[ WP ] `` Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic . '' What happens when magic becomes too advanced ?

His magic had grown very sophisticated, but had it grown this far? He supposed he would find out. He just wished he would not find out with a *technologist* at his side. Damn him. Ah, no. That was n't right, he supposed. Nichols was his friend. He only wanted to help in his own needlessly flashy way. 
 
 Argan The White sat uncomfortably in the passenger seat of Ramon Nichols' Vehicle. Of course, Nichols did not simply call it a Vehicle. Too straightforward, Argan supposed. Nichols had a penchant for naming simple things with complicated names. It was actually a hydraulically suspended hydrogen fueled computer assisted ( and no doubt several other technological words ) device which simply functioned as a Vehicle. 
 
 Pish posh! The Chariot of Speed spell every fourth order mage learned could have done this with any common place object as a Vehicle, up to and including an old grandmother's shopping cart without the need for hydrogen fueled anything. Technologists! Bah! 
 
 Engineers, Argan mused, were in some ways quite opposite to Mages. Mages were a secretive lot. They kept their spells inscribed in books carefully protected with runes or assigned elemental guardians, and never shared the inner workings with the non-initiated. For that matter, they rarely shared them amongst themselves unless in carefully negotiated trade. These *engineers*, on the other hand had to tell the world how everything they made worked, even if it made the non-initiated's eyes glaze over with a mixture of confusion and boredom. 
 
 That, Argan reflected, was why he hated technology, really. All those years of keeping tightly maintained secrecy and here late, the technologists who babble their secrets to anyone regardless of whether they are understood or not were getting so that they could do anything magic could do. Or so they liked to think. Argan smiled at this secret thought, as he again contemplated his New Magic, but he said nothing for now. 
 
 Nichols reached the base of the hill and found it impassible for a wheeled vehicle, as Argan could have told him it would be. This was, after all, Olympus. Not that it slowed Nichols for a second, of course. He shifted some levers and his wheeled vehicle converted itself smoothly into something he would no doubt call a VTOL hover craft. Harrumph. In *his* day, Argan simply called it Holdan's Greater Levitation, but no matter. 
 
 These days the top of Olympus had been sealed off with Golden Gates of Surpassing Strength. Argan raised one eyebrow and waited to see if his friend would need help with this one. He was perfectly prepared to cast Alexandros' Inevitable Opening. But Nichols punched some buttons on the dashboard of his overly named Vehicle, and something he refered to as a `` Sidewinder'' flew forth from under the hood and bashed open the Golden Gates. 
 
 Argan shook his head and sighed. *Show off. * 
 
 At last the vehicle soared up to the gates of a great stone palace. Nichols was not taken aback by the minotaur guardians which came trooping out of the palace. He toggled a switch and Argan heard a whirring noise from the roof of the vehicle. Hmm. Interesting. He himself would have simply Dispelled the obviously summoned beasts but Nichols... 
 
 A loud rattatatat sounded complemented by flashes of light and the minotaurs flew back, torn to pieces by what Nichols called `` gunfire''. ( Argan presumed it was some form of elemental fire effect. He had n't condescended to study it ). 
 
 The two companions emerged from the Vehicle and approached the palace. Stepping inside, they were accosted by a tall figure, looming over them in a mighty throne thirty spans tall. `` WHO DARES TO ASSAULT MY PALACE?'' Zeus bellowed at them, and Argan was mildly amused to see all the blood drain from the face of Nichols at the sight of the Old God. 
 
 `` I...'' Nichols began, feebly indicating with gestures that he would just be going now, but before he could act upon it, Zeus pulled his old thunderbolt routine and Nichols, the poor fool, was roasted and boiled away. 
 
 `` AND YOU!'' Zeus roared, and turned to Argan, who raised his head high, and inscribed the first rune of the New Magic in the air before him. Zeus's flung another thunderbolt, and then his eyes widened as Argan's Unassailable Sheild deflected it. 
 
 `` IMPOSSIBLE'', cried Zeus, and lept up from his thone. He stalked Argan with fire literally flashing in his eyes. 
 
 Another rune of the New Magic, and Argan was himself as tall as the Old God. Perhaps he would call this spell Argan's Ascension? Zeus stumbled to a halt, no doubt remembering what he himself had wrought upon the Titans. Remembering, and perhaps worrying? 
 
 Argan stepped forward, inscribing a third rune of New Magic, and in the blink of a mortal eye, a sword of flame appeared in his hand, shining like the sun. Zeus staggered back, uncertainty warping his features into an unaccustomed shape. Before he could recover, Argan thrust what he called Argan's Unstoppable Blade through the chest of the Old God, who gasped as the fire drained from his eyes, and he cried out in mingled pain and surprise. Argan reveled in the feeling -- - imagine! To slay a god! 
 
 And when the body of Zeus was a dissipating cloud upon the air, Argan cast the blade upwards, watching it rocket skyward and turn to five new stars visible even in the daylit sky. He stepped forward, still smiling, and claimed the throne of Olympus. 
 
 Then he pondered the charred corpse of his friend, Nichols. Poor soul. *This part better work*, he thought. Then he inscribed the Ultimate Rune of New Magic, ( *or perhaps Argan's Ressurection? *, he mused ), and instantly all damage was healed and Nichols gasped as he sat up, fully restored. 
 
 `` Now, my friend,'' said Argan, `` the next time you say that any sufficiently sophisticated techology is indistinguishable from magic, just remember this: Any sufficiently sophisticated magic, is indistinguishable from divinity!'' 

