How do you combine magic and space travel?

Exactly.

Faster than light travel is literally space magic instead of figuratively space magic.

I think user was mostly talking about the completely arbitrary divide between magic and technology that exists in Shadowrun.

Not only is it boring, it kind of goes against what cyberpunk is all about. Cyberpunk is full of things that shouldn't mix, being forcibly mixed together. In fact many cyberpunk stories have occult themes, even if it all gets explained by AI in the end.

...

I like the mass effect/star wars way, using a brief minimum of technobabble to explain the existence of a poorly-understood kind of fictional ambient energy which some special people can use for magic-like effects.

You have no idea how ignorant you are.

Go read about the setting.

That.

If you're going for planetary romance and exploration angle over actual space travel you could just ditch the space ship entirely. People would only travel from world to world via rituals or gateways.

Star gate traveled to dozens of planets and only ever used an space ship on the hand full of time the show's budget allowed (same reason they hardly use the shuttles on star trek actually)

Of course you could just have you're regular Star Destroyers only with a gnome where the engine should be, but what are you hoping to achieve with that OP?

...

Spelljammer is Dungeons and Dragons with magical spaceships and a whole bunch of crazy fantasy astrophysics that are totally different from real life.

>Only Sub-lightspeed methods of space travel have been discovered.
>for interstellar flights, usage of magic portals is necessary

Take a wizard and you put him in a starship.

/thread

this book series is wizards in space. it's got some cool part in it

>Well let's face it, fast then light travel travel is basically magic.
> well Well I guess I might as well say it's becuase of actual wizards now

I don't get why this mindset is so fucking common.

It's called wilful suspension of disbelief.

Some if not most of stuff they solve a crime on CSI is bullshit that's just supposed to sound convincing but doesn't actual fly in real life.

But that doesn't mean they're going to fucking sacrifice a goat and study it's entrails next episode in the next episode to find out who did it.

Yet this comes up *all* the time and sci-fi fandom.

I mean I would might get it if people thought it sounded cool or something but it just feels like going for maximum autism points.

Outlaw Star

You must be real fun at parties.

>But that doesn't mean they're going to fucking sacrifice a goat and study it's entrails next episode in the next episode to find out who did it

They should though. CSI: Occult seems like it would at least be slightly entertaining in its absurdity

In my setting, the FTL drive is basically magic, as it uses spherical arrays of arcane symbols drawn using materials that interact with other dimensions.
Jump Drive engineers are some of the most superstitious people in space - and the more superstitious you are the better you seem to be...
Aaand on primitive worlds your knowledge is legal admission of witchcraft.
>CSI: Occult
4 diviners, 3 rogues, an Artificer, a bard, and a Paladin all walk onto a crime scene...

Find a copy of this and read it. And its two sequels.

FTL is via the Law of Sympathy by using a ship's keel resonance to draw the ship partway to Heaven. All Engineers have perfect pitch. Navigation is part Zodiac, part Kabbalah, and part pipe organ concert.

Did you say kooky pulp sf?
Yes! I need it!

Don't forget the quirky necromancer in the morgue.

Space is actually full of luminiferous aether. You can fly through it.

Mace Gicvel

>The Paradigm-class leyship is the Orbital Fleet's current flagship. Due to component and crew requirements, it remains an unique prototype for the moment. 128 meters long, 12 meters wide and 10 meters tall, it fulfills exploration and combat duties. While all other leyships require a willing nexus, the Albion's Meridian System travels through ley lines by using an artificial, tamed nexus integrated into the superstructure.

>As its shape closely ressembles a sword, its sections were named according to sword terminology. The blade houses the crew, the hilt is the main engine. Novel features are as follows:

>The Meridian System comprises of shipwide piping connected to exotic tissue. What first appears to a giant's heart is inscribed with fractoglyphs of yet-to-be determined complexity. It pumps a mixture of holy water and martyr's blood through the pipes. This harvests the crew's faithful dedication and feelings, and accumulates it in the gestalt soul of the ship, providing power to ley jumps. In the absence of a wizard, there are two backup ley jump scrolls. Parallel pipelines made of orichalcum absorb the mana waste and directs it as the captain sees fit. It usually provides a local magic field powerful enough for most spells, but battle conditions may require all of its supply, reason for which the crew includes a small contingent of sorcerers besides the wizards. Weapons, engine and the Mandalanet are powered by this array.

this

Not sure if this is what you meant, but it's what I immediately thought of.

>What appear to be giant opal gems are actually hollow pods big enough for one person in triad sets. Each one operates a great whip-like arcane projection capable of grasping and slicing, useful for minor repairs and clearing the hull of debris or boarders. If the user is an arcane conjurer, the pods may amplify his spells by an order of magnitude. This includes non-offensive spells, so the crew can better deal with extraordinary factors. The crossguard's pods may be rearranged into specific configurations to improve the engine or the main weapon.

>Archengineer Lu-Qan Kerr fitted the Albion with a main weapon, the Manion Discharge Cannon. The concept is simple: instead of feeding mana to the engines, it is concentrated in the spinal orichalcum pipe until reaching extraordinary saturation, and fired through a forward gunport, itself capable of shaping the beam into a line or cone. So far, it has been capable of obliterating nefilim nests with a single shot.

>The engines are advanced mana torches, ejecting magically saturated water through a nozzle. This reacts with the local magic field and provides thrust. The pommel houses the main exhausts, while the crossguard section includes maneuvering exhausts. The reaction chamber is coated with orichalcum, preventing leaks of random magic.

>The Mandalanet is an experimental metasoul. The whole crew is the main component, linked by the ley lines between each member. It uses the crew's senses to acquire information, which is then analysed by the ship's gestalt soul. Useful stimuli may be stored into sacrotanks as a sort of long-term memory. This allows both the ship and crew to recall past experiences. The system also operates the main weapon, regulates the prana and mana flow, and provides the crew with acausal discipline and synchronic instinct. Combined with excellent training and strong personal relations, this assures their optimal performances under any circunstances.

DEEPEST LORE

>But that doesn't mean they're going to fucking sacrifice a goat and study it's entrails next episode in the next episode to find out who did it.
>CSI: Ancient Greece
I would watch that.

Surprisingly easily.

There are a few series based on that. Starship Mage it's the name of one if I recall well.

Starfinder's means of FTL is nice. Three construct gods (Brigh the Clockwork, Casandalee the AI, and Epoch the Divine Network) came together and formed a new tripartite god called Triune the All-Code. Triune then created a hyperspace realm, the Drift, and the plans and designs for the first devices to access this realm. They also created the drift beacons which serve as anchor points within the hyperspace realm, allowing easier and faster travel between known places. From anywhere in the galaxy it only takes 1d6 days to travel to Absalom Station and the Pact Worlds (because the god imbuing Starstone acts as a ridiculously powerful one), whereas it might take a couple weeks to get to that new colony world that hasn't installed its drift beacon yet.

Unfortunately there are certain issues with drift travel, namely that every time you use it a chunk of reality comes with you into the realm. So going into drift space in space is no big deal, but doing it planetside could result in some strange things being brought with you.

Get 3 million liters of mana potions. Put them in a fuckhuge tank. Connect that tank to an magical device that converts mana into a combustion spell.
Mount it all on a rocket frame.
There. You've built a Magitek Saturn rocket.

Bonus points, since the only fuel is mana potion, and there's no oxygen+rocket fuel combo, you run less risks of explosions, which frankly drastically lowers the needed techlevel to build such a rocket.

Stargate
Spelljammer
40k even.
Star Trek and Star Wars both since their tech is handwavey bullshit.

Thank you. I'm surprised it took so long for someone to bring this up!

>Mecha Wizards

I must know absolutely everything about Mecha Wizards, stat. Do they study mechanical engineering so they can craft spells to summon their specific, custom-designed mecha? Are the beam attacks all magic powered and have runic circles show up when they fire, with the mecha's physical ammo being summoned from the ethereal planes of bullets and missiles? Is the armor made out of adamantite, with magical gems slotted into the interior to improve performance?

Do they look bitchin'?

They do have a truly wicked sound system. Some are even powered by arrays of bards, forced to produce the most ear-meltingly awesome music known to the planes

>Casandalee the AI
Uh, isn't this god supposed to be defined by its creation at the end of Iron Gods? How the fuck do they get away with giving it a canon set of alignments and shit?

And what, they just created an entire plane?

And they came out with new explanations for the Starstone?

>Uh, isn't this god supposed to be defined by its creation at the end of Iron Gods? How the fuck do they get away with giving it a canon set of alignments and shit?
Yes, but shit happened and there's also the Gap, where knowledge galaxy wide simply disappeared from everyone, deleting records and memories over a variable span of time. I mean, Golarion itself is gone too, so anything that happened there has no bearing on the galactic stage. So she may have become a god in the intervening time between Iron Gods and the events of Starfinder.
>And what, they just created an entire plane?
Yes. When you're a god made of three gods, you get that kind of power.
>And they came out with new explanations for the Starstone?
The Starstone now has an additional function besides acting as a god making artifact. Absalom Station may in fact be parts of the city Absalom put in space. We'll find out later this month.

You don't, once you leave Earth magic stops working

FTL, using wormholes and slip-space are all magical space travel OP