Worldbuilding

Magitech

/ˈmædʒ.ɪ.tek/ noun
IN ONE SENTENCE

Technology that runs on magic instead of (or alongside) science, blending the fantastical with the mechanical.

Definition

Magitech is what you get when a society starts engineering with magic the way we engineer with electricity. Instead of a lightbulb running on current, you have a crystal that glows when you channel mana into it. Instead of a combustion engine, you have a golem-powered cart. The appeal of magitech is the collision between the wonder of magic and the practicality of industry. It lets you ask: what happens when magic stops being mystical and starts being mundane?

Why It Matters

Magitech opens up story possibilities that pure fantasy or pure science fiction can't reach. It lets you write industrial revolutions powered by enchantment, assembly lines staffed by constructs, and social upheavals caused by magical automation. It also forces you to think rigorously about your magic system, because once people start building machines with it, every loophole becomes a product.

Types of Magitech

Enchanted Objects at Scale +
Magic-Powered Infrastructure +
Hybrid Systems +
Biological Magitech +

Famous Examples

The Stormlight Archive — Brandon Sanderson

Fabrials are the best example of magitech done right: they follow consistent rules, they're manufactured by skilled workers, and their existence reshapes the economy and warfare.

Final Fantasy (series) — Square Enix

The franchise is famous for blending crystals, magic, and machinery into airships, mecha, and magical reactors.

Arcane (League of Legends) — Riot Games

Hextech, technology powered by magical crystals, drives the class conflict between Piltover's wealthy inventors and Zaun's exploited underclass.

Common Mistakes

Adding magitech without considering its social consequences. If anyone can buy a fireball grenade, your world's military, politics, and crime look very different.

Think through second-order effects. Magical healing at scale means different demographics. Magical communication means different espionage. Follow the implications.

Making magitech so convenient that it solves every problem and eliminates all conflict.

Give it costs, limitations, and failure modes. Maybe the crystals are rare. Maybe the devices break down. Maybe only certain people can operate them. Constraints create stories.

Treating magitech as purely aesthetic (it looks magical) without defining how it actually works.

Decide on the power source, the mechanism, and the limits. 'It works because magic' is fine for fairy tales, but magitech stories need internal consistency.

Try It Yourself

Quick Exercise

Take one piece of modern technology (a phone, a refrigerator, a car) and redesign it as magitech. Spend 15 minutes writing a product description that explains what powers it, how it works, what can go wrong, and what it costs. Then write a paragraph about who in your world can afford it and who can't.

CONTINUE LEARNING
Planning & Structure
If your world has magitech, define its rules and limitations during planning so you can build consistent plot constraints around it.