[World Building] Alt-History TL 8 Earth with open RPM

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

The mundane Earth governments are wary of giving magicians too much political power or their own lands (with their own laws), so they mostly try to deal with (and thus give political legitimacy to) intentional/interdimensional corporations of magicians than any other type of magician-run N.G.O. (like Civil Rights groups). The mega-corps, relying on government good will to grant them access to consumer markets and public contracts, will choose to avoid rocking the boat whenever possible. Most countries put serious social restrictions on both casting spells and the movements of thaumaturges - magicians must be registered, carrying ID badges in public spaces, publically announcing the spell being cast, let the government search their homes without a warrant, and so on.

In the US, that's going to have the American Civil Liberties Union, and other non-group-focused Civil Rights groups (and some that are group-focused, like the Jewish Defense League), jumping all over the situation, regardless of what the government supports. Could be an interesting campaigne hook, but it does make this society look inherently unstable (which is one of the things that makes setting interesting to game in). The same is likely true of other liberal democracies.