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While many stories in the fantasy genre show the worlds they take place in as they are, they also show clues to their past, what they looked like in terms of technology. Some of them have stagnated, remaining the same for a long period of time whereas others have made advancements in technology. In the latter, these advancements wouldn’t have been made possible without a fantasy inventor.
The inventor largely mimics that of his real-world counterpart. He looks at the problems facing the world and endeavors to develop a solution he hopes will overcome them. In this vein, he is similar to an engineer in that both occupations are builders at heart. However, the two sides approach problems differently.
A fantasy inventor is surrounded by gadgets where he is constantly tinkering with them to improve their performance, hoping that they will be able to address the problem he is hard at work on solving. He looks at problems through a rational lens; that is, he uses reason, logic, and the process of elimination to come up with what he considers is the perfect solution and he moves swiftly to implement it.
The majority of people who live in fictional worlds have quite a bit on their plate. They work harder than they ought to since the world hasn’t reached the point where they can make great use of technology to help them work. That’s where the inventor comes in. He works to find a way to develop tech that makes it easier — and less taxing in terms of energy — for people to work, thereby giving them more time to enjoy their pleasures.
Regarding the world, the central function of the fantasy inventor is to create things that spearhead change in the world. Such change leads to an increase in productivity and happiness for a large swath of the population. New technologies lead to the rise of new opportunities, giving more people a chance to pursue their dreams.
This is the thirty-second article in the fantasy occupations series. For more, simply check out our blog page where you have a while bevy of fantastic articles to choose from!
No matter where the world is technologically, there will always be someone who’s looking to the future. He dreams of a world where people work hand-in-hand with technology as they go about their lives. But before that can happen, he has to help it get there and the way he does so is by working to find a solution to one of its problems.
The fantasy inventor adopts a rational approach in order to solve a problem. First, he studies it to gain a complete understanding of it. He looks at it through different perspectives before he moves onto trying to solve it. In this stage, he is documenting as much information as he can so he can easily refer back to it when needed when he’s working on a solution.
Next, he drafts ideas on potential solutions and the mechanisms needed to make them work. Mind you, these are just general ideas since he’s brainstorming them. Eventually, they’ll get more specific as he whittles them down, going with the ones he believes stands a better chance of actually working and tucking away the ones that he thinks won’t necessarily work. He’ll keep the ones he discarded around in case they might work for another problem. He drafts blueprints for the ones he intends on testing out.
After that, the fantasy inventor creates prototypes based on the blueprints he created. They are merely experimental in nature, giving him the opportunity to study whether they potentially solve the problem or not. If not, they’re either discarded or reworked to see if they improve. If they solve the problem, he works to maximize their efficiency.
With the experimental phase over, he moves onto the final one: creating the thing he knows in his heart is the perfect solution to the problem he’s dedicated countless hours to addressing. He makes it and irons out the kinks before officially unveiling it to the world.
People who live in worlds based on fantasy live difficult lives. They don’t have access to many of the things we in the real world take for granted like electricity or automobiles. Instead they have to make do with what is available at the time, whether that be horses or windmills. The inventor here works to make their lives easier.
How does the fantasy inventor change people’s lives? By developing and introducing technology that enables them to do their everyday tasks without having to expend as much energy, thereby freeing them up to do the things they love. For instance, making refrigeration possible substantially increases the time people can safely store food at home or at work; they don’t have to continually eat their food before they spoil, reducing the frequency of going to the food market or food stores.
In medieval-era worlds, farmers have access to a limited set of tools, meaning they spend long hours planting and growing seeds in the spring and harvesting them in the fall. By developing irrigation systems or perfecting the ones already available, the inventor makes it possible for the farmer to tend to other matters while still taking care of the plants he’s cultivating. The inventor also works to develop tech that simplifies the process of growing seeds as well as harvesting them. The farmer is able to do more using less energy and that is a positive!
With few options of power sources available, a fantasy inventor endeavors to create more or make advancements in the ones already in use. Making better power sources makes it easier for people to work, especially in physically demanding jobs, since they can use them to help them work. They don’t expend as much energy as they did before, meaning they can do other things since they’re not tired.
Transportation is a huge part of the world. It’s how people get around and an inventor works to make it as smooth as possible and reduce the travel time. Advancements in transportation makes it so that people don’t have to leave any earlier than they have to since what they’re using will get them there in less time. This gives them more time with their families and do the things they need to do before departing.
Every occupation brings something to the table that the other don’t and the inventor is no exception. By analyzing a problem and then developing a technological solution, he is able to initiate a sort of drastic change that will affect the world mostly for the better. Through his efforts, people are able to lead more cheerful and fulfilling lives.
Without the fantasy inventor, the world would remain where it is in terms of technological advancements. That means it would never ascend to the next plateau, always being the same. People hundreds, if not thousands, of years later would be leading the exact same lives as their ancestors once did using the exact same technology as they did.
Thus, the inventor’s main role is to act as a force of change against a world that is either willing or unwilling to accept it. The things he creates have the power to alter the course of history, giving people the opportunity to do more using less. People will have more time to spend with their loved ones and do what they’ve long wanted to do but never had the time to do so.
Sure, there will be opposition to what he does, especially among those who stand to lose everything. Sometimes they may succeed in holding back the inevitable tide for a time but eventually that tide will return and be stronger and be more destructive than before, leaving nothing but carnage in its wake. And they will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
With new advancements in technology made by the fantasy inventor comes a frontier of new opportunities. These opportunities will lead to the rise of new industries and companies, leading to more people having the chance to pursue their dreams. All these changes will influence the world in many different ways, both good and bad while preparing people for the advancements in technology to come. And the cycle will repeat again and again.
Without the occupation of the inventor, people would spend the entirety of their lives doing the same thing everyday with no hope of ever believing that they could be doing them differently. They would believe that there’s not more to life than what they already know which would make them unhappy.
Problems riddle imaginary worlds and it’s up to the fantasy inventor to find a solution to at least one of them. In order for him to do that, he needs to approach it from a rational point of view, meaning he needs to apply a logical order. He studies the problem thoroughly and works on several possible solutions. After that, he winnows them down until he reaches the one he believes will do the trick. After some more work, he’ll have perfected the technology and will unveil it to the world.
The lives of people change for the better from the hard work of the inventor. They are able to do more than they could beforehand, thereby gaining them more time that they can put to the best use. They are able to lead happier and more productive lives than before and they won’t have to put in as much hard work as they did prior.
The world is served by having the inventor in that this occupation is one of a few capable of marshaling profound change across it. Whether it’s the automobile or electricity, technological advancements change it in many ways, paving the way for the rise of whole new industries which leads to more jobs for people. More jobs mean more money for more people which will see an increase in their spending habits within the community and the country at large.
Though the occupation of the fantasy inventor might not be necessarily prominent in the story, it is nevertheless integral in the background. Everything your audience sees about the world, whether it’s a steamship or a carriage, was invented by someone who studied a problem and came up with an idea on how to solve it. And that is why you ought to bring it into the world you’re building from the ground up!
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