What are some implications of a high magic society?
I'm working on building a campaign set in Kelesh/Qadira (Pathfinder setting), and given it's a country explicitly not filled in so that the GM has more ability to add stuff, I'm trying to figure out high magic implications.
I've got a lot so far
- Air forces
- magical waste disposal
- magical lighting in the cities
- spells used to automate every day features, freeing up more leisure/art time
- magic users are heavily regulated. Sorcerers are encouraged to join the military or government, wizards are trained in only certain licensed academies (same with Druids and Clerics)
- certain spell schools are regulated, like divination
- due to heavy use of wishcrafting reality is bleeding a bit thin in certain cities and certain regions of cities
I'm trying to hash out how magical divination and surveillance by the government works. What are some things that might be common for the government to do?
Some other thoughts (was a response to someone, adding it to this post to begin with)
Imperial (not satrap) Roads, buildings, etc are all made using wishes that are traded and bartered from the Genie empires in the elemental planes. They keep embassies in each satrapy of Kelesh just for that reason.
On top of that, lots of genies will sell wishes, not for money but for quests. Considering many, such as the advanced Shaitan Genies or normal Efreeti, can do three wishes a day at no cost to themselves (since they cannot utilize their own wishes), this is in their interest, to sell one or two and get someone to wish for something the genie wants as the final one.
That also gets to the point that even with magic schools being common, the amount of people that can do magic, even if more common there than anywhere else, is still less than 1% of the population. The majority will have intelligences around 10, charismas around 10, and wisdoms around 10, meaning magic is out of their grasp without a large monetary infusion. Which reminds me, some families probably pay for books or deals with Outsiders to raise the intelligences or charismas or wisdoms of underperforming family members to keep the family line impressive.
Undead are nonexistent in Kelesh, as the country is based quite heavily on Persia and Zoarastrianism, with shades of Judeo-Christian thought and Islamic thought as well. The country's primary deity, Sarenrae, is completely opposed to undead, and the church and Empire exist thanks to her direct favor giving them boons to allow them to keep power. The Empire is also super benevolent, thanks to this, and has a culture that prides itself on being able to do business and trade as a mark of worth. In addition, the culture values art above all else, and thus prefers handmade items with intelligent design beyond any kind of labor saving by magical means, precisely because magical means are common and are seen as cheap and lazy. There's some shades of the mythologized Israel with Solomon binding demons thrown in for the flavor as well.
), but they're apparently looking into a lot of the issues that people have brought up. Looks like they might be willing to change things quite a bit based on feedback.