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{{trope}}
[[File:Mass-Effect-as-
Some [[The Verse|settings]] ''have'' [[Phlebotinum]]. It helps [[
But then some settings...are different. They have nothing ''but'' Phlebotinum. That [[City of Adventure]] the heroes are exploring around? It's completely [[Floating Continent|floating]] in the air; not one building is touching the ground. Why? Phlebotinum! In fact, the whole planet is probably bound together with some sort of magical or super-science energy, without which it would simply [[Earthshattering Kaboom|explode]]. Every single thing around requires whatever the local flavor of Phlebotinum is to run in worlds such as these, whether it's [[Functional Magic|magic]], [[Nanomachines]], [[The Force]], or something else similar.
The main dividing line between a world that simply has a lot of Phlebotinum and one that's
There is actually a great deal of evidence that ''[[Real Life]]'' is thus: when you develop a potent capability to the point that there are few side effects, you start using it for everything imaginable. When we learned to harness electricity easily, the only things weren't 100% electrical were the things that we used to generate electricity. When computers became advanced enough, we started carrying them around with us. Litmus Test? If you took away computers, it'd
If something is literally made of Phlebotinum, see [[Made of Magic]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
▲== [[Anime]] ==
* ''[[Bleach]]''. Everything in the Soul Society is made of [[Phlebotinum|spirit particles]].
** So is everything in Hueco Mundo.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. The world runs on Spiral Energy, quite literally the quintessence of determination, [[Hot-Blooded|hot blood]], love, and willpower.
** As one commenter on [[YouTube]] put it...
{{quote|Youtube Commenter: I'm not sure which is weirder, the way the universe in this series works, or the fact that the universe works EXACTLY HOW KAMINA THINKS IT DOES!}}
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* In David Wingrove's [[Chung Kuo]], the world-spanning City is made of "Ice"
* ''[[Discworld]]'' can seem ordinary enough at first glance, until it's pointed out that, without heavy duty magic involved, a flat world on the back of a giant turtle that swims through space should be utterly impossible.
**
** In ''[[
* The Roman-based society of ''The [[Codex Alera]]'' is so connected with their Phlebotinum of Furycrafting that the use of certain techniques and technologies, such as quarrying, [[Medieval Stasis|are a lost art.]]
* ''The [[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]].'' Then, in the Second Trilogy, {{spoiler|They lose the phlebotinum. This is way more horrific than it sounds.}}
== [[Live
* Technology in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' is pure phlebotinum: the Sonic Screwdriver that can fix anything ([[Plot-Sensitive Items|unless it's deadlocked or wood]]), Psychic Paper (in the new series), Transmat teleporters, Dalek antigravity, time rings/vortex manipulators that fit on one's wrist, and of course the blue box that's bigger on the inside and travels through time and space. Despite its ostensibly scientific worldview, it's hard to think of a story that uses accurate science.
* ''[[Star Trek]]'' probably is, too. Most tools in the Trekverse don't need to touch what they're working on, just to give one example.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Eberron]]''{{'}}s [[Dungeon Punk]] world comes to mind as an especially obvious example of this trope. Without that magical-flavored [[Phlebotinum]], everything in that world would fall apart ''hard''. It's pretty much
** To a lesser extent, all ''[[Dungeons
** [[Ravenloft]] literally so - it's a series of artifically-created "demiplanes" floating in the misty emptiness of the Ethereal Plane. When a domain's [[Cosmic Keystone]] is destroyed, it may be absorbed by neighboring domains, or it may simply collapse into the Mists.
* ''[[Exalted]]'', full stop. Creation itself is the greatest artifact ever built, while [[Odd Job Gods]] exist for individual rice grains and their interactions provide the physics of the universe.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' seems more
** According to [http://www.viddler.com/rooreynolds/videos/26/ this]{{broken link}} video, Azeroth is a sphere about 12 kilometers across, with a density around a hundred times that of Earth. This explains why when you drop an item it disappears; due to the gravity it is crushed into an extremely fine powder spread over a wide area.
* In ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', the magical floating continent of Zeal is this. It completely depends on magical energy to stay aloft and its residents do pretty much everything by magic.
* ''[[Touhou]]'' is pretty much supposed to be where, when [[The Magic Goes Away]] on the rest of the Earth because [[Magic Versus Science|the progress of technology leads to a lack of faith in magic]], all the magic is swept up and kept inside Gensokyo so that all the monsters, demons, and Gods can still live their magically supercharged lives. The technology is generally [[Bamboo Technology]] hybrids with [[Magitek]], or simply stolen from "[[This Is Reality|the Real World]]". It is also worth noting that even the [[Muggles]] have ''some'' kind of superpower in Gensokyo, it's just that you only hear about the [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|world-bendingly powerful little girls.]]
* ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' and ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'' are like this. The main focus for most of both games is preserving the mana flow and thus preventing the collapse of the world. Without it, magic won't work, crops won't grow, etc.
* [[Mass Effect]] uses this as its ''[[Character Title]] [[Title Drop|Drop]]'', despite being one of the [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness|hardest]] [[Space Opera
** [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_energy It's till pretty hard], [[wikipedia:Dark energy|all things considering]].
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[
** No, you can't. That's why attempting to do so is bankrupting Cornelia. Their king is just crazy.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In the blog-novel ''[[Flyover City]]!'' – Malphysical Particles create a cosmic loophole which render the laws of physics “malleable”, allowing the story’s superheroes to do all those superhero-y things that are impossible in the real world.
* The world of ''[[Tales of MU]]'' is driven by [[Magitek]], the physics are based on [[A Wizard Did It]], and from the point of view of people in other worlds, a knife that was said to be "barely enchanted" is ''[[Made of Magic|made out of magic]]''.
* [http://elcenia.com/11/251-2-41.shtml Elcenia]{{Dead link}}:
{{quote|"Physical laws? Oh, those things. We don't have them."
"But everyone has them. It's a fundamental principle."
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"Oh, what then?"
"Magic. Don't look so alarmed. It's at least as reliable as gravity is." }}
* Almost everything off Earth in ''[[Fenspace]]'' is dependent upon the mystery goop known as "Handwavium".
== [[Real Life]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
[[Category:Made of Index]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Tabletop
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
▲[[Category:Made of Phlebotinum]]
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