Technomancy

The term technomancy refers to an imaginary or fictional category of magical abilities that affect technology, or to magical powers that are gained through the use of technology.

It is a portmanteau of "technology" and "-mancy", an etymologically dubious suffix that is used in magical sciences to refer to specific types of fortune telling known as divination ("-mancy" is derived from the Greek manteia meaning divination).

An early appearance of the term can be found in Steve Martindale's 1990 short story "Technomancy" in the magazine "Aboriginal Science Fiction". [Aboriginal Science Fiction volume 4 (2), 1990 [http://www.locusmag.com/index/s502.html#A11728 Source] ]

Theme

Technomancy is a common theme in certain subgenres of both science fiction and modern-day fantasy fiction, particularly fiction that crosses the sci-fi and fantasy genres, as well as role playing games that take place in similar settings. Strictly speaking, though, it belongs fully to the realm of fantasy since it can be magic that is used on technology that presently exists. It most commonly appears in science fantasy. The term technomancy has been gaining usage on webcomics on the internet, although it is used in a vague sense

It is also distinct from what is sometimes called "magitech" (technology that uses magic, as used by D.O.L.L.Y in the comic the Wotch.) Alchemy considers magic and science to be two parts of one force. Technomancy has magic affecting science, but not working in the same process.

Examples

In the role-playing game Revelation, technomancy is a power that is available to characters. Specific uses of this power include causing devices to malfunction and traveling to a cyber world.

In the Urban Arcana campaign setting of the d20 Modern role-playing game, there are two character classes that use technomancy, Techno Mage and Shadowjack.

In the Dragonstar campaign setting, compatible with the d20 system, there are many examples of technomancy spells, items, as well as character classes.

In the 4th edition of Shadowrun the technomancer is a type of character available, who controls the Matrix (the Internet of that game) without technology but by his mind.

In the TV series Angel, a character used magic symbols on himself that caused him to be undetected by magic or physical security measures. In the episode, Supersymetry, a villain attempts to trap Fred in a hell dimension by sending her a text message. When she views it on her phone, a portal opens next to her to suck her in.

In the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character Willow sees magic as a way of hacking the universe, and an extension of her computer hacking skills. She is also seen to use magic on computers to help her access information more quickly, or view the information (including pictures) inside her mind. Also another character, Jenny Calender is a techno-pagan who uses the Internet as a place to gather with her circle and from which they cast their spells.

Kelly McCullough's popular books, Webmage, Cybermancy and Codespell deal with ancient Greek deities and their descendants who have moved magic into the modern world through the creation of the so-called "mWeb"

In the successful video game title Mass Effect many characters gain magical powers through technology.

Another place where Technomancy is showing itself is in the White-Wolf game Vampire: The Requiem. Recently, a new covenant has emerged, called the Shadows of Set, and they use technomancy magic to ward off any non-vampire supernatural being from this realm.

Non mystical Technomancy

In some settings technomancy may be totally scientific in nature in accordance with Arthur C Clarke's third law [Arthur C Clarke, Profiles of the Future ,1962] of prediction:

An example of users of this type of technomancy are the Technomages of the Babylon 5 universe. [The A to Z of Babylon 5, by David Bassom, Boxtree Books 1996]

References

External links

* [http://www.irreality.net/ irreality.net] - one of the biggest source of information about technomancy in the internet.
* [http://blog.ciemnosc.com/ blog.ciemnosc.com] - 'Technomancer' - blog of polish chaos magicians (in English)