Royalties
The royalty payments killed us.
As a magician, you know that in order to have an edge, a partnership is required. One needs to make deals. Friends in the shadows. Being that are Not From Here. Demons. Entities. Librarians. Sleight of hand is not enough.
Other planes need to be tapped for power and knowledge.
These extra-dimensional beings have management. There are signed contracts. There are disputes.
There was a strike by these beings in recent years. For two centuries, there was no magic on the Earth.
Humans had been getting away cheap. You see, for the initial outlay of a soul, a firstborn, a sense, a few years of life, etc, a human could be gifted with their greatest dreams or access to powers beyond mortal ken; powers that they could use over and over again.
The beings that brokered the deal would get no richer. It was a bad deal.
It worked in favour of the humans but the power economy of the other planes was suffering.
The strike started in 1790 was settled five years ago. The top five sorcerers from Earth, Donald Trump, Andre the Giant’s cyborg corpse, George Bush, Paula Abdul and the ghost of Jim Henson all banded together to form a human council called the ‘The 9 ½ ‘.
Together, they came to a deal with the twenty-four representatives from the other planes. An entire neutral ground dimension was created to be able to hold that much power.
All parties concerned reached an agreement about royalty payments for magic. No longer would the initial price be enough.
These days, the first payment is negligible. However, every time a human needs access to the source of nefarious or divine power to bend the laws of the universe to their own will, another payment is required.
Another few minutes of one’s life. The ability to see certain colours. The incremental dulling of the sense of touch. A steady shrinking in height. A slice of the soul.
Dying by inches was the price that all powerful magicians paid now. It insured that moderate but steady flow to the other dimensions was guaranteed. It also acted as a power cap on the magicians themselves, forcing them to be responsible with their magic use.
It was a situation that left all parties mutually dissatisfied but got the wheels turning again.
tags
As a magician, you know that in order to have an edge, a partnership is required. One needs to make deals. Friends in the shadows. Being that are Not From Here. Demons. Entities. Librarians. Sleight of hand is not enough.
Other planes need to be tapped for power and knowledge.
These extra-dimensional beings have management. There are signed contracts. There are disputes.
There was a strike by these beings in recent years. For two centuries, there was no magic on the Earth.
Humans had been getting away cheap. You see, for the initial outlay of a soul, a firstborn, a sense, a few years of life, etc, a human could be gifted with their greatest dreams or access to powers beyond mortal ken; powers that they could use over and over again.
The beings that brokered the deal would get no richer. It was a bad deal.
It worked in favour of the humans but the power economy of the other planes was suffering.
The strike started in 1790 was settled five years ago. The top five sorcerers from Earth, Donald Trump, Andre the Giant’s cyborg corpse, George Bush, Paula Abdul and the ghost of Jim Henson all banded together to form a human council called the ‘The 9 ½ ‘.
Together, they came to a deal with the twenty-four representatives from the other planes. An entire neutral ground dimension was created to be able to hold that much power.
All parties concerned reached an agreement about royalty payments for magic. No longer would the initial price be enough.
These days, the first payment is negligible. However, every time a human needs access to the source of nefarious or divine power to bend the laws of the universe to their own will, another payment is required.
Another few minutes of one’s life. The ability to see certain colours. The incremental dulling of the sense of touch. A steady shrinking in height. A slice of the soul.
Dying by inches was the price that all powerful magicians paid now. It insured that moderate but steady flow to the other dimensions was guaranteed. It also acted as a power cap on the magicians themselves, forcing them to be responsible with their magic use.
It was a situation that left all parties mutually dissatisfied but got the wheels turning again.
tags