It's never that magic doesn't affect the fictional universe at all, more that it isn't all the way thought through, which is understandable. As much as I'm an anthropology buff and political scholar, I am much more a character driven reader and writer (though I love my conflicts political) than a worldbuilding one, so I get the impulse to let these kinds of worldbuilding slide. On the other hand, me too! I would like to see this taken head on by some enterprising author. It would be fascinating!
you don't need miraculous demonstrations of the local clergy's power every day to believe that the clergy has that power and behave accordingly
This. Much of the power of priestly classes came from what was effectively the belief that they could perform functional magic. If we want a good look at how a parallel power structure could exist alongside the military/inherited title system, we have a perfectly good one in history.
Side note: I'm not sure you can call the A:tLA system inherited. Bryke have basically stated that they haven't really figured out how it all worked (or at least they said that in interviews before book three) but it seemed like there were plenty of bending children of nonbenders, and nonbending children of benders, and that the whole thing might have more to do with how you connected with your spiritual side than with what you were born with, so inherited, inborn but not inherited, not inborn? Don't know.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-08-24 02:36 am (UTC)you don't need miraculous demonstrations of the local clergy's power every day to believe that the clergy has that power and behave accordingly
This. Much of the power of priestly classes came from what was effectively the belief that they could perform functional magic. If we want a good look at how a parallel power structure could exist alongside the military/inherited title system, we have a perfectly good one in history.
Side note: I'm not sure you can call the A:tLA system inherited. Bryke have basically stated that they haven't really figured out how it all worked (or at least they said that in interviews before book three) but it seemed like there were plenty of bending children of nonbenders, and nonbending children of benders, and that the whole thing might have more to do with how you connected with your spiritual side than with what you were born with, so inherited, inborn but not inherited, not inborn? Don't know.