The Magic/Tech Paradox

Often simply shortened to "The Paradox", refers to the strange way in which every culture developed either magic or technology, but never both. At no point in history was this more evident than during the Mage Wars, where heavily technologically advanced cultures often developed right along side and sometimes in very close proximity to magically-oriented cultures.

Examples

• The Runarins are a popular example, well known throughout the Mage Wars, who emerged with a fully industrialized space program and faster-than-light travel. In the power-vacuum of the Second Chaotic Period, this allowed them to seize control over a massive inter-stellar territory, the largest since the Dynastic Period.

• The Drack developed in relative isolation, atop massive natural deposits of uranium ore. Their culture is believed to be the first to harness the power of atomic energy and the first to develop working nuclear reactors. The Drack also developed atomic weapons, despite not needing them. They had millennia to develop before they discovered the still-growing Marcon Alliance. The Marcons made it clear they were unwilling to negotiate, so the Drack launched a pre-emptive strike using the bulk of their nuclear arsenal. The strike was meant to cover what the Drack believed to be the whole of the Marcon Alliance and involved deployment of thousands of +1 Megaton weapons. The attack did little damage to the Marcon Alliance, and the Drack were almost entirely wiped out.

• The Rinoin civilization is know to have developed both nuclear weaponry and super-sonic fighter aircraft, despite being located a few tens of miles away from a primitive agrarian civilization. They, too, were eventually wiped out by the Marcon Alliance.

Causes

There are many supposed causes and theories for the paradox, though the most obvious is the simple developmental path: it is faster to go one route or the other, than to attempt to develop both simultaneously.

Slavery

Slavery is the most often-cited cause, and cultures that practice it develop magic almost exclusively (some simply never advanced in either). Cultures that practice wide-spread slavery never advance technologically, while the elite upper-class that dominates them has the time and energy to devote to magical studies. Magic enriches a single individual before it enriches a culture, whereas technology takes the effort of many skilled individuals before it provides much benefit. If an individual is selfish enough to keep other human beings as property, they are likely to devote the effort to magic first.

Magic-tech

It is important to note that in no known instance has Magic-Tech developed naturally and of its own accord. In every recorded case throughout history, the combination of magic and technology was only achieved by the interactions of a technologically-advanced culture with a magically-advanced one. No known culture has ever independently developed both magic and technology to an advanced degree.