Somniverse Magitech and the Limits of Technology · 6:51pm Feb 3rd, 2023
I was recently asked by DarkPhoenixx about technology in the 'Somniverse' and wanted to go more in depth about it.
!!!WARNING!!!
CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 'Dreams of Forever,' 'Our Empire of Darkness,' AND MANY OTHER STORIES I'LL ONE DAY PUBLISH!
I just had a thought with all the magitech talk... In a world where magic is real and abundant would a sufficiently advanced technology still be indistinguishable from?
Magic has limits, 'physical' technology has limits, but combined, that limit is pushed up to an absolute limit.
Some background (a later chapter shows just how far ahead the Cyclical Union is in part, aka the true limits of technology/magic): Technology has an upper limit for the containment of souls. A single soul can possess more psionic (aka magic) energy than technology IF it is enhanced by certain technology. The 'fake' Grand Council uses exactly that. They become near indistinguishable from gods, capable of moving entire star systems with their souls alone. But even they don't have access to the archives of the Cyclical Union. Archives which contain the technology for galaxy-wide control by a single individual if given the full breadth of the tech.
I have a story in the works (don't know if I'll publish) that goes into full depth of the Cyclical Union's technology contrasted again modern-ish humans. It's not even in the same galaxy of closeness. Grar, Grogar, as Somnia says in a much later chapter:
"Grar talked to me a bit about how he felt before signing up with the Harmony Project. A million years could pass like a blink to you, entire civilizations rising and falling in the time it took him to even notice. Then he found something more fulfilling to look forward to, and everything slowed down. Every moment started to seem precious. In the scope of his life, a day might seem pretty inconsequential for somepony who lived that long, but he relearned to enjoy the moments as they happen."
Twilight blinked a few times. "Did- Did you just say a million years meant nothing to him? H-How old is he?"
"Very." Somnia giggled. "He showed me a rough estimate, but that only made me realize how long I'll truly live."
We're not talking on a scale even close to billions, quadrillions, or centillions of years. A civilization guided by literal gods, capable of producing godlike creatures of every citizen with their technology, if it was preferable (see Chapter 29, Grar's comment about his homeworld), at the limits of what is even possible.
Yet even such a civilization fell... When gods clash, galaxies burn. That is literal. We're not talking two type-three civilizations going at one another, we're talking a civil war of a type-zenith civilization, one that controls entire alternate universes. A type-three civilization vs the Cyclical Union isn't a war. It's a skirmish. A mere battle against some uppity species who thinks they know better.
But even such a civilization isn't on par with the real Grand Council. Multiverses are isolated, incapable of being traversed between from within. Only a 'Grand' entity can do so. A 'Supreme' entity can be made with technology, in theory. Capable of destroying entire universes, which is still a technology the Cyclical Union doesn't have. It is POSSIBLE, but not something they are at yet even after near forever. If you know Warhammer 40k, think of the Chaos Gods. They are a Galaxy-Destroying entity, still 'Supreme' but not at their limit. The Emperor of Mankind is one step below: A 'Cosmic' entity capable of destroying star systems (in theory, again, reliant on the interaction of soul and psitech, although a non-ascendant soul can become a 'Cosmic' entity with enough effort, and probably become ascendant in the process).
The outline I put together has nine levels of power (six for malevolent spawn, the minor variant introduced in Chapter 23, but I have a special planned in three chapters where their horror is shown more clearly). An 'Unremarkable' soul can become 'Supreme' with enough effort and tech (or Ascend entirely, skipping to the highest level on the scale). Likelihood is that they won't, not that they need to. Grogar was a Greater entity, on par with Discord before he was experimented on (Three chapters. He made the 'Tartarus Lords' and the planetary underworld of Tartarus itself), both halves of Grogar becoming Lesser entities on their split.
Excalion is a Lesser entity, closer to Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon at their prime, but still below the Elements of Harmony. 'Lesser' entities are COMMON in the Cyclical Union. Ascendant species tend to build-up a lot of very powerful individuals. Including Greater entities... and a few Cosmic ones. This is PASSIVE, not active. When you're dealing with space-time-soul dying lengths of time, you run into the inevitable power escalation.
In Excalicorn, nearly half of the alicorns could be classified as Lesser entities and the rest AT LEAST 'Significant,' aka Celestia, Luna, Last Problem Twilight. That's still 60k+ individuals of varying levels of power. How many Greater entities are left on the planet capable of cracking the world given enough effort? Eight, six of which once served the Harmonic Empire. Who are they? That's for another time...
Well I just read a SotS blogpost,haven‘t done THAT in a long time!
I thought I knew what the story was about , and then you just come in here with THIS and just BRUTALLY MURDER my Compehension of this Story!
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Murder it in a good way or bad way? :P
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I DON‘T KNOW YET !
Thats the weird thing!
I guess now it depends on you!
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Are there any specific concepts and/or concerns that I should review? Any bit helps to improve my writing, so if you're unsure about something, I'd appreciate getting the feedback.
I guess I forgot to add the word magic to the end of that comment but oh well.
I wrote that comment as more of a thought experiment kinda thing, to be honest. But thanks for the info dump regardless. I have been reading Dreams practically every free moment I have for a few days at least. And I'm loving it so much. Thanks for writing it.