Magic is one of the defining traits of fantasy settings. As such, it is important to know how practitioners interact with each other. This includes people of different skill levels, different casting traditions, casters and non-casters, and legal restrictions.

In terms of how skill level affects interaction, consider first how those levels are recognized. In a school setting, this can be pretty cut and dry. Upper class-men will tend to have more status than freshman. Associate professors will have lower status than full professors. There may be a similar distinction in a guild, with Guild masters having more status than journeymen, who in turn have more status than apprentices. There may be even more rankings, depending on what you want to create. Outside a formal structure, there may be other ways people recognize each others’ skill. This could be based on the type of staff the caster wields, some sort of marking designating mastery, or even word of mouth for those in the know.

These differences can lead to more than simple teacher/student or mentor/apprentice relationships. In formal settings, there could be hazing, traditions or rites that mark the someone’s passage from one level to another, and who enforces the rules and regulations of the organization. In less formal settings, there could be anything from friendly rivalries to full on magic duels to see who has the most powerful spells or esoteric knowledge. Particularly famous spellcasters may have fans, those who simply want to prove their worth, or collaborators in their fields.

Most fantasy settings have different casting traditions. In Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, there are schools of magic (such as evocation, necromancy, and divination) as well as types of magic (such as arcane and divine magics). On Spheryl, I have dozens of Arcana, each representing a different type of magic. Casters from each tradition may not have any issue with one another, but there could be alliances among arcana (such as the Church of Iricil’s school teaching Vitancy and the Church or Morn’s school teaching Divination in Myos), rivalries between the arcana, enmity, or even rival teachings within the arcana (two different schools teaching the same magic style, but differing one which is the better way).

Magic users can wield tremendous and strange powers. The cliche is that this makes them arrogant and dismissive of non-casters and that non-casters fear and distrust most magic users in return. Humanizing casters makes your setting far more interesting, which means that these interactions and feelings should be more complex than that. Perhaps there are certain traditions that people respect (such as healing), others that they fear (such as necromancy), and some where people will attack casters on sight (such as summoning demons). That said, perhaps there is a tradition that would seem beneficial that nevertheless people hate and fear due to something that happened in the past. On Spheryl, the Druids rose up and fought a decade long, multinational war. On most fantasy worlds, Druids are respected or at least tolerated. On my world, they are treated with fear and loathing almost everywhere. Perhaps an area had been wracked by holy wars, so the populace fears all divine magic, no matter the source. Or a benevolent necromancer set up a school where people came from far and wide to learn how to stop the undead menace, so the populace came to accept and even encourage the casting of necromantic spells.

It is very likely that at least some of these interactions have lead to legal ramifications. In Myos, for example, the Treaty of Embers basically gives Druids immunity from the law if they claim it. There may be restrictions on what spells could be cast or taught. Perhaps only sanctioned teachers are allowed to have students, only guild members are allowed to cast at all, or everyone is required to learn some basic spells for the good of society.

Next week, I’ll continue on the Mystic World, building on this foundation to show how to put it together on a societal scale. See you then!