Magitek

Magitek is a portmanteau of magic and technology describing systems, devices, or civilizations that fuse magical energy with machines. In speculative fiction, magitek refers to technology powered by magic, or to magical technologies that function through enchanted artifacts, runes, or priests channeling magical energy to operate machinery. The term is widely used in fantasy literature, video games, tabletop role-playing games, and film to describe a spectrum from enchanted weapons to fully autonomous machines that run on magical power.

In worldbuilding, magitek often raises questions about energy sources, ethics, and power dynamics. Societies with abundant access to magic may deploy magitek for industry or warfare, creating disparities with magic-poor regions. Devices may convert magical energy into electricity, fuel magical reactors, or permit communication and computation via runed circuits. Variants include magitechnology or magitech with varying degrees of scientific explanation; some works treat magic as a robust energy substrate with physics-like rules, while others treat it as a more mysterious force.

Related terms include technomancy, arcane engineering, and spell-powered devices; magitek is sometimes contrasted with techno-morality or with purely magical systems that do not rely on machines. While widely popular in popular culture, magitek is primarily a fictional construct and not a real-world technology.