I thought that the endless discovered dust and learned how to use and recreate it (or it was self replicating one of those two).

same was true for the harmony they are as old as the universe (aka older then the endless, so I assume that dusts pre-dates the endless) and they discovered it and found out it was poisonous to them.

Xydrius wrote:
Dust being around from the start would be much better in my opinion...

More of the history and lore of Dust will be forthcoming in Endless Space 2

Dust being around from the start would be much better in my opinion. It would open up a lot of things for the races, like the Broken Lords could be a plague on the galaxy if Dust was in fact something that held the universe together and they were beings of energy somehow tied to it. Or perhaps they master dust without corrupting it like the Endless.

icarus86 wrote:
IMO, Auriga definitely IS self-aware (perhaps a concept similar to "Gaia" for Earth). OTOH, since Dust is actually a technology, Auriga could be the "core" of that technology (and Dust being implemented everywhere with "her" knowledge).

What do you think ?

Auriga is sentient, at least 2 trailers made it explicit (including the most recent one, for Shifters).

And devs have hinted that dust was not created by the Endless, but discovered.



My theory is that dust is actually a living entity, which was corrupted by Endless technology (nanites). And the narrator of ES2's trailer is, in fact, Dust.

IMO, Auriga definitely IS self-aware (perhaps a concept similar to "Gaia" for Earth). OTOH, since Dust is actually a technology, Auriga could be the "core" of that technology (and Dust being implemented everywhere with "her" knowledge).

What do you think ?

As a matter of fact, a lot of the Ardent Mage's quest victory revolves around the fact that they are manipulating Dust on a much more sophisticated level than the rest of the inhabitants of Auriga. So yes, Clarke's law definitely aplies here (as does, I guess, Agatha Heterodyne's variant of it).



However, I still think that there may be other powers than Dust that are regarded as "magic."



After all, the trailers for several of the expansions and for ES2 hint that Auriga is alive and self-aware.

As pointed out earlier, the Harmony seemed to have some sort of consciousness without being alive even before they were "corrupted" by dust.

The Eyeless Ones apparently worshipped something older than the Endless, and that might be the source of their healing power.

The Sharing may not be a result of Dust, as I don't think its origin is ever properly explained.

Picrasso wrote:
So, there's an entire faction called the 'Ardent Mages' and it is all about using magic. Am I stating the obvious here, or am I missing something?

The Ardent Mages use of "magic" is simply a very advanced (for Auriga) knowledge of how to manipulate Dust in certain ways.



Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. This is what Dust is; an incredibly advanced piece of nanotech that, to the people of Auriga, is essentially magical. The Ardent Mages have simply learned to use Dust in more intricate and diverse ways than the other factions.

@picrasso

they are searching for the difference between the usage of dust and actual magic

So, there's an entire faction called the 'Ardent Mages' and it is all about using magic. Am I stating the obvious here, or am I missing something?

At first I assumed that everything was magic, I got into the game pretty hard and the lore and realised most of it is super advanced science left behind by the Endless. But then there are mentions of magic in questlines. I guess we can assume the 'narrators' (meaning protagonists or fictional characters that write the 'journals' in the story) don't know how it works so they call it magic, although in the Broken Lords questline the king says he will need to use all the dust and magic of their Empire, they also have the Rite of Consumption which has no explanation. It does look like the Broken Lords have some mysterious stuff going on however (they talk about the Endless being their ancestors that the technology in the ruins are theirs but they no longer understand it).



In the new DLC (Shifters) the Altar of Auriga tooltip says there is magic, that predates the Endless as well, the same sort of thing goes for the Berth of Auriga. I mean most things you assume are magic turn out to be some weird science when you dig deeper (haunts being echoes of virtual endless). So do the Ardent Mages actually control dust with magic, no scientific explanation just fantasy magic? And do the Vaulters have some sort of sci-magic? The description for the Titan unit is "A giant construct of relics, machines, and magic, the Titan is a formidable melee warrior on offense or defense." Machines and Magic, relics can be old technology of the endless but it specifically says magic.



The writers for this universe give little snippets of the bigger picture here and there, I can tell they want us to dig and learn from looking into the little things. I was under the impression there was absolutely no magic, now you could argue what IS 'magic' but I dont think that will get us very far. The writers make a clear distinction in the narrative between unexplained science and 'magic'. An example being that you can use Endless tech in Endless legend, and your leader will know it is Technology not magic, even if it could be mistaken for magic. But they will call other things magic.



I haven't played the ardent mages questline yet because I got a look at their militia who look like a weird gimp suit thingy and it turned me right off them but I assume they would have a lot of information on the nature of magic in the Endless universe.



Is Auriga special in this regard, I didnt see any mention of magic in endless space at all? I obviously have a lot of information I need to gather and read, including finishing each of the factions storylines.



Would really like to see what people think and how you would rationalise this information, Auriga is obviously very special to the Endless Universe, so it could be something isolated to the inhabitants of that planet? I myself have no solid theories worth writing out, I would like to read peoples theories on everything from the Broken Lords and how they consume life force (and why they need to) or the Ardent Mages and how they control dust (nanites apperantly) with 'magic'.



TL;DR,





What is 'Magic' in Endless Legend as mentioned in multiple tooltips, questline logs etc. ?

From my understanding there is no magic, everything is high tech. I also see dust as some kind of nanotechnology but that's just my interpretation of it.

Answering the big questions guys

leonandri wrote:
Do you believe in magic?





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDYNuD4CwlI

https://youtu.be/DfYJykSizIk



Scooby dooby doo bop ^^

Do you believe in magic?





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDYNuD4CwlI

As long as it works with setting and immersion, I see nothing bad about it. Then again, if we look at this post, there's nothing wrong with Dust Guardian predating Endless neither

Yeah, well I mean someone brought up in another thread that the Dust Guardian doesnt really make sense with the information we have (Guardians predate the Endless,the Endless created Dust). So perhaps dust is different to what we have been told? That would explain some stuff about dust magic. I get the impression you however do not think that the mentioning of magic has much weight behind it and is just the language for a fantasy setting?



Im not convinced, I hope that some stuff is explained later about it all. Do you think at this point it would make any sense to introduce a type of 'magic' that was previously unheard of? Even if it could be explained scientifically, eventually.

In my understanding, word 'magic' used heavily for the sake of fantasy setting. Being in the same universe and story arc, ES, DotE and EL rely on all the weird properties and processes, that Dust (micromachines) operate on quantum level.

If some tech in Shifters DLC predates Endless, it might be a reference to ES2 plot.