It felt unbalanced to me, giving the other magical species their own unique talents plus access to all the magic of the wizards. It would mean humans had no magical talents that were purely their own.

Further, if these other species could use the same wand magic as wizards, plus their own natural talents, it would make absolutely no sense that the wizards were on top.

 

Only humans can legally use them. Only humans have the knowledge of how to use them. Only humans have been taught to use them. There's no need to contradict canon, because canon has no other species using wands. Unless you count part-goblins, veelas, or giants.

Why arbitrarily place a restriction that's already effectively in place?

At least some of the goblin wars were caused by restrictions on non-human wand use. By making up this rule, you're literally rewriting history.

 

Like all of the other things in HP canon that make perfect sense?

If you're going to write a framework for fanon, it really ought to at least convene to canon.

 

As I noted in the document, it contradicts canon. You're not telling me anything new when you inform me of this fact. I feel it makes for a superior world. You may disagree.

Well, I also "fixed" the numbers issue, and attempted to address why no other country intervened in the UK civil war. These three things are, I think, the biggest problems with canon.

 

It seems to me that a consequence of Magic-16 would be that the dodging, blocking, and deflecting of spells becomes exceptionally difficult, especially if the caster is highly skilled (and has internalized wand movements and incantations). This would hold true during confrontations between powerful wizards, even if they were evenly matched.


A tangentially related point concerns the relative power of magic versus muggle weapons. I didn't see it mentioned in the document, but I would presume that you (Taure) would consider competently wielded wizardry to be more dangerous than for example a gun in the hand of a master marksman. If not, I don't think it would be unreasonable if wizards knowledgeable of the muggle world would teach themselves how to handle firearms, or even try to enchant muggle weapons to perform even better.


Now, if such magic-punk is to be avoided, then wand magic must be better in almost every regard. In which case advanced practitioners of magic would have to be capable of casting their spells as quickly or quicker than a gunman would be able to shoot. If this is true, shielding/blocking/deflection becomes even more unfeasible in my mind. Long duels would be extremely rare. Would I be wrong in concluding this if the destructive potential of wizardry is greater than that of muggle weaponry?

 

Well, dodging does become difficult, yes, and that was the main intention. It's not impossible though, and we see it several times during canon. The key is to start dodging/blocking etc. before the spell is finished. That's where legilimency really comes in handy. Or if not legilimency, really good knowledge of magic so you can tell what spell your opponent is about to cast. Even without incantations and with minimal wand motions, there would be clues for most spells (the nature of the light gathering around your opponent's wand, for example).

I do think that a competent (e.g. auror level) wizard vs. a Muggle gunman would lead to wizard victory, yes, especially if the wizard is aware that he's likely to be shot at. (In all my fics, though I haven't got around to mentioning it yet, Aurors receive an enchanted ring as standard issue, which comes charmed with a physical shield charm, an imperturbable charm and a flame freezing charm, rendering them immune to Muggle firearms, knives, and explosions, so the Auror would just have to be wearing the ring).

That said, spells don't have the range of sniper rifles.

I don't think wizards need to cast their spells faster than a gun can shoot in order to win though. I mean, a single shield spell should protect from bullets. Once that spell is up the wizard can take as much time as he likes taking the gunman out. But I agree that long duels are rare. With unmatched opponents the duel will be short because one will quickly win. I think well matched duels would also be fairly short, in so far as one mistake is enough to lead to your incapacitation. So you have to duel without making a mistake to win. I can't see any 1 on 1 duel lasting more than a few minutes.

 

Magic, Point 28. Muggles and Squibs can't make Potions. Why not?

I'm not particularly inclided towards either, and I haven't read many stories that build on that, but I'm not sure what you're basing it on.

 

It is interesting to say the least. Though, we do probably disagree on half of your points regarding magic. However, outside of your wizard:muggle ratio, the rest of it is great and you makes some excellent points that more authors over of ff.net should follow.

I think the bit about not going into the antagonist's mind and revealing the antagonist's plans is pure gold. I've thought the same for years and have come to endless frustration as more and more authors began doing multiple view points with emphasis not only on the protagonist, but the antagonist as well.:facepalm

 

Probably because otherwise, muggles would have made some of the potions, if only by chance or trial and error.

Although, I wouldn't know how exactly that works. It is far more likely that muggles simply can't get most of the ingredients which would explain their lack of magical potions.

That shouldn't keep a squib from brewing though. Maybe there are some potions that require active spellcasting but most stuff should be okay.

 

Well, partly because JKR has said so, and partly because I think it's a good part of the world. I'm not sure if it needs any more reason than saying that Muggles and Squibs cannot brew potions for the exact same reason that they can't use wands. They're just not magical. Sure, some of the ingredients in potions are inherently magical (though many of them are not), but wands are inherently magical too.

It makes sense if you think about it, though. If you or I were to follow some potions instructions using newts eyes, aconite, and so on, we'd just end up with a watery sludge. We'd never get mixtures that changed to dramatic colours like pink, or could explode, or whatever.

Same for Muggles and Squibs in the HP world. It takes a magical person to make the ingredients react in a way that is more than physical.

 

I liked this document, especially the character and plot sections. I agree with about 80% or so of the larger two sections.

The World section had some guidelines that were more specific than I prefer, thus falling into the category of personal worldbuilding preferences (e.g. which countries had higher than average ratios of wizards, the genesis of the wand and its prevalence in the modern magical world).

And I have never liked the idea of HP wizards being more physically resilient, save for a few very specific attributes, like aging (and who knows - perhaps there are potions that help slow the aging process!). I prefer to think that their indifference to physical peril stems from their near-limitless ability to repair or prevent (through conscious effort) physical damage with magic, and not from any resistive properties of their bodies.

I like imagining that healthy wizards can pick up Muggle diseases (e.g. common cold), respond in the same way to the Muggles' addictive and intoxicating drugs, and bleed out at the same rate if they are stabbed. Given this, the difference would be that all these effects can be dispelled or repaired with ease, through conscious application of magic.

The Magic section is good work overall, and the disagreements I have are certainly not worth getting into.

 

The thing is, even with the ability to heal severe injuries easily, if a large iron ball shooting around at a hundred miles an hour hit you or I in the head, we'd die instantly. We know they go that fast, because they can keep up with the players. We know they're made of iron and are quite heavy. And we know that people have been hit in the head by them without dying.

I agree that wizards aren't stronger or anything like that. Rather, I'm saying that their magic mitigates physical harm.

As for why I got so specific with the world stuff:

There were a number of guiding factors for the document. Certain things I felt it had to explain, or guiding principles I had to abide to. These were:

1. Why magic is hard.
2. Why some people are better at magic than others.
3. Why academic talent correlates with talent at magic.
4 (principle). Wizards cannot run out of magic.
5 (principle). Wizards must be able to defeat Muggles in an idealised wizard-Muggle war, ignoring social factors such as traitors and public opinion.
6. Why the wider wizarding world didn't interfere with Voldemort's war.
7. Why wizards are the dominating power of the magical community.

Most of what I wrote can be traced back to satisfying one of these factors. The stuff on nations dividing, population, and the stuff on magical superpowers, is an attempt to address number 6.

By saying magical nations tend to divide when they get too large, I prevent there being a wizarding nation with a magical population that would dwarf Britain's, like China, the US, or India. Without a huge numerical advantage, any given nation is less likely to interfere. I also introduce more potential conflict between these states that will distract them from Britain.

By giving Britain a higher magical population, relative to its Muggle population, than most other magical nations, I further make a numerical advantage less likely - again, making international interference in Britain less likely.

Finally, by equating Dumbledore and Voldemort with superpowers, I imply that they're one man armies, making any attempt to combat them with regular magical people foolish.

 

One of the things in canon that's kind of hard to include in such a 'realistic' and consistent version of the magical world is the Philosophers Stone.
This should be a much bigger deal than it actually is in the book. (You could potentially explain it because the POV character is only 11 years old and is oblivious.)

It apparently violates one of the laws of magic and it grants extreme longevity which seems to be extraordinary even in the wizarding world. This should be one of the most famous magic things there is. Everyone should know about Nicolas Flamel and his invention (and the fact that he doesn't share it with anyone).
It's not just one oddity among many.

It's like someone had built a nuclear reactor in the 19th century and nobody but that person understood how and why it worked. It would be a pretty big deal.

Maybe you'd have generation after generation of magical researchers trying their hand at recreating this thing. A famous people list would go something like 1. Merlin 2. Flamel. 3. Founders or something similar.

Flamel would (should?) be one of those magical superpowers you proposed.

 

And I only agree with the last paragraph here. Basically, there's no reason why larger magical states from China or India or even the States wouldn't exist in some form. Let's ask a few questions here: why would they divide when they got too large? What's the impetus for that action? What part of wizarding society and culture would lead to that sort of behavior?

Let's face it, there are a number of reasons why nations with larger magical populations wouldn't interfere, assuming Britain does not have the largest population of witches and wizards relative to other nations, the first being plain self-interest. Unless the greater British wizarding population was screaming desperately for help and made entreaties to outside nations, nobody would interfere out of altruism, particularly against such a potentially dangerous threat that could cost lives.

But those calls for help would never be made, and that leads to my second point - drawing an analogy to Muggle Britain, whenever the nation was in trouble, they most often drew upon their empire for connections. And since there's no evidence that wizarding Britain created or maintained such an empire, one must ask who they would call for aid. But even setting that aside, considering the presence of Dumbledore and the potent magical force he possesses, why would wizarding Britain wish to appear weak and desperate on the international stage? Not only are they one of the best wizarding nations in the world (and there's significant evidence that would suggest they would believe this, given Hogwarts and everything), but they have Dumbledore, a man unto armies himself.

So let's take this a step further and examine why Dumbledore might not have called in international aid, if only to stem casualties... except that he did. In OOTP, it was stated that Charlie Weasley was abroad, trying to convince international wizards to come and fight. Who is to say that Charlie didn't continue that particular mission after Dumbledore was killed, besides coming back briefly for his brother's wedding?

In fact, who is to say that Scrimgeour didn't attempt such an entreaty himself after Dumbledore's death? But then again, he could have failed here for any number of reasons - but even if he succeeded and managed to bring a few witches and wizards over to hunt for Voldemort, they would have been sent back almost immediately under direction of Pius Thicknesse when the Ministry fell.

So yeah, I understand what you were trying to go for by stating that wizarding nations will never get too large, but I'm saying that there's no real reason why they can't. And besides, population isn't the only thing that defines the strength of a nation, so you can still have your superior Britain-centric wizarding culture if you truly want without having to go through all of these hoops. I'm just saying that there might be more to it than that.

 

It should be called Fanon plus I think.

Because of 4th book we know for other magical races can use wands. (where Crouch accuses a house elf to use a wand and nobody says anything.)

Since it isn't just a Word of God but actual canon you are going against there then calling it canon compliant (even if you put warning about it) is not truth. Exclude Canon compliant part and you are golden as rest of it is very good.

 

I don't think there's any kind of obfuscation on this matter... seems fine as it is.

 

Don't know but I thought you were trying to put one fanon thing you liked in to bunch of canon so it would stick like that. Subliminal commercial at finest.

/Don't mind me just out of class room, brain is feels like mush.

 

I'm curious, does this render the Auror immune to all kinetic force? Presumably, dropping a levitated weight atop the Auror would simply have it bounce off, not harming the Auror in the slightest. Would the same be true with a magically accelerated object impacting the shield? If so, what would happen if one caster induced the ground beneath a shielded Auror to explode (by means of a Blasting Curse, or some such)? Would the force of the explosion move the Auror at all? Alternatively, would he or she simply fall down due to part of the ground being displaced by the explosion?

(I'm asking because a story I tinker with occasionally does involve a magically-induced explosion and shield charms.)

 

@ Taure: I agree with most of the rules you have noted. Thanks for that.

@ Lord Jeram: Maybe muggles cannot get infected by magical maladies because the infection feeds off magic. The lack of their sustenance in the host would render them impotent. I do not remember if there were muggles infected with lycanthropy in canon and am not sure how to deal with that issue.

By Daidalos

I would like to assume that only objects that have a kinetic energy greater than a set value is blocked. That would imply that the weight would not crush him but wind him due to getting knocked on his ass.

The set value would imply that the size of the object would not matter, only the amount of kinetic energy does. Otherwise, the person would not be getting any air. After all, air is matter.

 

While still not convinced on #16(Magic), I will agree on it only for one reason i.e. "it's very hard to dodge a spell."

I hate the part in Fiction where author converts Harry into a gymnast, who dodges all the spells.

#20(world) : It's debated a few times whether only talented Muggleborn make it to Hogwarts, I think it's more of the 'lucky ones' getting into Hogwarts and not the talented ones. I don't think it is possible to estimate talent or 'power', especially since Muggleborn don't know of magic thus can't give any magical 'aptitude' test.

Also, it's not clear in the document if every pure-blood and half-blood goes to Hogwarts or only the prestigious families can send their kids to Hogwarts(I find this very unlikely since I don't see Weasley's rich or prestigious enough to send their mediocre kids like Ron or Ginny to Hogwarts).

The guidelines are very good and if followed can help author write a more realistic Fiction. There are few arguable points but it's more of a difference in point of view.