Do we head to an in-game grand unified theory of magic?:p

[DarthImbreedous]

So far we have Arcane, Psi (which I assume, includes hate), Antimagic, and Nature. It seems to me that as versions advance we get more stuff powered by one or more of these. So, how do they fit together?

[darkgod]

The universe follows a set of "natural" rules.
Nature is kind of a semi sentient thing, ala Gaia theory. She doesnt like things not going the natural way.
Arcane is the forcing of one's will upon the universe to make effects that do not follow the rules. Arcane includes spells, celetial power, corruptions & paradox.
Nature is not happy with it, she grants followers some powers "wild gifts". She also evolves psionics as a kind of "natural magic".
Hate is a darknened psionic.
Antimagic is a very specific nature's creation to disable magic.

So basically nature and arcane opposes.

And someday later on:
Technology opposes arcane (because it follows rules to create stuff)
Technology opposes nature (because it transforms and polutes it)

[PureQuestion]

Technology opposes arcane (because it follows rules to create stuff)
Technology opposes nature (because it transforms and polutes it)

It's like a great big triangle of hate.

[omni]

I like this question. I really like it, and I appreciate the clarification DarkGod.

I'm going to use my own opinions/experiences/bias to try to flesh things out, but note I'm not a developer or designer. I just find this whole thing interesting as a fantasy construct and want to throw in my two cents

So, for resources (and power sources) so far we've got:

Stamina, Equilibrium (natural)
Mana, Positive/Negative Energy, Paradox, Vim (arcane)
Psionic, Hate (psionic forces).

Stamina represents physical ability, and with proper technique anyone can access their own natural physical ability. Better conditioning will let you do more fancy footwork more often and in a row, and better technique will increase this ability. It's a pretty natural thing to understand as you can imagine it exists in our own reality, and it's ultimately an internal force

Equilibrium represents the natural order of things surrounding you, and your ability to manipulate it within it's own rules. Ultimately though, you're using your own will to control a greater untapped energy in the lands, which is why I'd say the resource is unlimited but your skill at manipulating more and more of it comes at greater risks of abject failure. While it's a natural skill, it's still an mixed source force, since you're directing the external with internal will.

Mana represents your own ability to enforce your will on the natural world (by definition unnatural). Ultimately there are limits to the power you can channel, and that powers coming from nowhere but yourself. It's an internal force.

Positive/Negative Energy represent your ability to channel the latent energy from celestial objects. Their powers wax and wane together, and so share close relationships with each-other. You're controlling external forces and must find the balance between the two to truly be successful.

Paradox represents the state of reality surrounding you. The more you meddle, the more at risk of forces beyond your control risk unleashing and breaking through unexpectedly, but also the more malleable reality itself becomes to you. Ultimately, it represents your will and ability to manipulate the cosmos themselves, and so its a external force. You direct reality, and reality makes it so- so long as you can keep it stable enough to stay in existence. Hence why those who meddle and live long times often take some time to stabilize reality around themselves.

Vim represents a corruption of mana and internal forces. Strictly speaking, you're spending the 'soul' or rather more apt internal forces of both yourself AND those affected. Ultimately this makes it an corrupted force and is why it's popularly considered blasphemy and unwholesome, yet related to the more 'wholesome' arcane- you're using stolen internal force.

Psionic represents instead of physical ability, your mental ability. They are powers latent inside us all but unexercised and waiting to be tapped. They're wholly natural, but still extraordinary as most don't have the discipline inside and focus on an effect, not to mention the technique to wield them. This discipline, focus, and will are wielded to create effects externally, but the power is wholly an internal force.

Hate represents mental ability still, but instead of discipline tempered focus we're dealing with unbridled focus and ill will. It's considered a corruption of psi power for this reason, and whilst the power is internal ability directed, this ill will requires something external to provide the energy. Ultimately it's a corrupted force as instead of providing ability through discipline, you're providing affect from malevolence to external beings.

So, for internal forces we've got stamina, mana, psionic. Note that these will all recharge overtime, as they're internally derived and rest can only help. Cool, huh?

External forces include positive/negative, paradox, and equilibrium. Note that each one of these is theoretically 'unlimited,' you can cast over and over and over again ad nauseam- though your ability to wield that much power might not be skillful enough. They all involve some kind of action required to keep such unlimited powers under control, and so you don't rest to replenish them. You act.

Corrupted forces provide some interesting bits though, and are fairly exceptional to the rule. They represent corruption in that they're internal forces twisted around 'wrongly' and grabbing power from other beings. This is why you can't take corrupted forces and do things with them in isolation. Vim is arcane energy gone power hungry, attempting to wield the life of all things surrounding you instead of your own limited potential. Hence the relationship to the charred scar. Hate is undisciplined psionics driving it's focus and energy from malevolence and ill will.

Anyways, I'm sure this isn't perfect or probably even what the developers had in mind but that's what I see and get out of all of this.

[bricks]

Cool explanation, DarkGod. So, when do we see that technology?

[onyhow]

Wondering how the tech classes operate though?

[darkgod]

You'll see

[eliotn]

You'll see

Aww I want to know. I want to put a technology based class in tome. Maybe technology classes could require materials, that you could replenish with particular talents?

[phantomglider]

I thought a bit about how a technological resource pool would work, and I basically had two ideas.

The first, Power, would have every ability work a bit like a sustain; you have no passive regeneration, but once an ability comes off of cooldown you regain all of the Power that ability cost (though this would be a delayed effect that goes off x turns after the ability is used rather than something triggered by the cooldown, to prevent stunning from messing up the resource). This is kind of like having a fixed power output from your motor or generator or what-have-you: you can have any two of your heads-up display, your gun, and your leg augmentations functioning, but not all three at once.

The second, Pressure, would be a hybrid of Paradox and Positive: it continuously tends toward a middle amount of Pressure; some abilites increase Pressure, and some abilities cost Pressure. You get benefits and disadvantages for having very high or very low Pressure. This is more appropriate for a steampunky conception of technology.

[Postman]

IMHO techies shouldn't have any mysterious "Power" or "Pressure" resources. Give them fuel tank. Fuel could be extracted from the kills, from non-metal equipment or from plants. That's even plausible, remember recent man-eating robot project from DARPA(seriously, robot should have been able to extract fuel from corpses. DARPA backpedaled due to public outrage though). Guns also could be powered by fuel.
PS and that could at last make size of the critter important - bigger size - more fuel

[Strongpoint]

I hope technology will use cunning? Cause currently it's the least useful attribute

[darkgod]

It's all been planned already
Tech uses Steam as a ressource

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Steampunk tech. Cool.

[hamrkveldulfr]

I am ridiculously excited for tec trees!
I was kicking around the idea of a flintlock class, very powerful single shot, but I was really worried it would not fit the theme of the game

[darkgod]

Triva: which race do you think will be the leader in steamtech ?