How the world would be shaped would depend greatly on the specifics of the magic system itself. Is magic a new development or something that's been with humanity since the dawn of time? This was a point that got turned over in a few early critiques of TLoK, near the start of its run. The idea being that a non-bender/bender conflict couldn't work in the same was as X-Men's human/mutant conflict, as benders (magic) had been around for thousands of years, so civilizations in-universe would have had long ago incorporated bending (magic) into their structure. So talking about bending/magic as an 'impurity' came off as a little weird and vaguely unjustified, given there's gotta be thousands of years of cultural evolution in the setting's backstory that would say otherwise.
And what about worlds where peasants are constantly being born with magic? How long would an inherited hierarchy last when people on the bottom rungs so frequently find themselves in possession of that much physical power?
There's actually a really neat description of the classic shonen fighting anime "The Fist of the North Star" that talks about how the world it presents is, basically, a dystopia brought about by the fact martial arts can make a few people superhumanly tough. Lemme bring it up:
Imagine just how messed up life would be for an ordinary person in a world where all the real power is wielded by a relatively small number of people, and that power is not financial or political, but militaristic. Democratic government is essentially meaningless since no union of ordinary people can stand against the might of a lone Badass. Because everyone knows that violence is the force that drives the wheel of civilization, fights occur constantly, and everyone with a bit of ability wants to claw their way as high up the badass scale as possible, whether for the sake of protecting innocents or enforcing their own will on others. The only genuinely powerful people who have any interest in being in charge are usually megalomaniacs, and sociopaths besides. Governments tend to be either tyrannies, or farcical constructs whose laws can only be adequately be enforced by sympathetic vigilantes and a few Knight Templar civil servants who butt heads with them at every opportunity. Countries are constantly in flux between the two as Evil Overlords are dethroned by good guys, replaced with ineffectual governments, and conquered again by new bad guys.
Star Wars is similar, although it works on longer time scales. No matter what form of galactic government is built up, every so often the Jedi and the Sith will set the galaxy aflame with their wars of philosophical/religious supremacy. Because they wield Just That Much Power, and even a planet-smashing moon-sized space station armed to the teeth is insignificant against what any random backwater farm boy can do with a little training.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-08-23 04:13 pm (UTC)And what about worlds where peasants are constantly being born with magic? How long would an inherited hierarchy last when people on the bottom rungs so frequently find themselves in possession of that much physical power?
There's actually a really neat description of the classic shonen fighting anime "The Fist of the North Star" that talks about how the world it presents is, basically, a dystopia brought about by the fact martial arts can make a few people superhumanly tough. Lemme bring it up:
Imagine just how messed up life would be for an ordinary person in a world where all the real power is wielded by a relatively small number of people, and that power is not financial or political, but militaristic. Democratic government is essentially meaningless since no union of ordinary people can stand against the might of a lone Badass. Because everyone knows that violence is the force that drives the wheel of civilization, fights occur constantly, and everyone with a bit of ability wants to claw their way as high up the badass scale as possible, whether for the sake of protecting innocents or enforcing their own will on others. The only genuinely powerful people who have any interest in being in charge are usually megalomaniacs, and sociopaths besides. Governments tend to be either tyrannies, or farcical constructs whose laws can only be adequately be enforced by sympathetic vigilantes and a few Knight Templar civil servants who butt heads with them at every opportunity. Countries are constantly in flux between the two as Evil Overlords are dethroned by good guys, replaced with ineffectual governments, and conquered again by new bad guys.
Star Wars is similar, although it works on longer time scales. No matter what form of galactic government is built up, every so often the Jedi and the Sith will set the galaxy aflame with their wars of philosophical/religious supremacy. Because they wield Just That Much Power, and even a planet-smashing moon-sized space station armed to the teeth is insignificant against what any random backwater farm boy can do with a little training.
btw -- Good, thoughtful essay.