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Who else here comes from a world where people can use magic? Or - not just that, but people able to do things that most other people can't, things most people would think of as...supernatural.
[A pause.]
I suppose what I'm actually asking is, how do your worlds treat those kinds of people? Do they have to live in secret, or does everyone else know ( Read more... )
[A pause.]
I suppose what I'm actually asking is, how do your worlds treat those kinds of people? Do they have to live in secret, or does everyone else know ( Read more... )
From what I know of city politics, they have a sort of... hands off policy. The wizards, by the nature of modern magic on the Disc, conserve their magic, and use it for research within the confines of the University. It's hardly ever used outside of the University on a particularly large scale. The city occasionally calls upon the University to save it from some great danger the Watch can't handle [someone is a little smug and now includes himself in this.] on their own, and the wizards sometimes have to ask the city's permission to do certain levels of magic.
But mostly? The civil authority allows the wizards to do what they like within the university, on the proviso that they use their magic responsibly - that is, where only strictly necessary. Wizards don't really object to this restriction, I believe, because putting more magic in a highly charged atmosphere is highly dangerous, and they have a few policies on restraint being good which I couldn't really explain myself. The wizards can be trusted not to rip the Disc apart and don't fiddle in city politics, and the city is happy with having them there as long as that's the case.
This is all learned by observance. I'd recommend talking to a human from my world for a better explanation, to be honest.
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So they...everyone knows they're there, and sometimes they're asked to help, but usually they just sort of keep themselves to themselves. Do you know if anyone thinks they're too powerful, if anyone's ever tried to get rid of them?
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From what I know of human history - the wizards themselves have judged that some wizard is breaking their policy of minimal use of magic, and stopped him. They've generally been very responsible about that, because they know that the misuse of their magic could potentially destroy the whole Disc in an instant. It's in their interest, as well as everyone else's, to watch themselves closely.
Because if a watchman ever tried to take on a wizard who didn't care if he was using his powers or not? He'd be dust in seconds. Only another wizard could stop him. Which is what happened when one wizard tried to have the Octavo read. He was stopped by other wizards. The Watch and city were powerless to act.
You can't get rid of wizards on a planet that runs on magic, as all it takes to do magic on the Disc is a level of determination, a library worth of books, and an above average, but not entirely sane brain. The magic in the atmosphere, not the people, so essentially, it's an open art to get into. If you're human. Dwarfs don't believe in magic in the same way.
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What do you believe?
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Dwarfs don't practice magic. We don't disbelieve in it, we know it exists, but mastering it is a human art. We have superstitions. A lot of powerful, powerful superstitions. The magical atmosphere on the Disc means that if you believe in something enough, then it will exist. Whether it's a God, or whether a sign you draw on the wall in your dying moments can summon a vengeful curse on your murderer.
If you believe in those superstitions enough to mark them out with conviction, then it will happen. That's the closest we get to magic.
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