Magical ability

Prompt 28: A condition considered monstrous or "unlucky" by some
Magical ability
Magic is thought a path to corruption and innate evil in Thar’kor, the users of it are shunned and excluded from society as much as possible, fear as if they were man-hunting beasts. An unfortunate few are born possessing innate magical talents, others are curious to a fault and like to toy with the tabooed arcane, whilst others are trained in secret. However, no matter who or how, if they were to reveal their abilities in the streets or establishments of most villages, towns or cities in Thar’kor they will likely be chased out of town, locked up or hung in the square, sometimes all three.
The root of this fear stems from a dark period of history in the later Imperial age, where, for the better part of 150 years, the undying Khan terrorised the northern continent with the undead, demons and other unnatural and evil creatures. Enslaving all living people and exposing them to the horrors and cruelty of the darkest and most corrupted mind imaginable. People came to fear magic and saw the evil that came from the northern Empire of Dra’thok as the result of the dark, twisting and corrosive influence of magic. Thus when the undying Khan was defeated in 958 IA the realm sought to destroy all remnants of magic in Thar’kor.
Whilst the people have forgotten the undying Khan and his evil, they have not forgotten their fear of magic and anyone who uses it is seen as an evil monster. Parents will often abandon children who show signs of magical ability, The order of Magical Institutions arose to deal with this situation. The rising concern of beggar children with magical powers occurred in the empire about 400 years ago. Each kingdom began dealing with the problem independently, initial setting up prisons or detention centers to house the problematic children. However, the kingdoms were ill equipped to deal with such talented vagabonds and soon they became little more than torture chambers for the ones unlucky enough to get caught and not skillful enough to escape. Rumors began emerging of the horrors and suffering that occurred in these prisons and whilst monsters these people may be, the cruelty they suffered was yet still more monstrous, and could not be abided. The people of Drostrea rose to the cries and sent envoys to all Kingdoms seeking to aid in the establishment of humane training and educational establishments to house these magical children, with the added benefit that those magical skills could be controlled and put to use to benefit the kingdoms rather than burden them. Thus the Institutes of Arcane Constraint were established throughout Thar’kor.
The schools seek to train the magically gifted, firstly to control their use of magic, suppress or eliminate their magic ability if possible, or harness it to serve the kingdoms rather than succumbing to evil. The schools are watched closely, as whilst welcomed to solve the problem, they are still magic users running the schools, so they are not trusted. Wherever possible the schools seek to ferry those whose magic can’t be suppressed, to escape to Drostrea where they will have a better life, though this is not always possible. And while the Council of Mages and the Cabal of Arcane Arts would rather not suppress people's magical abilities they recognize this is the quickest and safest way to return people to a normal life. Once an adult, a former magic user is returned to the kingdom, to a different town, to establish a life for themselves in a trade they have been taught in the Institute.
Thus the instate helps to rid the world of these “monsters” and create contributing members of society. Meanwhile, the Cabal & the council of mages have a secret agenda, hoping that the people of Thar’kor could be persuaded to embrace magic a system to train people in it quickly and effectively is already in place. Many of those whose power was “suppressed” are, in fact, fully-fledged wizards, sorcerers, mages, druids and the like that have trained to avoid detection in the use of magic. When the need arises they can be quickly assembled and activated by the Institute to form a powerful army of magic users.

Type

Magical