Mecha in Fantasy

It's a good thing that I write without outlines. Otherwise, I'd be screwed with having so little firmly down. ^_^

However, I've seized upon the idea for something slightly different in fantasy, or at least something I haven't seen much: to combine the concept of the large controlled bipedal warmachine into what is a recognizably fantasy setting. It's arguable that Gundam and its spinoffs are more fantasy than science fiction, but I'd like to do it with castles and possibly dragons and magic and countermagic.

Long-winded essay which is me mostly getting my thoughts organized before I go to bed follows. Skip past if you just want the questions.

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The circumstances that have set up the dominance of the "warmount" in the planet's modern combat are as follows:

-- Magic is regulated through the Binding, an explanation of the entire universe and how to change it in symbols that represent a given universal truth. Each symbol is scribed and infused with power, and will stay on the Bound item for as long as it survives. Hence,

-- Bound items tend to progress towards more powerful, not less powerful. A sword that is a thousand years old has probably been tinkered with and improved over the course of countless sessions and a dozen Binders, but one forged yesterday can only be modestly good, if even Bound at all, since it's a process that requires time and specialized training. The Binding favors order and slow progression of building up of things; it is this tendency that directly counters the "chaos made incarnate" that is magic. (And, incidentally, why free sorcerers are such a menace -- they get all the power NOW, not after a week of building up)

-- This tendency also means that direct-assault magic, the kind where you wave your hand and fireball a dozen men, just doesn't happen. The closest that the most skilled combat casters can do is Bind a piece of armor or a weapon on the fly. If you want to hurt someone directly with magic, you build a device that will project energy, not throw it yourself. Again, if you're a free sorcerer, you can do the fireball thing, but chances are you'll be hanged in your youth.

-- The Binding respects the laws of conservation. Hence, the power for something very complicated (for instance, an aforementioned energy projector or flaming sword) MUST come itself come from other Bindings that will draw power from a renewable source. Therefore, a certain mass of an object and certain capacity for having a lot of runes Bound into it is necessary for the most powerful stuff.

-- Taking all of the above into account means that over time, the tendency of warfare will shift to favor the side with the most powerful toys. One soldier in an ancient suit of unstoppable Bound armor simply cannot be opposed by a squad of mundane pikemen -- you have to trot out, at the least, some sort of Bound weapon to nullify part of the power or cripple the armor. The escalating 'arms race' of Bound items would lead to a small, elite armed forces and a high demand for Bound gear, equipment that is almost guaranteed to outlast its soldier.

-- In time, these Bound suits would be built up, and improved, and enlarged, until you have what is a construct in its own right, controlled completely by Bindings that tap into thought and with the "wearer" more a pilot, cocooned away in a protective compartment in the chest to give complete protection from harm. And then you have the birth of something that's much more than a suit of armor. The first true Warmounts are born.

-- Their dominance in battle leads military planners to realize that they can cut out a lot of the middle stages and start designing and Binding at the optimum size to begin with -- large enough to be intimidating and powerful enough to swing a hideously large weapon, but small and nimble enough to take full advantage of a direct interface with the user. As it is with most Bound gear, the Ancient Warmounts remain the pinnacle of their craft, machines that glow with runes and flow with more grace than a trained dancer. Peasant levies and millita still exist, but they're mostly for keeping the peace -- the Warmount pilots and their constructs dominate the battlefield in times of greater conflict, rendering armed combat a series of large-scale 'Mount duels that glorify the ideal of the knight.

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Granted, none of this will show up directly as an infodump, but pick it apart -- I'd like to have a solid background so that I'm not just writing mecha in fantasy because it's cool, but instead as a logical extension of a universe where it makes sense.

So, my further questions to you all:

1. Have you ever read / written about anything putting 'Mechs in a fantasy setting? How did it go? What were your likes and dislikes?

2. Is there anything that you think I should avoid as being 'too sci-fi' in my Warmounts, something that would break the sense that it's a fantasy story at heart? In addition, is there anything nifty that you think would be a neat addition?

3. Got any ideas for social conventions and the like that could go along with this, and that I can shamelessly steal from you at the eleventh hour? ^_^
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NaNo 2007: A Conspiracy of Ravens
[A soldier awakes on the battlefield, and lives when the enemy counted on her to die. Now, she must marshal allies of all stripes to preserve her House, her land and her sanity.]