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Magic From Technology: Difference between revisions
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* The majority of stories where starship-era characters somehow meet medieval-era characters have the medieval-era people believe that the technology is actually magic, at least initially. Generally, it's only the trusted allies who are told that it's actually advanced technology, the bad guys are left believing it's magic, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|often with truly hilarious reactions]]. Sometimes has unfortunate consequences if there's a local Inquisition. [[David Weber]] is fond of this.
** In Christopher Stasheff's ''[[Warlock of Gramaraye]]'' series the main protagonist lands on a medieval world and because of his modern technology, he's taken for a magician (understandably, since magic - technically, [[Psychic Powers]] - is commonplace on the planet). {{spoiler|It is eventually revealed that they're right.}}
* ''[[Thieves' World]]'' has Kemren the "Purple Mage" who channeled magic power from waterwheels. This setup has its own [[
* ''[[Trapped]]'' by James Alan Gardner explains that magic on earth is actually alien nanotech that has displaced about 1/3rd of all bacteria in the entire ecosystem, including all the bacteria inside animals, and humans too. It can be controlled by people that had nanotech attach itself to the right spot in their brains while still in the womb. Where and how it attached determined the types of powers, and how they were activated. One character explained the feeling of performing magic being like having a million happy puppies eager to do his bidding.
* This is the central conceit of ''[[The Steerswoman]]''. The characters all use terminology that seems straight out of a [[Standard Fantasy Setting]], but their world is actually much more science-fictional (the "spell"-casting "wizards" are actually people who've preserved more technology than everyone else, the "gnomes" are {{spoiler|chimpanzees}}, the "demons" are {{spoiler|[[Starfish Aliens]]}}, and so on).
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