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DF Books / Laws of Magic Convenant
« on: December 21, 2018, 06:13:33 PM »
Apologies if there is a thread around covering this topic. A search of the forum revealed some chatter in the DFRPG, but nothing that I saw immediately caught my eye.
Anyways, I have a theory that the Laws of Magic are enforced by a powerful being such as a god and this is the actual reason mortals are corrupted by their lawbreaking.
As to my reasoning, there are a few oddities about how the Laws function. Magic has been shown to have a great deal of leeway as to its execution. Props can stand in for a mental action and can be influenced by your perceptions what elements make up the world (Fire/Earth/Air/Water/Spirit vs Wood/Fire/Earth/Metal/Water). Harry has given other examples, but in essence magic is greatly determined by the views of the practioner. It seems odd that a practioner can maim and murder without remorse using mundane methods, but the moment they do so with magic, only then does their aura gain the taint of black magic. Furthermore there are multiple instances where the Laws are skirted by technicalities such as Gatekeeper telling Harry to be alert for black magic in Proven Guilty (6th Law), Harry and Molly using "grey magic" to put people to sleep (4th Law), Harry animating Sue (5th Law). Another oddity is how certain creatures aren't defined as "human" for the purposes of the 1st Law, but are very similar to humans, ie White Court Vampires being able to soulgaze.
Probably the biggest reason I think the Laws are something artificial rather than a universal truth has to do with a conversation between Harry and McCoy in Blood Rites. McCoy explains that at times the Council found itself bound by its own Laws and created the Blackstaff to circumvent them. His phrasing made me think that the Council actually did create the Laws and if anyone one person would know the truth of that, it'd be the guy who's allowed to ignore them.
Now as to why they would create the Laws and then have them enforced, I've got no idea. It would be one thing if doing black magic was lethal, but all it really seems to do is encourage recidivism.
Anyways, I have a theory that the Laws of Magic are enforced by a powerful being such as a god and this is the actual reason mortals are corrupted by their lawbreaking.
As to my reasoning, there are a few oddities about how the Laws function. Magic has been shown to have a great deal of leeway as to its execution. Props can stand in for a mental action and can be influenced by your perceptions what elements make up the world (Fire/Earth/Air/Water/Spirit vs Wood/Fire/Earth/Metal/Water). Harry has given other examples, but in essence magic is greatly determined by the views of the practioner. It seems odd that a practioner can maim and murder without remorse using mundane methods, but the moment they do so with magic, only then does their aura gain the taint of black magic. Furthermore there are multiple instances where the Laws are skirted by technicalities such as Gatekeeper telling Harry to be alert for black magic in Proven Guilty (6th Law), Harry and Molly using "grey magic" to put people to sleep (4th Law), Harry animating Sue (5th Law). Another oddity is how certain creatures aren't defined as "human" for the purposes of the 1st Law, but are very similar to humans, ie White Court Vampires being able to soulgaze.
Probably the biggest reason I think the Laws are something artificial rather than a universal truth has to do with a conversation between Harry and McCoy in Blood Rites. McCoy explains that at times the Council found itself bound by its own Laws and created the Blackstaff to circumvent them. His phrasing made me think that the Council actually did create the Laws and if anyone one person would know the truth of that, it'd be the guy who's allowed to ignore them.
Now as to why they would create the Laws and then have them enforced, I've got no idea. It would be one thing if doing black magic was lethal, but all it really seems to do is encourage recidivism.