Why isn't every setting that features magic completely dominated by magic...

Why isn't every setting that features magic completely dominated by magic? Are there some creative or well-justified limiting factors that keep magic from becoming totally ubiquitous and oppressive?

Agreed. Magic would dominate the world and the whole world would revolve around wizards and so on.

Mines would be staffed by hundreds of people there solely to keep a few mages happy while the mages extract whatever is being mined. Mages would create networks voiding trade routes etc as goods are transported instantly all over the globe. Crops never fail as mages ensure they grow exceptionally well and frequently.

Really the world would be normal humans catering to mages every needs to try ensure mages are kept happy enough to do the worlds labour. You would have to be intelligent or a mage to get anywhere beyond mage bitch status in life.

Thoughts?

Well I don't think the WHOLE world would revolve around mages. It depends on the level and stability of magic. Of course, if you're in a setting where magic can do just about anything, then yeah, you've build a post-scarcity society and go from there. But you still need politicians, artists/artisans, anybody who's not a base laborer and can't be solved by magic. That or EVERYONE could learn magic, seeing as it would be such a keystone and there would be many prestigious magical universities. You could build a society in which everybody is familiar in at least some level of magic.

At the bare minimum you'd have markets that cater to and are dominated by magic users of all stripes would be ran in the way that Debeers runs the diamond industry with tight controls on components and a need for people to go out and get the particularly rare and forbidden ones as well.

Surprising how you don't hear about towns who's entire economy is based around extracting/manufacturing/refining materials into spell components. that x thousands of gold jewel didn't just come from no where.

Yes I touched on that when I said intelligent human or mage user.

It depends if people can learn it or are born with it and what they can do... but seeing what they do in most settings it's pretty clear the average person is outclassed by magic in every way barring intelligence or other exceptional abilities magic cant already do. (AKA very few things).

>Default assumption of magic is that it is ubiquitous, wide spread, and all powerful.

I want this meme to end.

I like your assessment but I feel like magic could be used to circumvent those features of society altogether.

I'm having a hard time world building with the inclusion of magic.

I'm struggling to put the brakes on the development of magic as a kind of technology that might be able to do just about anything.

The main reasons against magic presiding over every facet of society, as far as I can tell, are as follows
1)There are a certain number of magicians; the ability to use magic is like force sensitivity
2)Magic is limited. If you can only cast a certain number of spells per day, you're less likely to use them for menial tasks.
To limit the use of magic, you might want to make it tied to items or some other collectible, like technology (for example stones with limited magic essence, a bit like Ioun Stones from D&D).

Depends on the setting, but most settings do have some limits on the numbers of magic-users. AD&D did 'special snowflake', wherein you're either born with the knack or not. OWoD had only a couple of clans (at first) who could use it, with some nasty drawbacks. Dragonlance had them persecuted by seriously everyone else, and totally willing to keep them awake with siege gear. In the middle of populated cities. In Shadowrun, the moment magic becomes a strong enough force in the world, Horrors are going to cross an astral bridge and facefuck everything with a soul.

Realistically? Wizards have better things to do than care about the mundane world. They can adventure on other planes, snort conjured coke off a bound succubus' ass, whatever. Without a lot of power yourself, you can't actually get anything they need, and they don't really need labor forces or anything.

It's not about why they don't run the world. The right question to ask is this: why should a high-level wizard *care* about running the world?

>it requires a significant amount of power to suppress hundreds of people
>coercion and fear help out greatly, but even then, shows of power are necessary
>if the source of magical power is mined, then underground veins grow more and more scarce, requiring more people to gather, requiring more power...
>if the source of power is innate in the world and can't be increased, then you have a natural limit on the total power mages can wield
>if the source of power is infinite, well then no shit it's going to unbalance everything

Shit writing to pander to shit players.

What shit players want is a Renfair with orcs and elves. They want the setting it to be shallow and hackneyed because that makes it easy to grasp instantly and doesn't make them uncomfortable with unfamiliar things. This in turn is because they're really only interested in the combat encounters.

This is why you get hundreds and hundreds of samefag fantasy settings where mages are well-behaved hermits in towers who rarely interfere with the policies of non-magical monarchs and emperors, and who never bother to maximise the use of magic as an analogue of technology.

Renfair fantasy is like hot dogs. Yes, hot dogs are made out of pig anuses and insect fragments - but they sell right? Millions daily enjoy a pig anus tube in some bread. That doesn't mean there's anything good about what's in it though, and nor would any of us respect the kind of person who not only ever ate hot dogs but declared them the pinnacle of cuisine too, refusing to try any other food.

You have to come up with a way to limit it but it always sounds shit and ham fisted. Or you let it dominate in which case you can have a Dystopia setting or Utopian setting. Or you can just hope nobody cares enough which is standard and boring.

Really, if there existed a man who could levitate objects and replace hundreds or thousands of workers for 1/2 the price of those hundreds of workers, would you hire him to move around stuff in a heart beat? Of course. Imagine this for endless trades, jobs and everyday things that make ordinary people largely obsolete unless they offer something exceptional to the table.

Some cool ideas to explore for sure.

Jesus christ guy, chill the fuck out.

vitriol aside, for the most part it's true. Most fantasy settings seem to follow this pattern where magic, regardless of how prolific it is, does not seem to affect the day to day life of the setting beyond the characters involved.

It's the same kind of shit writing where a setting that spans thousands of years is locked into a pattern that prevents any sort of modernization. Why would you just sit idol in your wizard tower when you can bank made money and influence with your magic?

It's interesting because rarely do you have a setting where things are both "average" and incredibly magical. Either you have a Destiny type deal where everyone's a magic user and loving it, or stuff like Bartimaeus where the magicians are all exploitative cunts. Rarely is it the case that magic is used everywhere and nobody really gives a shit and just gets on with their lives.

Pretty much spot on. I actually brought up with a friend an issue like this.

In his setting, mages have a code which means you can never draw life from someone. Thats it, just a code that stops it.

I said, how is it wrong to draw the life of something attacking you but not wrong to kill them? He had no answer and said "just because".

Most settings are shit like this.

I've always came from the angle that magic use is sort of like having a PhD. Meaning; it's difficult to do, takes a lot of time, work, talent and effort, and not everyone is cut out to do it.

Think a venn diagram of people who are smart enough to figure magic out, and people who have the innate ability to do so. Taken from a pool of medieval to renaissance ear people.

>use of magic as an analogue of technology.

I came here to laugh at you.

You have a point but you don't need a mechanical engineering degree to drive a car. Once magic users begin creating magical items, all bet are off.

I'm reading all the replies, thank you.

Because it's impossible. If today, someone could fly and levitate 1 tone of goods. All of a sudden he is worth a lot of money to a airline company or transport agency or even the military. He doesnt need fuel or a vehicle to do his job and more.

Magic is a huge multiplier to someones worth and even having 1 of them openly making use of their magic would be a big shake to the world.

Yes but I'm talking about a world in which this isn't a new development. A universe in which massive magic automation is just commonplace, and neither considered utopic or dystopic. Somewhat similar to all the technological wonders of the modern day.

Oh certainly not, but who is going to teach non-users how to use said devices? Or even how to repair them. You still need mechanics to repair cars, and teach people how to drive.

The analogy isn't perfect, but I think it's enough to loosely justify why magic isn't completely prolific everywhere.

Ah I see, sorry. Then yes but today it requires billions of ordinary humans to do it all. A computer is only possible because of the resource gatherers, the machines made, the logistics, the commercial section and so on.

Magic cuts out a lot of the ordinary people if you know what I mean. So in order for it to be common place, you would have to find something for humans to do otherwise it's paradise or hell if you know what I mean.

Not every setting has five thousand magical effects and a half-dozen different ways of tapping into magic.

Not every setting allows magic users to acquire a more diverse set of magical abilities than they begin with.

Not all settings have magic as a precise, clear cut, formulaic force that any chump with spare time and the aptitude can train in.

Not every setting has magic be as simple and painless as "have required materials and abstract metaphysical resource."

Not every setting has magic exist in a state of widespread societal awareness or acceptance.

I prefer the Warhams approach to magic, where it'll make your head explode into demons.

>Why isn't every setting that features magic completely dominated by magic?
Because the author/designer doesn't want it to be.
That's it literally no other reason, any other reason presented in this thread is only here to serve as an excuse and obfuscate the actual reason.

Define "Verisimilitude"

>Availability of magic
Can anyone learn magic? How difficult is it? Does it require talent, genes, bloodline or infernal pacts? Of population, how many people are proficient magic, or even capable?
>Power of magic
Are we talking 3.5 DnD reality warping, or more subdued magic? And can it be made accessible (enchantments, items) to others?
>Repercussions
Is there downsides for practicing magic? How does society view it?
>Non-magics
Power of magic compared to technology or 'mundane' people ( heroes, politicians )
Just something I'd think about.

>Gandalf can make a light appear on the top of his staff
>Your level 1 nigger can summon typhoons to destroy God

Good fantasy keeps magic rare and secretive for a reason

by making every other profession able to be jsut as strong or influential in the long run

>Why isn't every setting that features acrobatics completely dominated by acrobatics?Are there some creative or well-justified limiting factors that keep acrobatics from becoming totally ubiquitous and oppressive?
Shit takes time to learn, not everyone has the physical or mental capacity to master it meaningfully, or it's kept behind a pay wall or qualification barrier.
>>Why isn't every setting that features nuclear energy completely dominated by nuclear energy? Are there some creative or well-justified limiting factors that keep nuclear energy from becoming totally ubiquitous and oppressive?
Expensive and dangerous, with a side of social or environmental reprecussions.

i like this answer

Well, there's a couple tried and true limits to put on magic;

1. Only some people can use it. Can be an intelligence barrier or a bloodline thing.
2. Magic requires so much effort and expertise that mundane means are still better for most things.
3. Magic is skittish and hard to control, which makes it unreliable.
4. Magic just doesn't do that much.
5. Magic is the sole province of inhuman creatures.
6. Knowledge of magic is too scattered and incomplete to overtake mundane means at that point in history.
7. There's downsides to magic that are punishing enough to discourage frequent use.

But yeah, any setting where magical knowledge is relatively common, magic is reliable and magic also has grand effects is a setting that should be almost completely about magic.

>Are there some creative or well-justified limiting factors that keep magic from becoming totally ubiquitous and oppressive?

Only a few are able channel magical energy on the same destructive/manipulative powers as wizards seeing as the others who are able are taught by clergy, through ancient bloodlines, or through fiendish contract. All of the above are very restrictive in some way in the usage of their powers, and high level wizards are few and far between.

Shooting a few fancy lightening bolts will only get you so far for so long until the masses realize you are outnumbered over 1000:1 and a pitchfork is getting repeatedly shoved up your ass.

Simply reduce the power of magic and make it require a moderate amount of work to get good at. Every village that has another lazy old Wizard scholar has one less strong back working in the fields.

Magic is just like industry at this time- everything is hand made. Magic items are sold openly at markets, but they are as expensive as any blacksmiths weaponry or exotic spices.

My groups current setting has eveyone able to do magic and they do for minor cantrip and hedge magic, but it is dangerous as shit if you do powerful stuff and too much of it in an area makes reality weak and horrible things are waiting on the other side for that to happen. Keeps it available but not overwhelming.

Because players in general don't want to deal with repercussions they actions have on political life. They want to fight monsters, preferably monsters they can take on without real risk of dying, and preferably on a simple 2d map where they can't really get lost or stranded.
Most Gms, and most game publishers, cater to the LCD. The opposite would simply require a lot more work and effort.

I treat magic similar to modern technology:

Takes a long time to learn to make, especially anything new, but is also happily used by the masses. And, the experts are too physically weak and socially disabled to 'rule'.

>Why isn't every setting that features magic completely dominated by magic? Are there some creative or well-justified limiting factors that keep magic from becoming totally ubiquitous and oppressive?

LotR
>You have to be born magical to use it
>Mainly use it to oppose other mages

Exalted
>Not actually that many Exalt-shards around
>Those that are common are also weakest

Forgotten Realms
>The gods are autism-tier about Balance
>The god of magic dies. Like, on the regular.

Vampire: the Masquerade
>You literally die in sunlight
>Must kill to work magic

Shadowrun
>Magic is kind of new and hasn't had time to take over the world

Gurps
>Nobody plays Gurps

Birthright
>It's a 2E AD&D setting, it takes 50 minutes to memorize a single "Teleport" so you're not gonna blow it unless you need it.