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bizzybody · 05-08-2021, 05:07 AM

Currently reading the 12 book "Astral Prime" series by J.S. Morin. The third series in the Black Ocean universe, it takes place after "Galaxy Outlaws" (16 books) and starts partway through the second 16 book series "Mercy for Hire" but as yet has little interaction with characters in the other series except for one minor (but powerful) player who has become a main character.

What inspired the Astral Prime spinoff was when a wizard's apprentice took an illicit drug to enhance her powers, she accidentally almost destroyed the mining station YF-77. This series follows the aftermath of that incident.

If you think Star Wars Jedi are "space wizards", they have nothing on the wizards in the Black Ocean universe. Scientists couldn't crack artificial gravity or faster than light travel, but the wizards figured it out pretty quickly. For quite a while the only way spacecraft could enter the Astral to go between real space points effectively FTL, a wizard was required to perform the magic. By the time of these books, stardrives have been developed which meld magic and science in order to drop into Astral without a wizard. They also have "gravity stones" carved and enchanted by wizards to produce artificial gravity and nullify inertia. They can be any size, from small for single person ships to very large for big ships.

But learning magic comes with a price. Magic and technology do *not* normally get along. A wizard doing magic can disable or destroy advanced technology or "A-tech". Technology that's resistant to magic interference is primitive or "P-tech". A wizard with extreme skills can drop a massive ship into Astral without causing any (or not much) inconvenience to the technology.

But the price? Wizardry causes the practitioner to become befuddled by technology, even ignorant about how to use it. Some wizards even have problems using simple things like buttons to open powered doors or making and answering comm calls. Wizards with minimal magic skills tend to learn how to maintain star drives, which leads to "stardrive mechanic" being a derogative for wizards used by non-wizards.

05-08-2021, 05:07 AM	#29996
bizzybody Addict Posts: 294 Karma: 7742186 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Idaho, USA Device: Various PalmOS PDAs, Android Phones, Sharper Image Literati	Currently reading the 12 book "Astral Prime" series by J.S. Morin. The third series in the Black Ocean universe, it takes place after "Galaxy Outlaws" (16 books) and starts partway through the second 16 book series "Mercy for Hire" but as yet has little interaction with characters in the other series except for one minor (but powerful) player who has become a main character. What inspired the Astral Prime spinoff was when a wizard's apprentice took an illicit drug to enhance her powers, she accidentally almost destroyed the mining station YF-77. This series follows the aftermath of that incident. If you think Star Wars Jedi are "space wizards", they have nothing on the wizards in the Black Ocean universe. Scientists couldn't crack artificial gravity or faster than light travel, but the wizards figured it out pretty quickly. For quite a while the only way spacecraft could enter the Astral to go between real space points effectively FTL, a wizard was required to perform the magic. By the time of these books, stardrives have been developed which meld magic and science in order to drop into Astral without a wizard. They also have "gravity stones" carved and enchanted by wizards to produce artificial gravity and nullify inertia. They can be any size, from small for single person ships to very large for big ships. But learning magic comes with a price. Magic and technology do not normally get along. A wizard doing magic can disable or destroy advanced technology or "A-tech". Technology that's resistant to magic interference is primitive or "P-tech". A wizard with extreme skills can drop a massive ship into Astral without causing any (or not much) inconvenience to the technology. But the price? Wizardry causes the practitioner to become befuddled by technology, even ignorant about how to use it. Some wizards even have problems using simple things like buttons to open powered doors or making and answering comm calls. Wizards with minimal magic skills tend to learn how to maintain star drives, which leads to "stardrive mechanic" being a derogative for wizards used by non-wizards.