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** Laura [[MuggingTheMonster fights off muggers in her first scene]], [[TeenGenius makes several breakthroughs in magical research]], and survives [[spoiler: a volcanic eruption]] among other things.
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** Laura [[MuggingTheMonster fights off muggers in her first scene]], [[TeenGenius makes several breakthroughs in magical research]], and survives [[spoiler: a volcanic eruption]] among other things. As the story's protagonist, she gets {{Badass}} privileges.
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* AkashicRecords: Alluded to once as a piece of magical terminology. The fact that someone was able to corrupt them illustrates their high power level.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Wheel Group has elements of this. The fact that their members regularly teleport into war zones to fight magical threats makes this something of a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]].
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* SummonToHand: The complexity of a spell to make this happen with a disassembled mages' staff is so mind-boggling, it makes Laura's list of seven or eight "impossible things".
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* SuperWeight
** Despite having supernatural powers, the vast majority of mages are in the same category as Muggles. At the start of the story, Natalie Ferno doesn't carry any special equipment, works on pure theory, and mentions once that she doesn't know how to cast ''uum''. It's explained that magic is difficult and impossible to improvise; any given spell will only do one thing and takes hours to weeks to write.
** Laura [[MuggingTheMonster fights off muggers in her first scene]], [[TeenGenius makes several breakthroughs in magical research]], and survives [[spoiler: a volcanic eruption]] among other things.
** And then there are people like Rachel Ferno, the Wheel Group, and presumably some other groups not yet introduced, who use magic [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology so far beyond the cutting edge]] it might as well be... [[AnalogyBackfire whatever comes next]].
* SummonToHand: The complexity of a spell to make this happen with a disassembled mages' staff is so mind-boggling, it makes Laura's list of seven or eight "impossible things".
** Despite having supernatural powers, the vast majority of mages are in the same category as Muggles. At the start of the story, Natalie Ferno doesn't carry any special equipment, works on pure theory, and mentions once that she doesn't know how to cast ''uum''. It's explained that magic is difficult and impossible to improvise; any given spell will only do one thing and takes hours to weeks to write.
** Laura [[MuggingTheMonster fights off muggers in her first scene]], [[TeenGenius makes several breakthroughs in magical research]], and survives [[spoiler: a volcanic eruption]] among other things.
** And then there are people like Rachel Ferno, the Wheel Group, and presumably some other groups not yet introduced, who use magic [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology so far beyond the cutting edge]] it might as well be... [[AnalogyBackfire whatever comes next]].
* SummonToHand: The complexity of a spell to make this happen with a disassembled mages' staff is so mind-boggling, it makes Laura's list of seven or eight "impossible things".
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* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Explicitly not present. Though this was the case in the nanowrimo precursor to ''Ra'', Sam said he deliberately eliminated this element.
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* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Explicitly not present. Though this was the case in the nanowrimo NaNoWriMo precursor to ''Ra'', Sam said he deliberately eliminated this element.
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* SummonToHand: The complexity of a spell to make this happen with a disassembled mages' staff is so mind-boggling, it makes Laura's list of sever or eight "impossible things".
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* SummonToHand: The complexity of a spell to make this happen with a disassembled mages' staff is so mind-boggling, it makes Laura's list of sever seven or eight "impossible things".
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* CourtroomAntics: {{Averted}} and {{Lampshaded}}. Laura goes through a legal battle in Sufficiently Advanced Technology, but it's only one paragraph long.
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* ClarkesThirdLaw: Alluded to in the title of Sufficiently Advanced Technology.
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* MuggingTheMonster: Classic example in Thaumic City.
* NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus: Half the reason why the "Jesus Machine" is so remarkable.
* NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus: Half the reason why the "Jesus Machine" is so remarkable.
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Literary present tense and not an example.
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* AnachronicOrder: The story is meant to be read in the order it was written, but many events are presented outside the sequence in which they occurred.
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* AnachronicOrder: The story is meant to be read in the order it was written, but many events are presented outside the sequence in which they occurred.occur.
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* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Whatever [[spoiler: Not-Benj]] tried to do in Iceland, it nearly destroyed a village, and none of the humans know what his goal was.
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* {{Magitek}}: Magic cast by technology is explicitly ruled out. Magic incantations require a certain state of mind and a mana supply. A computer has neither, so it can't cast spells, though it can solve the equations required to design a spell. And magic can be integrated with technology - a microchip cooled by magic is brought up.
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* {{Magitek}}: Magic cast by technology is explicitly ruled out. Magic incantations require a certain state of mind and a mana supply. A computer has neither, so it can't cast spells, though it can solve the equations required to design a spell. And magic can be integrated with technology - [[PostmodernMagik a microchip cooled by magic is brought up.mentioned]].
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* [[spoiler: EldritchAbomination: Ra]]
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* [[spoiler: EldritchAbomination: Ra]]Possibly.
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* BeyondTheImpossible: There's an entire chapter called [[http://qntm.org/yantra The Seventh Impossible Thing]]. Magic is poorly understood even by cutting-edge researchers, so a lot of things that are believed to be impossible at some point (starting with the existence of magic itself) turn out to be very possible indeed.
* [[spoiler: EldritchAbomination: Ra]]
* InvisibilityCloak: Discussed in the [[http://qntm.org/invisibility supplementary materials]]. It may never be used within the story, but it's possible within the rules of the {{verse}}.
* MagicAIsMagicA: Yes. Magic obeys very strict and carefully designed rules. This does not prevent characters from doing [[ClarkesThirdLaw apparently impossible feats]] every so often.
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* MagicalIncantation: Required, though it's not clear HOW they work. It's possible to save up long incantations into quick-castable "macros".
* {{Magitek}}: in spades.
* {{Magitek}}: in spades.
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* MagicalIncantation: Required, though it's not clear HOW they work.to the reader what the syntax is (the mages themselves seem to know). It's possible to save up long incantations into quick-castable "macros".
* {{Magitek}}:in spades.Magic cast by technology is explicitly ruled out. Magic incantations require a certain state of mind and a mana supply. A computer has neither, so it can't cast spells, though it can solve the equations required to design a spell. And magic can be integrated with technology - a microchip cooled by magic is brought up.
* {{Magitek}}:
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* RegeneratingMana: Mages regenerate mana. Mana can also be stored in objects for future use, increasing the amount of mana to hand.
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* ProperlyParanoid: After the first chapter, Laura thinks that people are trying to kidnap or kill her, and goes to the trouble of inventing a personal DeflectorShield for herself and her sister Natalie. Natalie thinks Laura is being crazy.
* RegeneratingMana: Mages regenerate mana. Mana can also be stored inobjects special containers for future use, increasing the amount of mana to hand. hand.
* ShoutOut:
** Magic was discovered in India, so some of the terminology (''yantra'', ''kara'') is taken from Sanskrit traditions.
** Computer science terms also abound (the Wheel Group, Abstract Types, and one piece of minor equipment is compared to a USB key).
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Magic is a branch of quantum physics. It took years of analysis before Rajesh Vidyasagar could telekinetically move an object.
* RegeneratingMana: Mages regenerate mana. Mana can also be stored in
* ShoutOut:
** Magic was discovered in India, so some of the terminology (''yantra'', ''kara'') is taken from Sanskrit traditions.
** Computer science terms also abound (the Wheel Group, Abstract Types, and one piece of minor equipment is compared to a USB key).
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Magic is a branch of quantum physics. It took years of analysis before Rajesh Vidyasagar could telekinetically move an object.
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* YourMindMakesItReal: Averted. Tanako's World is only dangerous if there's ambient mana nearby.
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* YourMindMakesItReal: Averted. Tanako's World is only dangerous if there's a lot of ambient mana nearby.
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* MagicIsMental: Part of a mage's daily routine is meditation for this reason.
* MagicStaff: Ubiqutious. Trainee magical engineers take bojutsu in order to better control them.
* MagicalIncantation: Required, though it's not clear HOW they work. It's possible to save up long incantations into quick-castable "macros".
* MagicStaff: Ubiqutious. Trainee magical engineers take bojutsu in order to better control them.
* MagicalIncantation: Required, though it's not clear HOW they work. It's possible to save up long incantations into quick-castable "macros".
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* {{Mana}}: Comes in various flavors. Deep examinations of the manipulation of mana often occupies the story's {{Magibabble}}
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* RegeneratingMana: Mages regenerate mana. Mana can also be stored in objects for future use, increasing the amount of mana to hand.
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* WordsDoNotMakeTheMagic: It's not enough to speak a spell. The mage must think through and understand it as well.
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* GeometricMagic: REALLY BIG circles.
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* SummonToHand: The complexity of a spell to make this happen with a disassembled mages' staff is so mind-boggling, it makes Laura's list of sever or eight "impossible things".
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* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Sam has admitted that this is a common theme between Literature/FineStructure and Ra. We don't know how this is going to work out here, of course.]]
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* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Sam has admitted that ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Explicitly not present. Though this is a common theme between Literature/FineStructure and Ra. We don't know how was the case in the nanowrimo precursor to ''Ra'', Sam said he deliberately eliminated this is going to work out here, of course.]]element.
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* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Sam has admitted that this is a common theme between Literature/FineStructure and Ra. We don't know how this is going to work out here, of course.]]
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->''Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information -revolution.''
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->''Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide ''bona fide'' field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information -revolution.revolution.''
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of ''Literature/FineStructure'' and the other works at Website/ThingsOfInterest. It is a distinct reworked story from Sam's excursions during the 2010 NaNoWriMo.
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* SwissArmyWeapon: Abstract Weapon, from the chapter of the same name.
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of Literature/FineStructure and the other works at Website/ThingsOfInterest. It is a distinct reworked story from Sam's excursions during the 2010 NaNoWriMo.
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of Literature/FineStructure ''Literature/FineStructure'' and the other works at Website/ThingsOfInterest. It is a distinct reworked story from Sam's excursions during the 2010 NaNoWriMo.
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* HealingMagicIsTheHardest: Justified by the rule that magic has to describe '''everything''' it's doing (it takes many, many hours just to float a few lengths of metal together into a staff) and living bodies are very, VERY complex.
* HyperlinkStory: The only connection some of the characters share so far is that they study magic.
* HyperlinkStory: The only connection some of the characters share so far is that they study magic.
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* AnachronicOrder: The story is meant to be read in the order it was written, but many events are presented outside the sequence in which they occurred.
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>''Magic is real.''
>''Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information revolution.''
>''Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.''
>''And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
>''Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information revolution.''
>''Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.''
>''And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
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''Magic is real.''
''Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information revolution.''
''Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.''
''And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
''Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information revolution.''
''Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.''
''And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
to:
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''Magic is real.
Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information revolution.
Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.
And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information revolution.
Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.
And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
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''Magic is real.
Discoveredreal.''
''Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the informationrevolution.
Studentrevolution.''
''Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother reallywas.
Andwas.''
''And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
Discovered
''Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information
Student
''Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really
And
''And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
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''Magic is real.
Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information revolution.
Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.
And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
Discovered in the 1970s, magic has matured into bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in the factories, magic in your television. It's what's next after the information revolution.
Student mage Laura Ferno has designs on the future: her mother died trying to reach space using magic, and Laura wants to succeed where she failed. But first, she has to work out what went wrong. And who her mother really was.
And whether, indeed, she's dead at all...''
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* AlternateHistory: Magic is a new field of science and engineering in the past half century from the modern day. This leads to obvious changes in technological development, but also more subtle things: In Ra, Atlantis, not Challenger, was lost with all hands. [[spoiler:There's more to it than a simple point of divergence when magic is discovered, though.]]
to:
* AlternateHistory: Magic is a new field of science and engineering in the past half century from the modern day. This leads to obvious changes in technological development, but also more subtle things: In Ra, For example, in ''Ra'', Space Shuttle Atlantis, not Challenger, was lost with all hands. [[spoiler:There's more to it than a simple point of divergence when magic is discovered, though.]]
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* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Sam has admitted that this is a common theme between Literature/FineStructure and Ra. We don't know how this is going to work out here, of course.]]
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* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Whatever [[spoiler: Not-Benj]] tried to do in Iceland, it nearly destroyed a village, and none of the humans know what his goal was.
* DreamLand: Tanako's World is a dream/nightmare shared by all mages. If there's enough ambient magic in the air, it becomes extremely dangerous.
* DreamPeople: The things in Tanako's World might be. Ra apparently is, as well.
* DreamWeaver: Mages can manipulate Tanako's World just by willing it. Conventional magic does nothing, however.
* DreamLand: Tanako's World is a dream/nightmare shared by all mages. If there's enough ambient magic in the air, it becomes extremely dangerous.
* DreamPeople: The things in Tanako's World might be. Ra apparently is, as well.
* DreamWeaver: Mages can manipulate Tanako's World just by willing it. Conventional magic does nothing, however.
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* ImprovisedWeapon: Laura's magic rings, bangles, and so on are technically research tools, but they can be extremely dangerous with the right spell. She ends up having to explain this to the police.
* MadScientist: Some of Laura's later magical experiments are... haphazard. Natalie calls her out on this.
* MadScientist: Some of Laura's later magical experiments are... haphazard. Natalie calls her out on this.
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* OrWasItADream: After one trip into Tanako's World, Laura and Natalie are unable to identify when they woke up. To make matters more confusing, the magic they did there somehow affected the real world, as well.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Averted. Tanako's World is only dangerous if there's ambient mana nearby.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Averted. Tanako's World is only dangerous if there's ambient mana nearby.
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of Literature/FineStructure and the other works at Website/ThingsOfInterest.
It is a distinct reworked story from the authors excursions during the 2010 NaNoWriMo.
It is a distinct reworked story from the authors excursions during the 2010 NaNoWriMo.
to:
Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of Literature/FineStructure and the other works at Website/ThingsOfInterest.
Website/ThingsOfInterest. It is a distinct reworked story from the authors Sam's excursions during the 2010 NaNoWriMo.
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* Alternate History: Magic is a new field of science and engineering in the past half century from the modern day. This leads to obvious changes in technological development, but also more subtle things: In Ra, Atlantis, not Challenger, was lost with all hands. [[spoiler:There's more to it than a simple point of divergence when magic is discovered, though.]]
to:
* Alternate History: AlternateHistory: Magic is a new field of science and engineering in the past half century from the modern day. This leads to obvious changes in technological development, but also more subtle things: In Ra, Atlantis, not Challenger, was lost with all hands. [[spoiler:There's more to it than a simple point of divergence when magic is discovered, though.]]
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* FormulaicMagic: magic is physics. The hard kind of physics.
to:
* Alternate History: Magic is a new field of science and engineering in the past half century from the modern day. This leads to obvious changes in technological development, but also more subtle things: In Ra, Atlantis, not Challenger, was lost with all hands. [[spoiler:There's more to it than a simple point of divergence when magic is discovered, though.]]
* FormulaicMagic:magic Magic is physics. The hard kind of physics.
* FormulaicMagic:
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* Magitec: in spades.
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* Magitec: {{Magitek}}: in spades.
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The story centres around Laura Ferno, an extremely talented [[strike:mage in training]] university student majoring in[[{{Magitec}} Thaumic Engineering]].
to:
The story centres around Laura Ferno, an extremely talented [[strike:mage in training]] university student majoring in[[{{Magitec}} in [[{{Magitek}} Thaumic Engineering]].
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of WebOriginal/FineStructure and the other works at Website/ThingsOfInterest.
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of WebOriginal/FineStructure Literature/FineStructure and the other works at Website/ThingsOfInterest.
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of WebOriginal/FineStructure and the other works at WebOriginal/ThingsOfInterest.
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of WebOriginal/FineStructure and the other works at WebOriginal/ThingsOfInterest.Website/ThingsOfInterest.
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Ra is a science fiction story in progress, written by Sam Hughes, creator of WebOriginal/FineStructure and the other works at WebOriginal/ThingsOfInterest.
It is a distinct reworked story from the authors excursions during the 2010 NaNoWriMo.
The story centres around Laura Ferno, an extremely talented [[strike:mage in training]] university student majoring in[[{{Magitec}} Thaumic Engineering]].
The story is heavily told though MagicAIsMagicA and {{Magibabble}}.
[[http://qntm.org/ra Available here.]]
----
!!This Web Original novel examples of:
* FormulaicMagic: magic is physics. The hard kind of physics.
* FunctionalMagic: of the Rule Magic and Force Magic varieties.
* Magitec: in spades.
----
It is a distinct reworked story from the authors excursions during the 2010 NaNoWriMo.
The story centres around Laura Ferno, an extremely talented [[strike:mage in training]] university student majoring in[[{{Magitec}} Thaumic Engineering]].
The story is heavily told though MagicAIsMagicA and {{Magibabble}}.
[[http://qntm.org/ra Available here.]]
----
!!This Web Original novel examples of:
* FormulaicMagic: magic is physics. The hard kind of physics.
* FunctionalMagic: of the Rule Magic and Force Magic varieties.
* Magitec: in spades.
----
