Magical Art
When the The Mage Wars ended, magic and its users became a lot less fearful to many, and the social elitem ever thirsty for new curiosities as well as currying favor with the new rulers, quickly embraced it. In rural areas, where the brunt of battles was often felt harder, many farmers still get silent and very careful around mages, but in the cities there's little trace of this.
Especially the art scene quickly took to experimenting with magic, much to the chagrin of the five orders. Battle-hardened veterans as they were, many of the leaders did not approve to soil magic with such inane purposes in mind, and they did their best to deter them, be it by restricting the use of magic to certain areas or by carefully screening applicants for their intentions.
It took almost two decades for a younger generation to take over, and they recognized that normalizing magic and its uses was for their benefit. If your subjects feared you, it was much more difficult to establish a functional government without lots of manpower to keep up the fear. Piece by piece, the restrictions were dismantled across all orders, and among the initiates contests were held for creative, civil uses of magic. It was then that the potential of magical tools began to be unlocked. Warmth Stones would not be possible without this initiative, to name one of the most popular everyday uses of magic in the Council.
Soon enough, artists began to experiment with magic as well. Flittering illusions and breathtaking display of colors made their way onto theatre stages, voices gentle and sweet like honey, yet able to carry over a whole battlefield if necessary, entered the ranks of bards and traveling troupes. Some started grumbling, for it happened precisely as the old guard had foreseen: the orders started loosing their monopoly on magics.
Attitudes to magic changed quickly, in the end. The forbidden fruit became normal, and a few accidents underlined the mages' warnings. People interested in magic began to prefer learning in the Eye, since it no longer meant a lifetime commitment to serving an order. Still, many stayed affiliated to their chosen orders, and quite a few actually ended up dedicating their life to magic nevertheless.
This was in no small part possible by the orders being open for craftsman enhancing everyday items as a source of income, and quite a few Neophytes got creative. They came up with Warmth Stones for the Circle, cooling boxes for the Crown, and eventually, magically enhanced paintings. Icy mountain ranges that noticeably cool down a small area around them, cozy hearthfires keeping a room warm and dimly lit in cold winter nights and the like became a hot commodity for the social elite for a while, and prizes exploded.
The hype has somewhat died down since then, and prizes have normalized, but these are still considered a must-have for any noble that is worth his money. The need for regular replacement of the focus to keep the magical effect fueled is a significant cost factor and makes it hard to fake wealth by somehow getting your hands on a painting. Also, the quality of both motif and used technique are a surefire way for any connoisseur to gauge your wealth.
Nowadays, most older pieces, from a time when novelty made up for poor quality, are known, and often fondly commented on by the host when inviting new acquaintances over. This way, the host can avoid being considered a fraud or gullible and at the same time prove that his line went back long and wealthy enough to spent money on those items when even bad execution fetched a prime prize. There's nothing better to show off your class and establish your line's wealth and success than one of the old, inferior masters.
Not everyone shared the attitude of the old masters that magic belonged solely in the hands of the chosen few, and they secretly started teaching others. Those who got caught doing so did not go unpunished - though neither were they punished with the full force of the law. The judges were urged to consider the living situation of the defendant, something that was previously unheard of, and Yennefer, an Archmage of Ice who led the push to normalize magic, made it a point to be present and explain to both defendants and public why unauthorized teaching of magic was banned: often, those who taught were not as well-versed in magic as the imagined, and the orders wanted to protect the public from teachers and students who did not fully graps the spells they used. Magic, after all, did have destructive potential, and failing to grasp the intricacies and possible interactions of spells or missing a key details could have unexpected side effects.
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