History Main / MagicalUnderpinningsOfReality

* ''{{Exalted}}'' has everything -- ''everything'' -- in Creation made out of [[{{Mana}} Essence]], to the point that motonic theory (referring to "motes," the basic unit of Essence) is the setting's equivalent of atomic theory. Sorcery is the setting's equivalent of understanding physics to the point where you can tell them to sit down and shut up. In addition to that, everything in reality, from a single grain of rice to the sun itself, has a god that represents it. Causality is entirely dependent on the Pattern Spiders weaving the Loom of Fate properly.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' has this in spades. Time? Really only exists in the normal world, and even then it gets screwy because it's actually a ''god''. Space? Same thing, really. The Sun? It's just a really big star, and the stars are white holes leading to the realm of magic, created when one god and its followers bailed on creation. The planets are dead gods instead of balls of rock and gas while the moons are the ''pieces'' of a god after the others tore him apart. Gravity, the seasons, and other earthly properties? Caused by the will of the dead spirits that make up the mortal world.

Then there's settings that take it even further. In a world where there are [[TitleDrop Magical Underpinnings Of Reality]], ''everything'' that happens in the world is attributable to a magical force, worker, artifact, or another explanation. Gravity? There's [[OddJobGod a gigantic god]] who is holding the world like a bucket and spinning to create centrifugal force. The stars? They're cute little lightbulb girls that are suspended on a gigantic scaffold. The changing of the seasons? TheFairFolk go about telling the plants to grow, bloom, or sleep. The sun? It's a giant lamp fueled by the laughter of good children, which is gathered by angels, so be good or the sun won't shine!

In short, most or even all the natural world works thanks to magical means. In a weird twist, they may even use industrial or scientific methods like worker shifts of gnomes who [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows paint the leaves for fall]], or machines that manufacture clouds. If this doesn't jive with science as we know it, there may be a {{Masquerade}}, or the magical aspect is only obvious in the MagicLand or SpiritWorld dimension parallel to the mundane world, but is no less important to the natural world. Some stories have the Magical Underpinnings Of Reality act as {{Cosmic Keystone}}s to the mundane world counterparts, so kidnapping the Maiden of Spring effectively stops spring from happening in the mundane world as well.

Compare FantasyKitchenSink. See also WorldOfWeirdness. Can be the result of enough OddJobGods. To populate this world usually requires authors make liberal use of CrossoverCosmology.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' the conflict between the Summer and Winter Courts of the Sidhe have a major impact on the change of the seasons and the overall climate of the planet. Global Warming is attributed to Summer having a slight advantage over the last few decades.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' has this in spades. Time? Really only exists in the normal world, and even then it gets screwy. Space? Same thing, really. The Sun? It's just a really big star, and the stars are white holes leading to the realm of magic, created one god and its followers bailed on creation. The planets are dead gods instead of balls of rock and gas. Gravity, the seasons, and other earthly properties? Caused by the will of the dead spirits that make up the mortal world.

* MyLittlePonyAndFriends: The segment Moondreamers was about little space people (perhaps elves would be the best way to describe them)who were taught how to control the natural laws of the universe by the gods and by laws we mean everything. Their biggest duties were to create stars and collect thoughts from the ocean of unconsciousness and perfect them in order to give children good dreams. They used energy sources as well and those ran on good feelings and were called positrons.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' is loaded with this trope to the nth degree. To the point where the loss of magic is an ecological disaster.

* A truly bizarre example exists in ''Literature/TheHomewardBounders''.

* Literature/CiaphasCain once mentioned the GodEmperor as keeping the galaxy spinning. Though it was a joke, there're probably Imperial cults out there that believe it.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In ''Film/{{Nocturna}}'', the nighttime world invisible to humans, fey beings go about ensuring that everything necessary for a normal (not necessarily "good") night's sleep happens. There's a writing department for dreams (and a cadre of tiny women who deliver and read them to you as you sleep), hair mussers that mess up your hair as you sleep, "composers" of nighttime sounds, and all lights are actually living beings. Stars are immortal doll-like lightbulb women who are suspended from a giant scaffold held aloft by a lighthouse; street lights are firefly-like workers in mining gear.

* In ''{{Magical Legend of the Leprechauns}}'', Trooping Fairies run nature worldwide, they manufacture leaves, make sure snow and spring and rain all take their due course, etc. But a war with the leprechauns distracts them from their duties, and so natural weather patterns worldwide collapse into chaos.

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', many natural phenomena are caused not by physics, but by spren. For example, windspren accompany wind, gravityspren are responsible for bringing things down (or sideways, if you can control them), an ancient spren called Stormfather sends forth the highstorms and the hatespren can create an Everstorm.

** The "Great Wheel" cosmology used in all settings though 2E (see ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''), and in the core game through 3.5, posited that the worlds occupied a "Prime Material Plane", which floated in the "Ethereal Plane" and was composed of substance from the [[ElementalPowers "Inner Planes"]] of four classical elements ([[BlowYouAway air]], [[DishingOutDirt earth]], [[PlayingWithFire fire]] and [[MakingASplash water]]), two forms of energy ([[LightEmUp positive]] and [[{{Necromancer}} negative]]), four "para-elements" formed by the intersection of true elements and eight "quasi-elements" formed by the interaction of primary elements with the two types of energy. There was also either a [[PocketDimension demiplane]] (2E and earlier) or plane (3E and later) of [[CastingAShadow shadow]]. Beyond all this lay the [[AstralProjection "Astral Plane"]] and the [[SpiritWorld "Outer Planes"]], which were based on thought and ideological concepts. Naturally all of these various planes were inherently driven by supernatural laws.

** The "Great Wheel" cosmology used in all settings though 2E (see ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''), and in the core game through 3.5, posited that the worlds occupied a "Prime Material Plane", which floated in the "Ethereal Plane" and was composed substance from the [[ElementalPowers "Inner Planes"]] of four classical elements ([[BlowYouAway air]], [[DishingOutDirt earth]], [[PlayingWithFire fire]] and [[MakingASplash water]]), two forms of energy ([[LightEmUp positive]] and [[{{Necromancer}} negative]]), four "para-elements" formed by the intersection of true elements and eight "quasi-elements" formed by the interaction of primary elements with the two types of energy. There was also either a [[PocketDimension demiplane]] (2E and earlier) or plane (3E and later) of [[CastingAShadow shadow]]. Beyond all this lay the [[AstralProjection "Astral Plane"]] and the [[SpiritWorld "Outer Planes"]], which were based on thought and ideological concepts. Naturally all of these various planes were inherently driven by supernatural laws.

** The ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' setting was based in "the Demiplane of Dread", a small pocket universe floating in the Ethereal Plane, apparently created and maintained by the mysterious "Dark Powers" as a holding pen for interesting evil beings. While some scientific laws were seemingly reliable, allowing for advancement up to roughly 18th Century technology in some Domains, these were always at the discretion of the Dark Powers, as was the behavior of magic.

** The "Great Wheel" cosmology used in all settings though 2E (see ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''), and in the core game through 3.5, posited that the worlds occupied a "Prime Material Plane", which floated in the "Ethereal Plane" and was composed substance from the [[ElementalPowers "Inner Planes"]] of four classical elements (air, earth, fire and water), two forms of energy (positive and negative), four "para-elements" formed by the intersection of true elements and eight "quasi-elements" formed by the interaction of primary elements with the two types of energy. Beyond all this lay the [[AstralProjection "Astral Plane"]] and the [[SpiritWorld "Outer Planes"]], which were based on thought and ideological concepts. Naturally all of these various planes were inherently driven by supernatural laws.

* A number of campaign worlds in the DungeonsAndDragons game have varying levels of this.
** The "Great Wheel" cosmology used in all settings though 2E (see ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''), and in the core game through 3.5, posited that the worlds occupied a "Prime Material Plane", which floated in the "Ethereal Plane" and was composed substance from the "Inner Planes" of four classical elements (air, earth, fire and water), two forms of energy (positive and negative), four "para-elements" formed by the intersection of true elements and eight "quasi-elements" formed by the interaction of primary elements with the two types of energy. Beyond all this lay the "Astral Plane" and the "Outer Planes", which were based on thought and ideological concepts. Naturally all of these various planes were inherently driven by supernatural laws.

** The "Great Wheel" cosmology used in all settings though 2E, and in the core game through 3.5, posited that the worlds occupied a "Prime Material Plane", which floated in the "Ethereal Plane" and was composed substance from the "Inner Planes" of four classical elements (air, earth, fire and water), two forms of energy (positive and negative), four "para-elements" formed by the intersection of true elements and eight "quasi-elements" formed by the interaction of primary elements with the two types of energy. Beyond all this lay the "Astral Plane" and the "Outer Planes", which were based on thought and ideological concepts. Naturally all of these various planes were inherently driven by supernatural laws.

* [[DoctorWho The Whoniverse]] ''used'' to be like this, until the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Time]] [[HumanoidAbomination Lords]] exorcised magic and irrationality from the universe.

* In ''TheDresdenFiles'' the conflict between the Summer and Winter Courts of the Sidhe have a major impact on the change of the seasons and the overall climate of the planet. Global Warming is attributed to Summer having a slight advantage over the last few decades.

* In ''ZanZarah'', everything in the eponymous AnotherDimension is powered by faeries (small magical mostly non-sentient creatures): stone faeries hold mountains together, nature ones make trees grow, water ones keep rivers flowing, etc., etc.

** [[TricksterArchetype Coyote]] has elaborated in Chapter 39: The Great Secret. [[spoiler: The minds of the dead affect how the world of ether works. The world the Moddey-Dhoo was referring to was his own. Mythical beings were myths first, [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve then became real in the ether]], though Coyote asserts that [[LogicBomb he does not actually exist]]]].

Then there's settings that take it even further. In a world where there are MagicalUnderpinningsOfReality, ''everything'' that happens in the world is attributable to a magical force, worker, artifact, or another explanation. Gravity? There's [[OddJobGod a gigantic god]] who is holding the world like a bucket and spinning to create centrifugal force. The stars? They're cute little lightbulb girls that are suspended on a gigantic scaffold. The changing of the seasons? TheFairFolk go about telling the plants to grow, bloom, or sleep. The sun? It's a giant lamp fueled by the laughter of good children, which is gathered by angels, so be good or the sun won't shine!

In short, most or even all the natural world works thanks to magical means. In a weird twist, they may even use industrial or scientific methods like worker shifts of gnomes who [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows paint the leaves for fall]], or machines that manufacture clouds. If this doesn't jive with science as we know it, there may be a {{Masquerade}}, or the magical aspect is only obvious in the MagicLand or SpiritWorld dimension parallel to the mundane world, but is no less important to the natural world. Some stories have the MagicalUnderpinningsOfReality act as {{Cosmic Keystone}}s to the real world counterparts, so kidnapping the Maiden of Spring effectively stops spring from happening in the real world as well.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' is loaded with this trope to the nth degree.

Compare FantasyKitchenSink. See also PlanetEris. Can be the result of enough OddJobGods. To populate this world usually requires authors make liberal use of CrossoverCosmology.

* TomHolt's novel ''Here Comes The Sun'' is about a group of grumpy and [[CelestialBureaucracy bureaucratic]] beings responsible for ensuring the sun rises and the Nile delta floods and so on.