Rakhasa Wrote:I think magic should be like Hard Tech -using pure magic you can sidestep all the handwavium rules if (IF) you can discover the proper spells/theory. Which, since it is starting a compleely unknown "scientific" system from zero, will take a long, long time. Using the whole Fenspace Cathalog you can build dangerous hard-tech weapons, after all, if you manage to learn the necessary theories and build the necessary machines.
It's as Bob said: Time and effort. Maybe in 2030, 2040 or 2050 magic will be a real setting changer. Until then, people are still discovering the basics. For many Wizards it will be enough to know it is possible, for now. They can keep working on it for the rest of their lives. This may bring back their faction back to the big leages after the losses of the War and the years they have been lickng their injuries (see? It's not that no one cared to write about then, there is a Reason we have not heard about WIzards for years...)
Of course, you can speed this by several order of magnitude mixing magic and handwavium... but then you face the rules once again, just like what happened for the rules of physics and the 'wave.
If it goes this way, I am okay with it...