It ' s lore , also esthetic . Imo it ' s classed as what its creator deems it to be . Now for theme in general I like the subscribe to the Arcanum Of steamworks and magical obscura model . Where magic is an oposing force to technology . Essentially in this world magic is the use of pure will to subvert the laws of nature . Electric current follows the shortest path to a ground ? Fuck you nature ! Im an electomancer im shooting an arc of lightning at that bird ! Technology however like IRL leverages but follows the laws of nature strictly . So essentially IMO a magic mod is determined by its features depicting the subversion of the laws of nature , lighting coming from ones hands , fireballs , enchanting things that would seem impossible . Tech is the depiction of systems that could exist sort of in rl that appear to leverage things technology would leverage . Also stuff designated sci fi . To me it ' s just an esthetic .