Magiontology
The study of magical beings; (noun)
Etymology:
Derived from Anciet greek: μαγικός (magikós, “magical”) + βίος (bíos, “bio-, life”) + -λογία (-logía, “-logy, branch of study, to speak”).
The term was coined by Swedish naturalist Göran Elias Pederssen (1805 - 1890), in his 1853 essay Considerations in the study of magic: in recognition of magical life forms.
Although magions have been around just as long as non-magical beings, their study is quite recent. This is mostly because magions tend to keep away from humans, and humans tend to rationalize what they see (“okay, I need to take a break, I just saw a rock climb a tree”, “I must be dehydrated, the water just smiled at me”). From their perspective, most magions have very little interest in humans, we’re just one not-very-interesting species after all. Human habitat expansion has influenced some magions, but, being magical, they are generally very good in adapting to new environments, and are happy to continue living their lives with little to no interaction with humans.
It was the curiosity of fae regarding both magical and non-magical life in our world that saw the beginning of magical sholarship. Apparently the combination of magical and none-magical life in one world is quite rare, and fae scholars of various kinds have visited our world to study it. Of course, local studies existed as well: alchemists, potion makers and spell-writers were just as active. However, it is in the fae fascination with magical-beings in a preliminary non-magical enviroment that we find the roots of modern magiontology, and it was The Departure that highlighted the need in local scholarship.
Magiontology as we know it today saw its birth in the 19th century. The terminology used is mostly of Greco-Latin origin, mainly because its originators were Europeans, and wanted to bring magiontology into Western modern scientific debate. Magiontology was never incorporated into public debates, because it soon became clear that the risk was far too high, but scholarship continued.
For many years, magiontologists were focused on collecting and preserving older studies, grimoires, family records and encounter reports. A number of isolated archives existed around the world, and only in the 1980s a true effort to consolidate these various sources was made. This brought about a new age of scholarly cooporation that eventually led to the founding of the Magiontology Society in 2021.
Derived from Anciet greek: μαγικός (magikós, “magical”) + βίος (bíos, “bio-, life”) + -λογία (-logía, “-logy, branch of study, to speak”).
The term was coined by Swedish naturalist Göran Elias Pederssen (1805 - 1890), in his 1853 essay Considerations in the study of magic: in recognition of magical life forms.
Although magions have been around just as long as non-magical beings, their study is quite recent. This is mostly because magions tend to keep away from humans, and humans tend to rationalize what they see (“okay, I need to take a break, I just saw a rock climb a tree”, “I must be dehydrated, the water just smiled at me”). From their perspective, most magions have very little interest in humans, we’re just one not-very-interesting species after all. Human habitat expansion has influenced some magions, but, being magical, they are generally very good in adapting to new environments, and are happy to continue living their lives with little to no interaction with humans.
It was the curiosity of fae regarding both magical and non-magical life in our world that saw the beginning of magical sholarship. Apparently the combination of magical and none-magical life in one world is quite rare, and fae scholars of various kinds have visited our world to study it. Of course, local studies existed as well: alchemists, potion makers and spell-writers were just as active. However, it is in the fae fascination with magical-beings in a preliminary non-magical enviroment that we find the roots of modern magiontology, and it was The Departure that highlighted the need in local scholarship.
Magiontology as we know it today saw its birth in the 19th century. The terminology used is mostly of Greco-Latin origin, mainly because its originators were Europeans, and wanted to bring magiontology into Western modern scientific debate. Magiontology was never incorporated into public debates, because it soon became clear that the risk was far too high, but scholarship continued.
For many years, magiontologists were focused on collecting and preserving older studies, grimoires, family records and encounter reports. A number of isolated archives existed around the world, and only in the 1980s a true effort to consolidate these various sources was made. This brought about a new age of scholarly cooporation that eventually led to the founding of the Magiontology Society in 2021.
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