Telluric Fields

In Scott Alexander's excellent story, The Girl Who Poked God With A Stick, there's a thing called a telluric field that artificially limits technology. In some spots, it's weaker. These places are major sites of civilization, where maglevs and cars are used—until the field shifts, and the people in one city have to go back to steam trains and horses, while another place can suddenly support an air force.

Put the telluric field in Equestria, and you have an interesting story. Who put it there? Discord? Celestia? Someone or something else? What happens if the one who put it there takes it offline—what happens if someone else takes it offline? Equestria could industrialize rapidly.

Maybe places where the telluric field is weak also have weaker magic.

Maybe there are artifacts that reduce the effects of the field. Perhaps Griffonstone has a literal stone which allows guns more advanced than a flintlock pistol to work, and that's why ponies don't really live there.

Someone should make a story based on this. Maybe I will, if I can find the time and energy.

Comments

[quakeSanchez]

while another place can suddenly support an air force

An immannent quality of any air force is that you can't suddenly an air force. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

It's a curious concept, good for unconventional world building or plot twists.