Technology in Midkemia?

Hey gang,

Apologies if this topic has been touched on before; it's been a good many
years since I last checked this newsgroup! Not for a lack of reading the
books, mind you. I've always grabbed them the minute they appear on the
shelves.

So, my question! Do you suppose the Midkemians are far from discovering
electricity and its myriad of applications? Obviously one can't say that
simply because they've reached Point A, that Point B (in this instance,
electricity) is the next obvious step. That said though, the races of
Midkemia obviously mirror those of our Earth in enough ways that one could
reasonably figure that such discoveries can't be too far away. Of course, I
do wonder: With more and more workers of magic getting around the Kingdom,
is there even enough of a scientific community - or curiosity, for that
matter - for such a discovery to even come about? Does science even have
much of a home on Midkemia? I know that Pug and other learned sorts have a
very clear understanding of astronomy and geology, as well as what a star is
made up of, but is this knowledge limited to Pug and his ilk? Do regular
human scientists exist on Midkemia, with the same understanding of the
things which power the universe?

A lot of questions there, sorry about that! I'd be more concise if I could
think how!

The reason I bring this is up is that one thing which has always excited me
is the idea that one day, Midkemia and its nations might evolve along the
same lines as our planet. That some time, in millenia to come, Midkemia
will glow with energy not from magic, but from human invention and
discovery. First steam powered ships and trains, then electricity, onto
cars and telephony, radio, television, an internet, and so forth. I imagine
that idea horrifies a lot of people; that such a beautiful world as Midkemia
would become a polluted overcrowded underforested mess like our own planet,
but I'm more just thinking of the natural path of humankind. Intelligence
is as common on Midkemia as it is and has been here, so it stands to reason
such progress would happen there as it did here.

And with the advent of such technologies, would practitioners of magic
slowly fade from the world, in the same way that - as an example - Japanese
samurai disappeared as a result of Japan's desperation to westernise. One
way of life replacing another where both cannot peacefully co-exist. Would
the humans of Midkemia - generally unhappy at the idea of magicians having
so much more power than even an entire army of humans - build weapons to
subdue or destroy magicians? *Could* such weapons overpower magic? Would a
nuclear blast be more than Pug and the Conclave could deal with? Could Pug
hold off a squadron of supersonic fighter jets and bombers as they swoop in
on Sorceror's Isle to level it?

And of course there's the elves and the dwarves. How would they react?
Would they embrace technology, or would they remain aloof and distant in
their respective hideaways?

Hmm. It's a big topic!

Van wrote:
> Hey gang,
>
> Apologies if this topic has been touched on before; it's been a good many
> years since I last checked this newsgroup! Not for a lack of reading the
> books, mind you. I've always grabbed them the minute they appear on the
> shelves.
>
> So, my question! Do you suppose the Midkemians are far from discovering
> electricity and its myriad of applications?
> <huge snip>

I was present when REF was asked about this and basically the answer is
that while magic is available there's no real need for electricity and
applications etc - simple as that really. Anything that electricity and
applications can do is already done by magic, so where's the need.