Doing In the Wizard: Difference between revisions

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== Web Comics ==

* ''Unicorn Jelly'' begins as a ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''-like world with witches who wield magic and fly on brooms, unicorns, elves, ogres, slimes, jellies, and other monsters. Eventually most or all of this gets explained away as being due to a combination of the physics and chemistry of the alien universe, [[Bizarre Alien Biology]], [[Ancient Conspiracy]], [[Schizo-Tech]], selective breeding and mutation, and [[Mushroom Samba|hallucinogenic plants]].

* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' starts off using the word "Lux" as just the Racconans' technical term for their medieval-era world's ''Force Magic'' version of [[Functional Magic]], complete with constant uses of terms like "spells," "magic," and "wizard." After over a hundred pages of this, the fundamentalist Christian author devoted a [http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00105.html text-heavy side arc] to explaining that the force that looked like magic, acted like magic, sparkled like magic, was treated like magic, and frequently ''called'' magic wasn't ''really'' magic. [http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00426.html Another side arc], much later in the comic's run, went further and showed the [[Downer Ending|tragic consequences]] of Racconans referring to their magic-like powers as magic, implying that they weren't even going to use magic-related terminology anymore. The setting is a [[Shown Their Work|heavily researched]] fantasy setting with orcs, trolls, centaurs, elves, etc etc. Racconans are unique in that all of them can see the ebb and flow of the magical energy they call "lux". Most of them can [[Practical Magic|perform mundane tricks like lighting candles and levitating water]], and once in a while one has enough talent to be called a wizard. However, magical aptitude is extremely rare among humans, and most of the humans who claim to be wizards are charlatans [[Human Sacrifice|or worse]]. Most false wizards claim that they get their power from gods or devils (and lux just doesn't work that way, which is why Racconans debate the use of the words "wizard" and "magic".) A human who [[Cursed with Awesome|is born with the ability to channel lux]] [[How Do I Shot Web?|will have no idea how to control his power]] without proper training, and is a danger to everyone around him. This makes most races very afraid of Racconans, because they associate them with human wizardry.

* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' starts off using the word "Lux" as just the Racconans' technical term for their medieval-era world's ''Force Magic'' version of [[Functional Magic]], complete with constant uses of terms like "spells," "magic," and "wizard." After over a hundred pages of this, the fundamentalist Christian author devoted a [https://web.archive.org/web/20120525020939/http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00105.html text-heavy side arc] to explaining that the force that looked like magic, acted like magic, sparkled like magic, was treated like magic, and frequently ''called'' magic wasn't ''really'' magic. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130227021604/http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00426.html Another side arc], much later in the comic's run, went further and showed the [[Downer Ending|tragic consequences]] of Racconans referring to their magic-like powers as magic, implying that they weren't even going to use magic-related terminology anymore. The setting is a [[Shown Their Work|heavily researched]] fantasy setting with orcs, trolls, centaurs, elves, etc etc. Racconans are unique in that all of them can see the ebb and flow of the magical energy they call "lux". Most of them can [[Practical Magic|perform mundane tricks like lighting candles and levitating water]], and once in a while one has enough talent to be called a wizard. However, magical aptitude is extremely rare among humans, and most of the humans who claim to be wizards are charlatans [[Human Sacrifice|or worse]]. Most false wizards claim that they get their power from gods or devils (and lux just doesn't work that way, which is why Racconans debate the use of the words "wizard" and "magic".) A human who [[Cursed with Awesome|is born with the ability to channel lux]] [[How Do I Shot Web?|will have no idea how to control his power]] without proper training, and is a danger to everyone around him. This makes most races very afraid of Racconans, because they associate them with human wizardry.

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' did it partially with the magic used by Court teachers: {{spoiler|They get it by using a computer... Itself powered by}} magic.

** Magic is also sometimes called the "etheric sciences". The conflict between technology and nature is actually a fairly big part of the series' cosmology and plot. Attempts by sciencey types to Do In The Wizard are what caused the general area of the Court to be split into the Court (science) and Gillitie Wood (nature), and the Annan Waters to be dug to keep the two seperate; though many on either side would like to believe the other entirely unnecessary, the bridge across the Annan Waters and the position of medium within the Court are acknowledgements that they're not mutually exclusive.

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** In a way, [http://egscomics.com/?date=2010-06-28 this] strip, and the following one, do in the wizard. Though not in the usual way.

* In an early ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' strip, the players in Frank's most recent campaign discover that the 'origin of magic' is acually [[Sufficiently Advanced Technology]] and that benevolent aliens are responsible for channeling these 'miracles' to humans. [["No. Just... No" Reaction|They react much as expected.]]

** A [http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/index.php?date=2011-05-19 later strip] [[Brick Joke|some eight years later]] implies ''all'' the campaigns end that way.

** A [https://web.archive.org/web/20110802164442/http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/index.php?date=2011-05-19 later strip] [[Brick Joke|some eight years later]] implies ''all'' the campaigns end that way.

* ''[[Errant Story]]'' does this in a [[Wham! Episode]] late in the comic. {{spoiler|It's revealed in an [[Apocalyptic Log]]-style expository page that the Elven Creator Gods were actually [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] whose entire species had coalesced into three "collectives" - superpowered [[Energy Being|energy beings]]. After one of them died/disappeared and the others began to destabilize, they made the Paedagogusi, Dwarves, Elves and Trolls in a failed attempt to create a replacement collective and restore their stability.}} The whole setting changes in one page from [[High Fantasy]] to [[Science Fiction]].

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' has this subverted. A functionally omniscient character says there is no such thing as magic, but there are such things as unexplainable technology, superpowers, gods, and quasi-magical pure forces of the multiverse. Several characters continue to refer to their powers as spells anyways. So the wizard was done in but might as well still be around.