a fragment - and the first Ricky Attanasio-related bit of writing in two years

[fpb]

One of the most enormous clashes of egos in the wizarding world took place in Milan in 1927. The most extraordinary fact about it is that nobody got killed; although there certainly were victors and losers - in fact, it might be said that they had been there before the clash ever happened

Comments

[arhyalon]

Absolutely delightful!

[fpb]

Thanks.

[inverarity]

Interesting world-building. The balloons-pulled-by-birds is definitely an image from the predecessors of modern sci-fi/fantasy. I'm interested in the political boundaries -- something I hint at in AQ, but I have not (and probably will not) every draw a precise map of the Confederation and its Territorial boundaries. You seem to have wizarding Ministries closely conforming to Muggle national boundaries -- do you imagine some Ministries overlapping multiple Muggle countries, or conversely, some countries having several wizarding "nations" within them?

[fpb]

I'd worked out a whole recent history in my fic The Hammering, to which I refer you. This is not exactly the same,but my concept is that ministries begin and are centrally the instruments of contact between Muggle and human world, and so must conform. That being the case, Ministries would alter their borders according to Muggle evolution - I hinted here that wizarding Italians were by no means happy about the unification of 1861. Also, where there are aggressive and expansionist Ministries, they would end their wars and their subversions not by territorial conquest but by putting their men in charge of defeated Ministries and making them satellites - that is what the Swiss feared that Berlin would do both to them and to the Italians.

WHOOOOOOOPSS!!!

[fpb]

Line two: "...between Muggle and Wizarding world..."

[fpb]

Thank you. Well, that is something we may have to talk about - remind me, what IM are you on?