Technology in Natural Fantasy
Contrary to what one might think, technology remains a core element of natural fantasy campaigns. However, its role may assume very different functions depending on how it is integrated into the setting.
Machines of a Future Past
In the context of the natural fantasy world, technology represents both the endless possibilities of the future and the quiet warnings of the past—creating a thematic tension that can become the hinge of a narrative arc for characters built around the Tinkerer, Merchant (see page 158), or Loremaster Classes.
Advice and Observations
Below are several pieces of advice and observations concerning this topic:
- Dangerous leaps. Recovering and studying technological relics from eras past offers a chance to accelerate the development of a community or settlement. However, doing so without weighing potential consequences might lead to a catastrophic outcome. The message of natural fantasy stories isn’t that technology is inherently malicious, but rather that its impact must be carefully evaluated: often, the wiser path is slower and more careful development, because taking every possible shortcut creates fertile ground for opportunists.
- Quest for coexistence. In line with the previous point, natural fantasy strongly critiques the idea of technology as a “victory over nature.” Even in a world where humanity lives surrounded by dense forests and wild animals, looking to rule over them rather than living in harmony means surrendering our hearts to despair. The path to coexistence is seldom peaceful, but there is a noticeable difference between protecting what you love and annihilating everything else.
- Tools of destruction and rebirth. Natural fantasy stories frequently depict the rediscovery or reactivation of a machine, device, or generator that provides extraordinary power... but also brought ruin upon its ancient creators. These technologies have an ambivalent role: they are gifts from the past just as much as they are its curse. They represent another chance, but if handled with arrogance or haste, they will inevitably lead to tragedy.
Narrative Conflict
All these elements provide excellent ways to spark conflict—either between different factions hell-bent on using technology in divergent ways, or fundamentally between humans and the spirits of nature. Thanks to their long lives, these spirits remember perfectly the disasters of the past and consider current humans as childish and irresponsible as their ancestors, often leading them to choose a preemptive strike. Of course, many would regard such "unmotivated" attacks as another threat to be eradicated.