knowledge engineering and the arcanist can drive the train?

[Rothlis]

With the release of the ultimate combat book you added the gunslinger and with it a nice list of firearms. You also released a small list of vehicles which I like. It brings some realism to the game. I can't help but feel perplexed when the knowledge engineering skill was not errataed to compensate for the bump in technology. To also include identifing firearms, seige engines, steam engines. Again another vexing ruling to have alchemy and arcane be interchangeable when in real life (I know its a fantasy game but really) they considered different. The first steam engine was patented in 1605 by a military ENGINEER is to be controlled by an alchamist or an all powerful arcane caster (that imo need no more advantages) that have arcana on their skill list. A player with the engineeriing skill can't do the same for a steam engine is confusing to me. Please explain this for me. (and yes I know that in that weird rpg way that getting this reaction is alchemical in nature. I find it odd that mundane people can't do extraordinary things.)

Have read meassage boards and this is the thing that gets me to post.

Any clear concise answer will be geeted with open arms

[Analysis]

In my opinion, a fantasy world operates under different natural laws than the world we know. Knowledge: Arcana literally is its physics equivalent, and Craft: Alchemy its chemistry equivalent. Separating technology and magic in that context jars me, personally. As such, Knowledge: Architecture and Engineering is about building physical things using relatively simple mechanisms. You would use it to build the reactor for your magical floating fortress, as well as for the overall layout and structure, but the processes that empower them are Knowledge: Arcana territory.

As for real-world alchemy, the things that people historically considered alchemy were fairly close to what they considered magic or even religion. Eventually, chemistry emerged from it. I am not a historian of science, though, so I am not so clear on the details. PF alchemy seems more like science, in the context of a magical world. Note that the Alchemist class explicitly states that the things they do are _not_ merely the result of mixing reagents, but that their magical power also imbues the mixtures to cause results.