Culture and the Fantastical: a Discourse on Magic and Society

[KnejaTurch]

Good Evening playgrounders!
So I am fleshing out the behaviors of the citizens of my campaign world. The primary country is Aeternus, most of the campaign takes place in Aeternus City, the City of Magic. I have come to you asking for yo
ur assistance in developing cultural tendencies for a high-magic setting ruled by wizards.

Real-World Example: the Handshake originated from the need to know whether the man you are inviting into your home has a weapon on him, because of your concern for your and your family's safety.

My Example: chewing your fingernails, bleeding, cutting off hair/dead skin is socially unacceptable for the simple reason that so many spells and extraordinary effects can be enabled or strengthened by possessing part of the target.

Also this society is cool with psionics and divine magic and its steamwork machines, but the region we're in focuses more on Arcane Magic, other then that:

Go crazy, Playgrounders! All replies appreciated!

[Yanagi]

Good Evening playgrounders!
So I am fleshing out the behaviors of the citizens of my campaign world. The primary country is Aeternus, most of the campaign takes place in Aeternus City, the City of Magic. I have come to you asking for yo
ur assistance in developing cultural tendencies for a high-magic setting ruled by wizards.

Real-World Example: the Handshake originated from the need to know whether the man you are inviting into your home has a weapon on him, because of your concern for your and your family's safety.

My Example: chewing your fingernails, bleeding, cutting off hair/dead skin is socially unacceptable for the simple reason that so many spells and extraordinary effects can be enabled or strengthened by possessing part of the target.

Also this society is cool with psionics and divine magic and its steamwork machines, but the region we're in focuses more on Arcane Magic, other then that:

Go crazy, Playgrounders! All replies appreciated!

Scrying...and Divination more generally are going to have a dramatic impact on how people interact. You've already hit on component with the blood/hair/skin thing...but think bigger.

- If you don't really know someone enough to trust them, would you let them touch or brush against you, even casually? After all, that's an opening to grab a hair or thread or something that could be used in a spell. There's also the fact that touch is a known medium for conducting spells, which redoubles the threat possiblity inherent in contact with strangers.

In a similar vein, who you allow into your private space--be it your room or your house--is going to be a more fraught proposition...hinging not only on the "personal item" divination trick, but also how familiarity with a location aids both scrying and teleportation.

I could imagine a material cultural response like overclothes--gloves, a shawl--worn in public settings--as well as something akin to the Victorian parlor culture...a space that inside one's house, yet is really a liminal space where guests remain until they're approved to enter the "real house."

But there'd also be a more basic human aspect: cross-culturally, people have different comfort levels with physical closeness--whether we realize it or not, we have a "comfortable" range at which we stand away from people as we speak, and feel weird if someone stands closer or farther than that range (Edward T Hall, The Silent Language)--and it varies from group to group, and has a bunch of individual variables relating to interpersonal closeness and intimacy. Given all of the fear of touch, your wizard culture would have people primed to monitor the possibility of accidental contact, and thus very aware of physical space...and thus likely standing far apart when speaking, gesturing very little when speaking (to avoid being accused of initiating contact), avoiding PDA. Even little stuff, like spacing of seats and tables in public areas, would be affected. It would also be part of the cultural understanding of spatial relations that you could measure the emotional closeness of people by (public) physical closeness, which is the sort of concept you'd find worming its way into descriptive language and idioms, and potentially being echoed in artistic forms like plays or visual arts.

[DodgerH2O]

As mentioned by the above poster, I'd go with a "Victorian" flavor. Some sort of head-to-toe covering when out and about, lots of personal space. Probably any high society events would hire out illusionists so that one could "mingle" without risk to oneself.

Actually, neat idea, it would cost a lot, but some sort of magical item (mirror maybe) based off scrying and illusion that allows the wealthy to "go out in public" without ever leaving the privacy of their home.

Depending on the level of magical sophistication, there might be a cultural demand for *real* objects, those not crafted magically. Anything flashy that sticks around when you try to dispel it would be prized.

Abjurers are likely to take the place of bodyguards. I don't know how you're thinking but I can imagine a Guild type setup, known for discretion and loyalty and trained from youth. Perhaps even trained for martial talent and focused spellcasting, only counterspells and protection.

Pets would be... interesting. Why have a dog when you can have a permanently reduced Displacer beast?

[paddyfool]

Real world example
As manufacturing methods have become more automated, mass transit more efficient etc., the costs of manufactured goods have fallen. Later, as software has developed, the value of virtual goods has risen.

Setting example
With hordes of unseen servants to till fields, dig mines, etc., and other planes to plunder for rarities, the only commodities worth anything are newly researched spells and spell methods. And tuition fees, which are extortionate.

[Wyntonian]

One such concept that I saw in a book by Orson Scott Card was a man carrying some bread home, and a witch-woman using the tiny bits of sweat and skin on it to send him a dream that told him/forced him to come to her.

Setting Example: Gloves are important socially to prevent one's skin or other microscopic parts being recovered and used as a spell component.

[Zeta Kai]

Setting Example: Gloves are important socially to prevent one's skin or other microscopic parts being recovered and used as a spell component.

Seconded. The only people that would not have gloves would be the extremely poor, the mad, &/or the foolhardy, who would be pariahs. The emphasis on gloves & other bodily coverings would be such that the fashion of them would be ever-evolving, & the wealthy would have many pairs. They would often be ornate, & made of many different materials. Scarves & head wraps would be commonplace, as well.

While people would maintain a large personal space, they would be extremely polite to one another (at least in public). One would never know who would possess great magical power, & so they would be careful not to offend anyone. The mage you slighted today would be the one who might bury you tomorrow, as they say. Social interactions would be highly ritualized, with codified greetings & rote pleasantries. Anyone who failed to follow the strictures of etiquette would be forgiven for their faux pas, of course, but it would be privately noted that they were Uneducated or, worse, Outsiders.

[Yanagi]

Okay, funny one:

The society's going to have to have a legal structure that deals with property ownership and inheritance in a world where Raise Dead and Resurrection are possible.

A wealthy adventurer dies far from home: his assets transfer to his siblings. He's resurrected by his party a few months afterward--whose assets are they now? Second version: two years down the road, the doughty cleric of his party turns up with his jawbone and requests five thousand gold pieces to conduct a Raise Dead. The family says no...and then it goes to court.

Then layer in sapient undeath. You're uncles now a lich living in a dungeon--is he dead, and do you get the house by the ocean?

Then add in removal and transfer of a soul from body to body--legally dead?
And so it goes.

Basically, the society would have to have laws about what "dead" is, and potentially many categories of dead, and establish by what criterion is death final such that a probate process occurs.

[DodgerH2O]

Is there contraception magic? With the value of human labor so low due to enchantments and constructs, the need for a servant class most likely declines. If such spells exist, are they "hedge magic" known by most everyone or are they specialized and costly? If the ability to choose when to bear children is limited to the upper class, it will lead towards a far more stratified society, especially since a glut of unschooled laborers will further push down the wages of those who are fortunate enough to find work.

[Pokonic]

If people tend to not be very trusting of there fellow man, whether for utterly sound reasons or due to outright distrust, inteligent constructs would be prized servents. Due to almost never having true free will and are utterly loyal to its maker, they could serve as greeters and servents to the older crowd of mages that prefer visable servents. Unseen servents are fine, but a Golem or warforged can provide a way to interact with another being and not worry about being killed by a delayed fireball spell in your sleep.

[KnejaTurch]

Abjurers are likely to take the place of bodyguards. I don't know how you're thinking but I can imagine a Guild type setup, known for discretion and loyalty and trained from youth. Perhaps even trained for martial talent and focused spellcasting, only counterspells and protection.

All the specialist wizards in the City (and by extension the country) belong to one of the Eight towers of Magic (that is, Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation) or the Government (that is, the Big-brother-like Præsidium Tower, and its departments, the Subpræsidii Æris, Aquar, Ignis, and Terram) and every profession and vocation falls under the purview of one of these thirteen towers. In this case you were spot on, the College of Abjuration operates the Army, the anti-wizard Witch Hunters, the building of walls and the protection of people deemed important by the state.


Setting Example: Gloves are important socially to prevent one's skin or other microscopic parts being recovered and used as a spell component

Wonderful Idea. Simply brilliant.


The mage you slighted today would be the one who might bury you tomorrow, as they say. Social interactions would be highly ritualized, with codified greetings & rote pleasantries. Anyone who failed to follow the strictures of etiquette would be forgiven for their faux pas, of course, but it would be privately noted that they were Uneducated or, worse, Outsiders.

In my setting, I've characterized all the Wizards as wearing the robes and colors of their associated tower. The laws are highly stacked against the common man, and strict laws (the Antimagic Brand) are in place to prevent wanton wizardly violence, if only for order's sake.


A wealthy adventurer dies far from home: his assets transfer to his siblings. He's resurrected by his party a few months afterward--whose assets are they now?

I've never really thought about this kind of scenario before. I'm going to go ahead and say that this society would say that the assets revert to whoever owned them originally. But thats really vague. Help with this?


Second version: two years down the road, the doughty cleric of his party turns up with his jawbone and requests five thousand gold pieces to conduct a Raise Dead. The family says no...and then it goes to court.

If the Cleric is of high standing with the wizards, and the Family was a common one, the cleric would be allowed to raise him. I think. Thats iffy, Help with this?


Then layer in sapient undeath. You're uncles now a lich living in a dungeon--is he dead, and do you get the house by the ocean?

This society allows you to enlist to become a zombie after your death, in the event that the armed forces needs cheap labor or defense. It's a bit like becoming an organ donor. The Tower of Necromancy in my setting is LN, with very high regard for both life and death. Theyre less "evil creepy necromancers" and more like "Those nice men who smell like dirt who make me my healing potions" (As i have house ruled Conjuration(Healing) Spells can be cast by a specifically trained Necromancer as Necromancy(Healing) spells). They're cool with Lichdom, Crucimigration, the whole deal.


inteligent constructs would be prized servents

They have a social stigmata against most intelligent constructs, due to a social upheaval 70+ years ago which was basically like 1960s Civil rights with blacks warforged. They maintain an uneasy truce except for the Tower of Transmutation, who accept them as free citizens.


Great ideas everyone! All Replies Appreciated!

[gkathellar]

I've never really thought about this kind of scenario before. I'm going to go ahead and say that this society would say that the assets revert to whoever owned them originally. But thats really vague. Help with this?

How you would handle this in a given setting may differ, but Law and the Multiverse did an article on how it would work out under United States law. (http://lawandthemultiverse.com/2010/12/05/im-not-dead-yet-resurrection-and-probate-law/)


In this case you were spot on, the College of Abjuration operates the Army, the anti-wizard Witch Hunters, the building of walls and the protection of people deemed important by the state.

Emphasis mine. This makes absolutely no sense — you would have transmuters or conjurers do that.

[Zeta Kai]

Emphasis mine. This makes absolutely no sense — you would have transmuters or conjurers do that.

Also, what's the point of a wall when you live in a world where people can easily fly, teleport, &/or travel ethereally?

[KnejaTurch]

Also, what's the point of a wall when you live in a world where people can easily fly, teleport, &/or travel ethereally?

My bad. I was unclear on this one. In this specific scenario, the Transmuters and Conjurers did make the walls, but the Abjurers reinforce them at key points with Walls of Force. Also, automated Ballistas that shoot anything that is unauthorized from flying over the walls. And for tunnelling, underground Walls of Force. Also one of the Omnimentals from MM3 or 4 lives above the city and is allied with them.

[BarroomBard]

I'm going to go ahead and say that this society would say that the assets revert to whoever owned them originally. But thats really vague.

This would likely cause problems, and discourage adventuring. If any loot you accumulate in your lifetime reverts to its original owner when you die, why risk your life for wealth? And if the wealth reverts back to you if you get resurrected, what's to stop people raising you quickly as a zombie, or polymorphing into you?

[KnejaTurch]

This would likely cause problems, and discourage adventuring. If any loot you accumulate in your lifetime reverts to its original owner when you die, why risk your life for wealth? And if the wealth reverts back to you if you get resurrected, what's to stop people raising you quickly as a zombie, or polymorphing into you?

This is very true. I don't know. Help with This?

[Eldest]

Have a very codified system for dealing with heirs, living wills, etc. Maybe you get x percent of what you earned in your life (not inherited, earned). And then you keep that in your tomb with your body. So if you come back, you can get to it easily. But if you don't come back after a set period of time, it's finder's keepers.

[Valwyn]

It depends on how advanced the wizards are and how much control the goverment/towers have over them, but here's a few things:

* People will probably be paranoid, as others pointed out. Magic items that protect you or make you immune to magical effects will probably be common (though not necesarily cheap).

* Enchanters might be shunned because you can't make sure that they aren't manipulating you (particularly if they have Silent and Still Spell).

* People will normally cover their walls with lead (or maybe use lead-based paint) to stop divinations.

* Casters will need a special permision to learn instant death spells (Finger of Death, Wail of the Banshee, etc) and Disintegrate.

* See Invisibility, True Seeing and the like will be popular because of possible Invisible/disguised people.

* There might be a guild of Mage-Slayers (abjurers, assassins, shadow dancers, high level monks with Spell Resistance, drow, rakshasa, etc).

* Certain spells will only be taught to certain people (or be forbbiden). Possible spells include: Invisibility and variants, Knock (thieve's friends), Limited and regular Wish, Disintegrate, all of instant death, Dominate Person/Monster, Sleep and variants (good for insomnia, even better for dealing with guards), Etherealness, etc. Basically any spell that can potentially be used for murder (you can survive a Fireball, but not Disintegrate) or illegal activities (stealing, kidnapping, forcing people to do something, etc).

* They might have developed special wards against Teleport and scrying (think of a non-epic Cloister).

* Sentinent undeath (liches and the like) may be legal or not, but they can cause lots of trouble. Not only because of the "dead but not really" technicalities, but if they're legal, wouldn't many people (particularly nobles) want to turn into one? What about inheritances and heirs? What about jobs? Liches don't die, don't get sick, don't get tired nor need breaks. Plus, they're smarter and more powerful than regular people, so who would hire a fleshy wizard if a skeleton is more convinient? Younger/Living people might even be unable to find jobs if lichdom is popular (unless they hire a some paladins and/or clerics to get rid of them, though that might be murder... er- unmurder? :smallconfused:).

[KnejaTurch]

* Enchanters might be shunned because you can't make sure that they aren't manipulating you (particularly if they have Silent and Still Spell).

Enchanters deal with Foreign Relations :smallwink:, and are required to wear their tower robes when dealing with nonwizards.



* People will normally cover their walls with lead (or maybe use lead-based paint) to stop divinations.


Excellent Idea. Hadn't thought of that.

[Carecalmo]

Part of the problem with sentient Undead can be avoided by lessening the sentience of the undeadified. In many stories, liches are "frozen" at the time of achieving their undeath - they become unable to see beyond the scope of what drove them to becoming liches. This gives birth to all those spiteful, living hating, death-fearing examples we all know and love.
In this way, lichdom becomes nothing but a last resort for a deranged mind. Of course, it also makes room for some powerfully altruistic magic-users to give up their soul and afterlife for the sake of protecting the city.

I imagine banks, courts and everywhere identity needs to be ascertained being under a zone of truth-like spell or, possibly, true seeing/illusion-dispelling stuff.
The goblin bank of the Harry Potter series sports a waterfall that dispels all magicks on a person passing under it.
I guess that a lot of effort would go into making some specific magic-free zones - especially if the nobility of the city is less magicians and more knights and merchants.

[Recherché]

There should probably be some kind of well understood signals that a location is lead shielded, an antimagic zone, zone of truth, zone of silence or whatnot. Maybe have such areas be painted a specific color or such. I do think that the wealthy if not everyone would build thin sheets of lead into their walls for privacy.
Important meetings would likely take place either in a zone of truth (for obvious reasons) or an antimagic field (ensuring both sides safety.)
I could also see giving a lock of your hair to someone (such as a relative, close friend, or romantic interest) so that they can always find/contact you, as being an ultimate expression of trust.

[FunnyMattress]

This is very true. I don't know. Help with This?

Ahem. If I might point you towards the webcomic Girl Genius (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/), they have a satisfactory (at least in my humble opinion) solution to the thorny problem of inheritance. Long story short, when you die, everything goes to your next of kin, person you specify in a will, etc. Now, if you get brought back...nothing changes. They still have it. You're short a vault, title, what-have-you.

Now, this would discourage adventuring, which is not something we want. So a variation on Eldest's idea might work well. Say, perhaps, that dead parties have a year and a day to present themselves before a court, or their estate is divided as per their will.

[tigerusthegreat]

Depends on how you want your magic to work.

Typically, magic is thought to work on the concepts of Contagion and Similarity.

Contagion is the magical connection created when two things are in contact, even briefly. Examples of this are clothes or parts of a person's body (fingernails, hair, etc) the discarded remnants of a meal (a real-world example, as King's discarded meals were often burned or buried) a person's house or place they frequent, a familiar or pet, a family member or parent...the list goes on.

Similarity is the magical connection created by two things being similar. Sauron's One Ring has power over other Rings because of its similarity, and this is the operating principle behind voodoo dolls. You create a magical connection because you have a focus that is similar in some way to your target. This makes twins dangerous (for example, you could have the younger twin always being killed in your setting, except a twin survives somehow as a plot hook).

Using those two, you could create all sorts of crazy rituals and superstitions.

[Sir Swindle89]

In a society where resurection is common any one with the foresight to have a will would have the forsight to think about resurection/undeath. Since the society seems rather "undeathly progressive" we'll assume they are legally the same for now.

Using these assumptions one could figure all proper wills would have a post post (yes 2 posts) mortem clause, specifying what happens to their wealth in their life after death. Many would probably have savings set aside for them just in case specified to be released a certain period after death. Many may also specify that their assests be liquidated to pay for a resurection, although it might be viewed as selfish to do so.

Now there would likly be some sort of general law to govern those that died (and undied) without a will as there are today, and those may swing what ever way you want. But I do think specifications in one's will would be the commonplace solution.

[Eldest]

Many may also specify that their assests be liquidated to pay for a resurection, although it might be viewed as selfish to do so.

THAT is how the society doesn't have problems with the rich living really long, it's thought of as selfish to deny others the chance. That doesn't mean that it never happens, but it's rarer than you would think and it also solves the problem with immortal undead overrunning the world. Social mores are a powerful thing.

[Sir Swindle89]

Social mores are a powerful thing.

That change and evolve over time... unless you have immortal undead in charge :smallwink:

[Eldan]

For undead, I could also see Planescape's Dustman method:
The poor can sell their corpses (once the soul is safely departed), to be awakened as a mind- and soulless undead, for simple physical labour. 50 copper pieces for a ten year service as a zombie pushing carts.

Another thing I just thought of: room familiarity.

To make Scry-and-Die tactics difficult, rooms will be decorated to look as similar to one another as possible, without distinguishing marks. Aristocrats often leave many rooms in their houses entirely empty, with furniture only brought in when necessary, then moved out (or magic-ed away) again. Personal effects are to be stored in closed, lead-lined chests, instead of leaving them standing around, where they could serve as a teleport homing signal.

[KnejaTurch]

For undead, I could also see Planescape's Dustman method:
The poor can sell their corpses (once the soul is safely departed), to be awakened as a mind- and soulless undead, for simple physical labour. 50 copper pieces for a ten year service as a zombie pushing carts.

So maybe a system where you sign up to be reanimated as a mindless undead, in case the city needs protection or labor, kind of like becoming an organ donor.




Another thing I just thought of: room familiarity.

To make Scry-and-Die tactics difficult, rooms will be decorated to look as similar to one another as possible, without distinguishing marks. Aristocrats often leave many rooms in their houses entirely empty, with furniture only brought in when necessary, then moved out (or magic-ed away) again. Personal effects are to be stored in closed, lead-lined chests, instead of leaving them standing around, where they could serve as a teleport homing signal.

Excellent Idea.