• NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
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    4 days ago

    Combustion is very old technology. Putting it inside a different machine (e.g. a gun or a car engine) doesn’t change the chemistry. If you want to get right down to it, we’re just talking about oxidation - which means that in any sort of world where rapid oxidation doesn’t work (i.e. explosives), your lungs also don’t work because you need that oxygen bonding with the iron in your hemoglobin or you die.

    If you can light a fire, you can make an explosion. If you can make an explosion, you can use it to launch a projectile.

    There’s no world in which fire exists but guns are impossible. Even if you don’t have the metalworking sophistication for a modern gun, you could still make a Chinese-style gunpowder rocket.

    • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      Or just straight up bombs. The beauty is that an IED can catch even a master wizard off guard. No need for metalworking, and since they use cars, well… surely there is some character with Irish roots, right?

    • Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works
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      4 days ago

      This is a world with flying broomsticks and cars, teleportation, and even time travel.

      Of course you can get away with saying gunpowder just doesn’t explode here.

      • icelimit@lemmy.ml
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        4 days ago

        Gunpowder is just fire propagating at the speed of sound through solid (powder). As long as sound exists, the magical world can’t contain the angry dust.