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Technology and Magic

"Advanced" technology ( in my world is relatively young, it has only been around for a little over eight hundred years. In my world there are basically two types of technology, Arcane technology which basically is a fusion of steampunk and magic (kind of like a technological form of alchemy), and Novo-Technology which is a fusion of nineteenth century and mid twentieth century technology (kind of like final fantasy 7 technology). The problem I'm having is integrating these two cultures into a fantasy world situated in Medieval Europe and Feudal China/Japan age and culture.
 

JCFarnham

Auror
Here's my short answer: Don't integrate.

Long answer: Embrace the chaos that two types of technology brings to that kind of setting. Who would wield it? If an elite forms, why? How does that make others feel? So, by embrace the chaos I mean let the conflicts occur no matter how much it seems to derail your original idea. It's good to be derailed. The book The Night Circus ended up the book it is, because the author (doing NaNoWriMo) at the time, decided on a whim to do something else. It grew and grew in to something else entirely and got published and one awards and blah...

So yeah, don't keep too faithfully to the feudal asia thing. Use it as a base but see where your inclusion of this new technological height takes it. You could even do some researching of the industrial revolution. See what people's attitudes to that were.
 

Wanara009

Troubadour
To a degree, I agree with JCFarnham. By the sound of it, you're trying to make an Alternative History base for your story (correct me if I'm wrong) so don't be afraid to tear a few historical details. An easy way to work an Alternative History base is to decide on the branching off point, perhaps its the invention of the Arcane and Novo technology. The invention of such technology(s) would sent the world into a whole new pathway in term of development. When that happen, you could afford to not be faithful to the real-life.

Also, don't be afraid of the conflict and generated when the two forces meet. The sweetest thing in any story featuring multiple branches of technology with different principles is when they clashed with one another.
 
One point is that technology is genie-out-of-the-bottle: every time someone's experiments show that X works better, everyone gets that machine-- at least, if its usefulness is greater than the cost in materials. So, certainly not everyone, but it spreads for its own reasons.

Magic is usually thought of as more static, less quick to spread its discoveries (if there are any) and usually limited by how many people have the Gift or sit still for enough training, and by how much magic the human will can shape. (Might be compared to humanity through the 1700s, getting more clever but always limited by their own muscles-- until steam power.)

That's one model for how they might interact. Of course you could vary these other ways. The new branch of tech is dependent on one rare material, or closely-guarded knowledge-- magic starts to change as the world's ether decays or surges-- a machine amplifies magic or can be fueled by it...
 
To a degree, I agree with JCFarnham. By the sound of it, you're trying to make an Alternative History base for your story (correct me if I'm wrong) so don't be afraid to tear a few historical details. An easy way to work an Alternative History base is to decide on the branching off point, perhaps its the invention of the Arcane and Novo technology. The invention of such technology(s) would sent the world into a whole new pathway in term of development. When that happen, you could afford to not be faithful to the real-life.

Also, don't be afraid of the conflict and generated when the two forces meet. The sweetest thing in any story featuring multiple branches of technology with different principles is when they clashed with one another.

I only used Medieval Europe and Feudal Japan an China as a way to describe the culture and feel of the world the story takes place.
What I actually wanted to attempt was create two different types of technological cultures within a world that is deeply entrenched in magic. One that embraced magic and another that rejected and hated magic.
 

Addison

Auror
What I actually wanted to attempt was create two different types of technological cultures within a world that is deeply entrenched in magic. One that embraced magic and another that rejected and hated magic.

So you're kind of going for the witches and witch hunters, in my vision. As stated above you have to ask yourself are they next door? Only separated by a wall? An Ocean? A Mountain range? Or do both cultures live side by side on the same street and city? Whatever your answer you should look at the plot of your book and see if your answer either works with the plot or hinders it. Trust me, this is an obstacle I've hit before. The mental equivalent to driving into a brick wall.
 

Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
Figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the two branches. Figure out why someone uses one or the other. Maybe arcane does cars and novo does lightbulbs. Maybe novo is easy to use but requires access to an electric grid controlled by someone-or-another, while arcane equipment has to be maintained by travelling practitioners who might be hard to find. Maybe arcane is traditional and artsy, but novo is inevitably going to replace arcane like digital is replacing analog.

That is, figure out why people still use both, and the rest should work itself out.
 

Fakefaux

Dreamer
I only used Medieval Europe and Feudal Japan an China as a way to describe the culture and feel of the world the story takes place.
What I actually wanted to attempt was create two different types of technological cultures within a world that is deeply entrenched in magic. One that embraced magic and another that rejected and hated magic.

It sort of sounds like you've done that already. What exactly is the problem you're running up against? what precisely did you mean by "integrating these two cultures into a fantasy world"?
 
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