Technology

The Goaty Way Things Work

the majority of non-mechanical technology is created with, runs on, and is powered by natural magic. this ranges from things that may be familiar to you, such as a computer, to things that are completely fantastic, like portals and physics-defying storage.

by and large, magical technology ("magitech") doesn't "make sense." some things do, such as the interface of a computer, but the inner workings are often vague. even when the insides are made of standardized parts, there are no transistors or capacitors to be found—things largely just work, because they were made to.

batteries can also be charged by demonic engines, demonic magitech that creates an uninterrupted supply of magic one can harness for a predetermined length of time.

Magical Batteries & Magic Harvesting

these are sort of the backbone of all natural magitech. they store magic, which is used to power magitech devices. batteries can be charged via charging devices that harness ambient magic from the environment (a slow process) or via another battery or directly by an individual holding it. in fact, charging batteries for the city to use is something you can get paid for!

the aforementioned charging devices harness ambient magic. this process takes time, as magic is not concentrated in the air the same way it is inside living things. as a result, generally these charging devices are used to charge high-capacity batteries which are then themselves used to charge lower capacity batteries. there is no loss of magic from one battery to the next and this process doesn't degrade either battery—the magic simply moves from one battery to the other.

Specific Technologies

Computers, Displays, Mobiles, etc.

so let's talk about computers. obviously we all know exactly how computers work in real life. binary code and all that. they don't really work that way in goaty's realm, though. everything is much more vague.

how about displays? LCD? LED? CRT? no, none of that. images simply appear on a surface!

sometimes an item will be referred to as a "display" on its own. typically these are extremely low-power devices that simply display text or images and don't run "programs." often times they don't even have a keyboard or anything—you just touch a specific spot and think about what you want it to show, or select from data storage (which can be accessed with a device or directly by simply holding it and thinking about what's inside it).

so how about cell phones? those are more normal than laptops in the real world, now! well… they're a little different in goaty's realm. not that different, though! i dunno, i'm still figuring it out. but i think flip phones are more common than today's slabs.

Transit

so obviously people need to go places. there are the basic means of transport, like walking or bicycles, but there are also powered vehicles, useful for people who live in the outer parts of cities.

most vehicles on the road are small one- or two-person vehicles, akin to our scooters and mopeds. you also get what are basically cars, though they tend to be less common. vans are even less common, and basically only used for transporting resources to depots or carting large things about.

outside of personal vehicles, you have public transit. this is where things get kind of weird, but i'll try to explain it as best i can.

ok, so imagine a pipeline of sorts. a tube that goes from point A to point B. rather than moving a liquid, it moves an anomalous spherical container full of passengers (and/or cargo). this container is launched at extremely high speed through this tube from point A to point B.

it also is made smaller: the inside stays the same size, but the outside shrinks to about the size of a golf ball as it enters the tube, returning to its initial size upon exit.

i don't know what to call this, yet. but that's how it works!

Orbs (Currency)

see the orbs page!

Portable Objects

it's common for objects one might want to easily move to be extremely portable, magically collapsing into a smaller form. popular examples are the portable chair (often collapses into a small pyramid—great for hiking and makes moving a breeze), portable bicycle (collapses down to one handlebar), and probably other things as i think of them.

there are also containers that can shrink, allowing you to make just about anything portable, within (a certain definition of) reason!