I think that this means while we have DNA (by the way, do Gods have DNA? I mean, we're all little shards of Gods. Does the shard-part have DNA?), we don't necessarily know about it. We might know spells that manipulate DNA and cells, knowing that they work without having the actual knowledge of the scientific theory but with a heavy grasp of the magical theory. It'd have its own words for why it works in the magical sense. "The regeneration salve excites the blorks within the body that are its building blocks, causing a rampant growth of new flesh and returning the body back to its original state which is impressed upon its Shard" or some such. I haven't actually fully explored this topic, but exploring science that fits Lusternia instead of making up RL science that one hasn't actually investigated IC and dragging it in would be preferable.

We have all of these planar Threads, each person is a thread in the Tapestry of Fates. We are woven through it. We have a natural state, one that is impressed either upon our Thread or upon our Shard, depending on which you would care to argue for. When you die and are reborn, you are once again restored to your "natural" state. IRL, this would be equivalent to having your DNA "refresh" you, which would wipe out all scars and any weathering / wrinkles / scars you might've taken over your lifetime. Since characters do accumulate scars, I see it more as "Extreme events can damage or fray your thread/shard slightly, leaving lasting impressions that remain evident." Tattoos would work the same way.

Equivalent scientific advancement, but based on Lusternia's science and magical base, not the RL advances without that base (which leads to things like jets, as you mentioned).

In Lusternia, Magic is real. In RL, Magic is not.

That is the difference. You don't just say "magic did it" just in the same way you don't just say "science did it"
There is a methodoloy and process to magic, and it works on basic principles. You can discover those principles and understand them scientifically, just as in the RL we have princples of how magnetism and eletronics work.

Yes. That's what my post is driving at. I haven't delved into it, but as I said, I imagine we'd have scientific words for various magical events and occurrances, and probably a scientific term for whatever it is that our Being is Impressed upon.

I just don't think it'd be referred to as DNA, nor would it be exactly the same thing as DNA.

And you, my dear friend, have just destroyed one of the most horrible annoyances I have with some people's arghpee.

Have a browny point.

I am glad we all agree on this subject.

(and I am not sure if gods have DNA, very interesting question!)

Gods are made from Sugar and Spice, and everything nice, but Estarra accidentally added some Chemical X, and Thus the Elder Gods were created.

Sad to burst your bubble, there, but Estarra didn't create the Elder Gods.

No, Estarra didn't but Dynara did, and Dynara is part of Estarra, therefore you can say that Estarra created them since Dynara as a separate substance doesn't exist anymore.

I go with the explanation that the fates will only fix changes to your body that interfere with the destiny they have planned for you. Like death and lost limbs.



If they have flesh and blood bodies, then they have DNA. If the God doesn't have flesh and blood, it doesn't have DNA. Getting past the divine fire to test which is the case will be difficult.

Also wondering if we can acquire prosthetic limbs.

Why would anyone bother? In a place where the science of magic is so advanced as to develop regeneration cures that work for all splintered cells of dead Elders, there is hardly a need to prosthetic limbs.

Except the Divine can change their appearance, their look, and have flesh + blood at some times while not at others.

Further, it's already been established that this is a world of magic, and thus DNA isn't actually a given-- we didn't really even evolve, having been formed from Splintered Divine (though that is a form of evolution, I suppose). We bear their shards, those shards allow us to eventually fan the spark of Divinity still within us to a burning flame and once again achieve that state (Vernals, Ascended Deities). It's very plausible for there to be another set of rules in place here, ones based on the magical AND physical nature of this realm instead of purely physical like ours.

It's an interesting topic, but I don't really think you can emphatically and categorically state that you're right at this point. It'd be kind of a shame to just pin all of Lusternia's scientific development to the limits of RL scientific development, and discard all of the magic-science aspects of this world.

Here is my off the cuff theory.

When a god creates a body for themselves, they pull at the essence and threads of various molecules, each of which has its own special imprint. They can then teleport and form these molecules around a central point, thus creating DNA and cells and muscle and bone and brains just as anything else has. However, this formation is just that, a formation around thier point of essence.

so therefore, Murphy can bashbrain a god and the actual brains will splatter, only to be pulled back to thier location, thus allowing Murphy to bash the brains in, again, only moments later.

So they have DNA, but only the same way that a mortal has clothing.

Same thing happens when you reincarnate. The Fates use the same magics to re-weave you a new body around your central essence point. (i.e. your soul) The magics used are then the same as the basic magics used in teleportation to grab your indivudual body parts and regnerate yourself.

Interestingly, the gods who created nature, also imbued various plants and animals to have these same inherent magical properties, able to rebuild around a point related materials. (i.e. blood, broken bones, fears etc.)

So what about the progress of thinking and philosophy in Lusternia. Everyone always says you can't apply modern thinking to Lusternia, but has Lusternia reached the level of the real world there too? Are concepts like human rights and rationalism truly out of place in Lusternia?

Pre-Taint Celest seemed to have a sort of benevolent empire thing going on. You don't need a formal concept of human rights to treat people with dignity. That being said, you can sure contrast ancient Celest and New Celest and come up with them yourself, you de-Celestifying Taint lover. ()

Rationalism belongs in Halifax... its for the birds!

The main difference between Terra and Lusternia as regards things like "human rights" and "rationalism" is that a lot of things that are invented and unreal in our world are real in Lusternia. Racism, for instance, is perfectly valid when the races really are fundamentally different in demonstrable ways. Lusternia can have its own concepts of human rights and rationalism; they will differ from ours not because Lusternia is more backwards, but because Lusternia has things in it we don't have.

APPLY REGENERATION TO sorta defeats -any- purpose of them even trying to think up prosthetics. I'm sure they could, but why would they? (Definately possibly ala undead/taint. They can make life from corpses, why not attached a living body part to you?)

I forget who wrote it, but one of the artisanals show's an Ur'guard called Krangar in the Celestian empire just before Cosmic Hope. He goes around forcing people to pay their tributes. It's all fiction, but I sorta saw the old empires being that way too. Will post a linky after work. (IT was an amazingly good read too!)

First off, while is a non-poll in the polling place?

I agree with some of Charune's and other player's points, but I think Elostian has the best point.

One thing that a good fantasy world does is that there are a lot of detailed explanations and internal logic is consistent. The first thing you should always consider in a fantasy world when you pick up a book or --if it's not stated explicitly in the text/game/book, or if it otherwise violates physics, the real world rules apply to the world. We know basic physics exist on Lusternia--Gravity, Time, Space, Energy, biology, etc, works as it does in the real world. In Middle Earth, for instance, we can assume gravity, biology, chemistry, etc, works as it does on our earth, with the addition of magic and other races. Now, I know some classic monsters violate physics such as the cube-squared law, but you can accept magic fixes that. But saying that we're all made of "ether" is unfounded. (The good authors take this into account, the lazy ones just say "it's magic").

With the stuff on Xion, we can assume at least that there was knowledge of advanced physics and optics. If they have advanced optics, they might know about bacteria, virii, and cells. The existence of magic would make "classic surgery" unnecessary. Advanced mathematics, understanding basic physics, etc, seem possible. Conveniently, most of the really advanced stuff seems to be either the province of the Hallifax lucidians or the Gnomes. Dwarves and Magnagora have a little "steampunk" vibe going on.

(Also one thing to remember is that there was an "apocalypse" of a sort. The Basin of Life lost the cohesiveness of the empire, and the knowledge of the lost cities--not to mention the basin already recovering from the trials of the Nine vs. Kethuru. So I suspect that the world entered a "Dark Age" that still sort of continues today--things like the knowledge of Astrology, Aetherships, the Magic Ink of the libraries, and other things were lost until events revealed them).

Did Lusternia develop technology differently? I would say so. If gunpowder exists, it wasn't ever practically applied, at least in current times. The level of military might appears to be similar to the Renaissance's. Combat is for specialized forces and militias and mages, not the "common man" (which is why archers became obsolete in the real worlds once gun accuracy was increased--and which is why RPG authors like Gygax declare gunpowder is chemically unstable in the prime fantasy world, to prevent players from becoming like a Yankee in King Arthur's Court).

Healing is better done by magic than by science. The industrial revolution seems to be happening in Magnagora but things like mass production and interchangeable parts didn't happen. Yet, there seems to be a Telsa-like application of magic with things like Aetherbroadcasts, the Matrix, etc.

Knowledge of DNA would be known by the Gods and maybe advanced beings like Gnomes. However, knowing it exists doesn't mean you can do gene therapy. But maybe you learn how to manipulate DNA to transmogrify or polymorph. Again, having knowledge doesn't mean its been practically applied. Isune painting the landscape could be considered manipulations of quarks and photons and the chemistry of the sky to create the visual spectrum, or manipulating things on the sub-atomic level until she got what she wanted.

The existence of gods might mean that some of our theories are wrong--for instance, I think evolution doesn't work here since there's obviously "intelligent design" at work.

Now, maybe the characters are supposed to be "in the dark" a bit. Blastron and Charune make good points--but at the same time, I think it would be lazy for the players to assume that the world is different because it's magic. Magic may change some of the rules, but unless there's an actually story saying that Lusternia is floating on the back of a turtle or that beings are made up of humours and ether, we should assume things are the same as they exist here.

What Elostian is saying is that you shouldn't dismiss theories or the application of knowledge in physics, medicine, chemistry, etc, that is not found in other "Quasi-European-Middle-Ages" type society common in FRPGs. I would say Lusternia would at least be equal in scientific knowledge to what we had in the Late 19th Century, and in some areas probably superior to that.

I would come back if I could get a harrier jump jet.