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View of Magic

After the Cursed War , the world saw the damage a single wizard can do. Citizens were scared of the next power hungry wizard that sowed destruction with their magic. Towns and cities did book burnings of magical tomes and dangerous texts, and being seen doing magic was heavily stigmatized.   The two disciplines of magic that withstood this stigma was artificers and clerics, as both were critical in winning the war against the Werewolves, and still necessary to fight back against those that remain. In the decades after the war, magic started to get regulated reassure the populous. Divine magic was regulated through the churches, The Church of Helm and Church of Eldath . Artificers were regulated by the new Arcane Regulatory Association , or ARA, who would both educate and police artifice through the continent. The main form of policing of magic is licenses for magic items, so that each item you buy is magically licensed to you, and can be monitored.   Spellcasting is stigmatized, but not explicitly illegal. It is illegal to cast spells on another person. It is explicitly illegal to cast any sort of spell, either by casting or by magic item, targeting another person. (Basically, it's assault). The ARA did do a lot of work post war to create shackles and other items that soldiers and guards can use to block spells, like things that restrict components, block teleportation, or even anti-magic fields.   

Magic Reception by Class

For your character creation, if you want to play a full caster that will affect how NPCs treat you. Below I have each class and their general perceptions by your average citizen.   Wizard: This is the only class most NPCs will be actively concerned about. The title of Wizard or Mage is still fresh in people's minds as the title of the enemy. That being said, most people do know a little arcane knowledge for cantrips and low level quality-of-life spells. There are many reasons why one would choose to pursue magic through study, but those reasons are very counter-cultural.   Cleric: Clerics are generally accepted wherever they go, with the one exception of a "unregulated" cleric, or a cleric not of the two main churches. A unregulated cleric is suspicious, and lacks the oversight that gives them their trust.   Druid: Druids are more unknown to the common people, as they are rarely in villages or towns. With that, the woods are a scary place to be, as that is where the werewolves are, and seeing someone walk from the woods and cast spells would be a terrifying thing. Most druids circles during the war were either snuffed out, or found ways to hide. The hidden ones would have little reason to come out of hiding in the years after the war, as werewolf hunters will likely hunt them as much as the wolves. Druid circles do have a much more varied view of Lycanthropy. Some will view it as a man-made disease that needs to be eliminated, others will view it as a way to get closer to nature and become half beast. Some may focus their druidic magic on controlling the curse, while others will focus on prevention and elimination.   Sorcerer: Sorcerers still pop up in the population after the war, and no magical stigmatization has stopped that. How sorcerers view and use their magic is as varied as the places they grow up in, but generally they are seen as freaks. Some sorcerers will try to hide/suppress their magic and "live normal", others will practice and be a little sneaky with their magic. They will have a staff or a ring and pretend to have a magic item that preforms their abilities, rather then showing the ability to cast spells.   Warlock: Warlocks are rare and varied. Most if not all keep their abilities hidden, cause being identified as casting spells leads to far too many questions that most would prefer not to answer.   Half and Third Casters: It is fairly common for people to be a half/third caster of magic. low level utility spells are useful enough that people will learn them. Feel free to also flavor your half casting as magic items, cause the world does have a lot of magic items floating around.

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