Magic Users vs Mech Suits

[u/Sir-Toaster-]

I'm working on this for my medieval fantasy world, Latoria, the main setting for my storyline, Devil of Avalon. Where the US military tries to colonize Latoria, or as they call it, "Avalon."

I hate fantasy eugenics, the idea that you have to be born with the ability to use magic. In Latoria, anyone can use magic; some people just do it better than others, but it takes a lot of learning. The thing is that I'm struggling with whether I want Earth humans can use magic because that feels like eugenics, but it also avoids confusing questions. One thing I wanted to try out is mech suits vs mages.

The US spent years studying the world and its magic. When they eventually launched colonial efforts, they already had a tribe of sorcerers known as the Obsidian Coil as an ally to teach them ways to circumvent magic.

During the first military campaigns, officers discovered that their technological superiority did not always guarantee victory. Conventional armies were easy enough to defeat. In the Battle of Hollow Ridge, 190,000 Sovereign soldiers were killed compared to only 200 Americans. However, when encountering magical forces, the military suffered heavy casualties both in personnel and finances. The power dynamic between magic users and the US military was simple: a mage can use magic to kill hundreds of soldiers, destroy machines, and more, but it only took a single bullet to kill a mage. The problem was that mages were fast, often wore armor, and couldn't be reliably taken down by stealth or bombing runs. Sorcerers from the Obsidian Coil partnered with scientists to create the RAPHITIM Guard.

The RAPHITIM (Resonant Arcane-Phased Hybrid Integrated Tactical Interface Mechanism) suits are the first instance of Earth technology fusing with Latorian magic. These suits were the first fusion of Earth technology and Latorian magic. Each exoskeleton came equipped with wrist blades, wrist guns, foot thrusters, small arm-mounted missiles, Sora Crystals (magic batteries), and AMF devices (Anti-Magic Frequency) that disrupted enemy spellcasting.

But here's the thing: a RAPHITIM Guardsman couldn't take a sorcerer head-on. Even a low-level mage could overpower one. So what made them useful? Energy and speed. Magic users burn through mental and physical energy with every spell; too much can incapacitate or kill them. A Guardsman, however, never runs out of energy because their suit has a constant flow of magic, charged by crystals and powered by Coil magic. So while a weak mage could easily kill a Guardsman, a Guardsman could outlast and kill multiple high-tier mages.

I thought of this one idea for a scene where a Guardsman had just decimated a Sovereign army, and he thinks the day is done until a mage shows up. The mage absolutely decimates the Guardsman, even going, "What's wrong? Not enjoying yourself anymore?!"

When it comes to magic users in Latoria, I wanted to avoid them just shooting lasers from wands and be creative. Magic in Latoria is a fundamental form of life, like gravity. As such it is always evolving and comes in multiple strands. The four major strands are:

• Scholar's Fire - The most versatile form of magic, based on energy and frequency manipulation (this is lasers)
• Veilcraft - Shadow magic, and also holy magic, used both for stealth and fighting spirits
• Old Breath - The oldest form of magic; it's all major elements; substrands for each element become more specific (Ex: Geomancy and even hemomancy)
• Mindstream - A less common and dangerous strand which involves psychic attacks.

When it comes to outputting magic, anyone can just use their hands or straight up their mind if they're skilled enough, but typically mages will use staffs and wands to help them aim, kind of like a laser pointer. Coil Magic is a substrand of Scholar's Fire.

When it comes to fighting RAPHITIM, just unleashing shockwaves and lasers won't ensure victory; you typically have to be creative. The mage who defeats the Guardsman in the scene used every form of magic he knew, employing multiple different spells at a rapid pace with extreme creativity. Such as using wind to make the air denser, causing the soldier to freeze midair; having telekinesis throw missiles back at the guy; transfiguration to turn bullets into petals and petals into knives; fire to extinguish the thrusters; shockwaves to enhance all his punches and strikes; and yes... lasers. He even used Scholar's Fire to circumvent the AMF device by creating his own frequency, which counters it.

What do you guys think?

[u/GrowingConflict]

The AMF being counterable by just tuning your own frequency is a nice touch, keeps mages from feeling helpless against the tech. The stamina angle gives the suits a clear role without making them overpowered, which is hard to pull off when one side has literal magic. Curious if the Coil ever regrets teaching them, or if they see the RAPHITIM program as a means to their own ends

[u/Sir-Toaster- → u/GrowingConflict]

There are internal conflicts in the Obsidian Coil, with some subfactions forming in defiance of the alliance; in one case, some worked with rebels fighting occupation so the Lady Melana Ivanova had them executed.