it was fucking mithril

Magic is a limitless, but hard to control source. You must spend years mastering it for it not to devoured you, however, your intelligence dictates it's bounds.

Tech is for the average man. The peasant dosnt have the time or resources to study magic, and the village can't stand up to orks with pitforks. You invent thongs to do it because wizards cosy money you don't have. Eventually it leads to more tech. Tech however requires alot of material and can be dismantled easily.

Magic is top teir, but tech helps everyone else.

The law of conservation of effort.

Anything you can do with magic takes around as much effort as actually doing it; although magic has the benefit of being direct and always eventually working, it only has efficiency gains when it turns out that you re doing a subpar job of the other thing.

While a law in the sense of Moore's Law, not Newton's Laws, it's consistently accurate enough that much research is focused on places where magic is currently the best way, because there must be an efficiency to discover there. Eventually all uses of magic will be made... not redundant, so much as not necessary.

>>49228425
The more a Spell is cast the in the world, the more it's "etched" into the fabric of the realm, so the easier it gets.

This means small mundane tricks and spells can be learnt by damn near everyone, while ancient spells are lost and weighty things that cost much to be used.

Its way more reliable and economic. Having a worker with a crane its way cheaper then hire a telekinese wizard.

The conveniences of magic have provided them with a surplus of time that needs filled, and technological innovation is a scholarly persuit worthy of a gentleman. I would also expect many of them to take up art or the hunting of fantastical beasts.

>>49228425
BLOOD MAGIC

Magic and science are complementary, you can use both together to get greater effects. For example if you can create a very small amount of fire at a great distance, well that's a pretty good way to ignite a much larger bomb remotely.

Also even in a medieval level of technology, you still *have* technology. Like, you still need mills to grind your flour and such, presumably there's no "Grind Flour" spell. Those mills can be driven by magic, but if magic isn't free, well, there's a good reason to develop better forms of power...

>>49228425

How did they get to the medieval era in the first place? Extrapolate on that, and eventually they'll get anywhere given the passage of time, even if tech development is only a hobby.

>>49229310

That's less because of their magic ability and more because they're both extremely conservative and the fact that they're so long lived means that said conservatives stay in power for literally the amount of time it takes for a human civilization to rise and fall - even if they were non-magical, you would still get the same stagnation.

I find it harder to explain medieval stasis in a fantasy setting.

If you're talking about a major industrial economy amidst medieval kingdoms, that is harder to explain (since you need a pretty big population and infrastructure to keep it going), but technically it happened--IRL history contains episodes of men with machine guns fighting people with spears and bows.

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>>49231164

You don't say.