Licensing Magic, I don’t think they thought this through… Options

[JanessaVR]

The laws surrounding magic are a mish-mash of references spawning multiple editions at this point, so which ones you end up using are kind of like visiting a salad bar. That said, looking over them I definitely see some issues.


The Basics

The most comprehensive reference I’ve found is the old Lone Star sourcebook, pp. 54-59. There are some “Magic and the Law” sections in SR4 Street Magic, pp. 13-14 and SR5 Street Grimoire, pp. 26-27, but they’re more general than specific. So I’m trying to get an idea on what the laws on magic use and mage registration are in at least the major countries of the Sixth World. The following are my comments on various legal components regarding magic that have popped up across the editions.


Licensing Individual Spells

I’m a programmer, and this would be like trying to license every individual program I create. I can always create more, in fact I could create multiple new programs per day if I’m just ripping up old programs for pieces of new ones. Trying to license all of those would be a fool’s errand of the highest order. Regardless of their intentions, I don’t see this requirement lasting very long, especially as there’s absolutely no way to confirm which spells a magician knows.


Limits on Foci Power

How does this make sense? They can’t exactly run your magic wand over a desktop scanner and then proclaim “Yup, that’s a Force 4 Summoning Focus.” The rating scale exists for players, not NPCs in-universe. If they wanted to invent the “Johnson-Smith” rating scale for magic in-universe then that would be different, but so far I see no evidence of that.


Licensing Fees

The Lone Star magic license costs $25k, which is completely ridiculous. Almost every magician would be flouting the law, and the whole point of registration is that you want to know who these people are and keep track of them. If 95% of newly Awakened magicians can’t afford to register, then then you’ve made 95% of all magic-users criminals by default. There’s no way that would stand, as the powers that be want these people under observation and preferably working away in company labs. Charge $2k instead and make them attend a week-long class with a test at the end. If they fail the test, they have to re-take the course and pay another $2k. That’s one month of expenses at Low Lifestyle, so I think it’s a decent pricing guide.


Unannounced Inspections for Registered Magicians

This makes even less sense than the exorbitant licensing fee. They’re actually going to show up at your home at random times and demand to be let inside to search your house? What if you’re not even home at the time? Imagine running out for coffee and coming home to find that the magic police have busted down your door and trashed your house while you were out. “Well, we were looking for contraband, but it looks like you’re good. Have fun repairing all the damage. Let’s go, boys!” I don’t see how this doesn’t result in regular lawsuits and horrible publicity for them. Not to mention, your own security system would be screaming its head off and calling for aid when your door is smashed in with a battering ram. It would certainly be fun if your armed guards showed up to contest their actions.


Black Guardian Vines Change the World for All of the Awakened

I’m honestly surprised anyone bothers with the expense of making special prisons for Awakened criminals. It’s way cheaper to just toss them onto a batch of Black Guardian Vines (SR4 Street Magic, p. 124) where they’ll be rendered permanently mundane in just a few minutes. I have absolutely no idea why something that should have hit the Sixth World with the force of a nuke to the face got literally two sentences and nothing more since then. You’d think every police department would cultivate a cell full of them at every station and just toss every suspect that was even suspected of being Awakened into it for a while right after booking. Solves the problem permanently. In fact, why haven’t nations/areas that aren’t big on magic around the world cultivating this plant everywhere? If they’ve got the legal authority, they could systematically round up all their Awakened and “cleanse them of their demonic taint” in an organized fashion. Whole communities might make it a Coming of Age ritual to go lay down on a patch of vines for the duration of the ceremony, thus ensuring that their communities were kept free of magic. Though the response of the Awakened community would probably be to declare war on these plants and go out of their way to exterminate them across the globe. Either way, their existence changes the world and the issues surrounding them should regularly make the front pages.


Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.