PHYSICAL POSITIVISM
PHYSICAL POSITIVISM, a subversive magical philosophy gaining traction amongst young students of Wizardry
1. What sets this group apart from the main society they came from?
Physical Positivism is a relatively new (and significantly controversial) philosophy in contemporary Wizardry. Unlike conventional wizardry theories as have been known and academically taught throughout the aeons... theories involving harnessing poorly understood forces from various fundamental planes or using gestures, power words, or other semantic components to engage in magic... Pozzies (as they have become known by their academic detractors) believe that there are logical, observable, physical mechanics behind every magical event in the known world. They advocate for the dissection of various magical processes in order explore these theoretical fundamental particles and elements. They believe that "magic" is actually within the grasp of anyone, so long as they become aware of the constant and unchanging physical laws of these magical particles, energies, and forces. They do not ascribe to the idea of drawing power from other planes, supernatural beings, or any outside, illogical influences.
.. in fact the particularly zealous Physical Positivists question the existence of other planes in their entirety.
2. What aspects of the dominant society are still there or still influence them?
Physical Positivists still recognize and accept that magic is a very real and practical force... they simply see it as a particularly complex natural force of the material plane that is not fully understood yet, but is still map-able and empirically explainable through logical and mathematic means. They often incur the ire and derision of contemporary wizards... who at minimum may regard them as annoying crackpots, and at worst as borderline heretics to the discipline of Wizardry.
3. Who gravitates towards this group? Why would someone fall in with them instead of going with the mainstream?
Being that Physical Positivism is a fairly new philosophy of magic, adherents will typically be current students of magic or young wizards who are suspicious of status quo statements... natural skeptics... and the occasional conspiracy theorist type (who will likely pair the philosophy with a distrust of the Wizardly status quo and Wizardly academia in general).
4. What is their relationship to the dominant culture? Are they tolerated? Accepted? Shunned? Persecuted?
As a rule of thumb, more conventional-minded magic users will RARELY take them seriously or regard them with any degree of professional respect. At best they are considered fringe-types. Sometimes seen as harmless, inoffensive loons... but sometimes seen as a threat to the current wizardly status quo... or as dangerously arrogant Cavaliers who's lack of understanding and respect for conventional wizardry could potentially bring dire effects.
5. What can they offer to the players that can't be found in the mainstream?
They are skeptics, thinkers, anti-authoritarian, anti-traditionalists... they make a good category for a wizard that, while formally educated, is not a stuffy old bookworm with a mouldy beard. They are young, opinionated, iconoclastic, and may even be on to something groundbreaking.
6. You do you!
I think of them as a borderline sociopolitical movement. The idea that wizardry as we know it has been misinterpreted for millenia could shake the foundation of the world as we know it. Furthermore, it could cause a severe erosion of power in the major wizarding academies... such a power shift would be world-changing, and the magical powers-that-be would likely be willing to take great measure to see this fringe movement not gather any more traction.
What would be a "pozzie" rationale when a demon or elemental is summoned? Maybe it's made by the caster rather than summoned from an outside plane? Taking this line of questioning further though, if outer planes aren't real, then where does one go when they use a spell like Plane Shift?
As for Demon/Elemental summoning - perhaps the Pozzie would rationalize that they are beings that currently exist in the physical, material sphere... that they are simply re-organized/recombined into a more physically substantial form... much like how carbon atoms are invisible to the eye, but they exist nonetheless.... and if you stick enough of them together you have a diamond.
"Maybe it's made by the caster rather than summoned from an outside plane?"
Exactly!
Or perhaps their unconventional thinking goes even further... that they reject the idea of them actually being sentient beings at all, rather primal forces of nature that we misinterpret as being creatures. it is, after all, an extremely new and controversial theory and not without it's own holes and problems. In fact, that could be a major arguing point between conventional Wizardry and Physical Positivist Wizardry... whether Celestials/Demons/Elementals/etc actually are sentient creatures at all.
As for planar travel/cosmology - the Positivist might argue that what the viewer interprets as a "plane" is not actually a geographic location separate from his conventional location at all... rather it is a corruption of the current location due to observing the normally unobservable primal quantum particles of magic... or for the conspiracy-minded types, "PLANES ARE A LIE HOISTED UPON US BY THE WIZARD ELITE TO KEEP US SUBSERVIENT TO THEM!!!!!"
...I think my interest in developing this sub-group of wizardry lay in what you can do with it. It is ripe for various conflict (which is always a good thing for DMs) in the Magic-User community (particularly political - imagine a young movement trying to dismantle the accepted dogma of magic), it allows for some introduction of "weird-science" tropes into your magic, and can allow for comedic banter and encounters.
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