Question What do baselines know about magic?

What do baselines know about magic?

Given that the Whateley Universe is...

Kristin Darken wrote: a world that acknowledges the presence of magick...

Do baselines just know that it's something that can be learned and that's basically it?

From Written in Blood Part 2 :

“Do you know what essence is?” Tessa abruptly asked me.

I hesitated a moment, not wanting to admit that I’d listened in on a couple of the lessons that Mom gave Paige. “It’s...magical energy,” I answered awkwardly, hoping that I didn’t embarrass myself too much. “I once heard Mom say that essence is sort of like fuel for magic spells…”

“That is better than I was expecting,” Tessa admitted with a faint smile.

Was Tessa's expectations lower than the average due to the Family's isolation of male members from the magic, or was she expecting what an average person would know?

...

And that's an average, so some people are more knowledgeable, others are less knowledgeable... Religion play into it in some cases, where some religious people might not ward their home out of fear of witches and stuff? ... Hmm... In the Harry Potter of the Whateley-verse, the Dursleys' Magosophobia might be more sensible? Or something...

I would say that the average person knows about magic to the same amount of the average person knows about martial arts. There's this thing called martial arts, and some people are complete bad asses, and lots of people say they know kung fu but really don't.

There are laws governing people who do know kung fu and use it against people without justification. But what exactly are or what they entail is the stuff of experts and nerds.

Note that the operative an important word in this summation is "average person."

Remember that Bunny assumed Nikki was using stage magic to open the trunk she was locked in, but knew about real magic.

Valentine wrote: Remember that Bunny assumed Nikki was using stage magic to open the trunk she was locked in, but knew about real magic.

That said, Bunny grew up in Vegas, and therefore had a great deal more exposure to stage magic than most teenagers.

I suspect that many, if not most, non-empowered people just sort of lump magic, ki, high-tech equipment such as power armor, and anything they would associate with 'superbeings' but never seen or used themselves, as 'mutant powers' or 'superpowers' and assume that it's all really just the same thing and that all the talk about 'magic' or 'advanced technology' is just gee-whiz or even humbug. They know it is out there, or at least something someone calls magic is at any rate, but they just sort of try to Weirdness Censor it away when it isn't trying to rip their faces off or dropping buildings on them.

Conversely, I am guessing that a lot of H1! types believe that it is all witchcraft, of the sell-your-soul-to-Satan variety, and that the talk of it being 'mutations' is to deceive all the Righteous Whatever-ians from seeing Lucifer's snares. Presumably, like all conspiratorial thinkers, they assume that anything that indicates anything else must be part of the Big Lie.

Sobering thought: this would probably include the Knights of Purity and other nominally baseline groups who use hypertech. It may well be that the fact they use power armor has led people to think of them as just as alien and frightening as the mutants, or even assume that they secretly are mutants (or warlocks) themselves.

Also, there very likely is a significant number of people who don't believe any of it is real at all, and that news reports etc. are all just exaggerations, miscommunications, fabrications, staged special effects, and so forth. I would not be surprised if that were the most common belief, given that the majority of people have never seen superpowers used in person, and probably quite a few who have experienced them still dismiss what they saw as fakery.

I wouldn't say that's the "most common" belief, but I expect that there are quite a few people who think it's all a Gubbimint Plot To Deceive The People. Like the time they hired Stanley Kubrick to fake a Moon landing, you known, or water fluoridation, or global warming, or vaccines.

I'm kinda-sorta thinking of a micro-scene now where the Eastboro Baptist Church (the Westboro Baptist expy mentioned in 'Sliver Linings') is picketing a KoP funeral on the basis that the KoP are obviously in league with the same evil forces as the mutants because no mortal could create their power armor and other equipment without Satanic assistance. The problem is trying to make it seem like more than just an expository infodump.

Schol-R-LEA wrote: I'm kinda-sorta thinking of a micro-scene now where the Eastboro Baptist Church (the Westboro Baptist expy mentioned in 'Sliver Linings') is picketing a KoP funeral on the basis that the KoP are obviously in league with the same evil forces as the mutants because no mortal could create their power armor and other equipment without Satanic assistance. The problem is trying to make it seem like more than just an expository infodump.

Well, you could have people talking about it, or a news article story?

"Did you hear about the Eastboro Baptists?"

"What about them?"

"They... *snicker* They picketed a KoP funeral!"

"Whaaat?!? I know they're insane, but that's over the top!"

"I know, right? They claimed the KoP are Satanists 'cuz they have power armor! *laughs*"

... Goodkinds retaliate? Inadvertantly defending hypertech as actual science instead of Deadlands-style Demon-inspired/powered Mad Science.

Adoptable.

Actually, it's called the "Easterbury Christian Church". Not to be mistaken for the Landover Baptist Church .

Sir Lee wrote: Actually, it's called the "Easterbury Christian Church". Not to be mistaken for the Landover Baptist Church .

all I can say is "ohh my GOD that webpage!" what a mess!

At first I thought that maybe my eyes had a case of the five-in-the-mornings, but after several blinks it did not go away. Wow. That website is awesome.

Sir Lee wrote: Actually, it's called the "Easterbury Christian Church". Not to be mistaken for the Landover Baptist Church .

Oops. Thank you for the corrections, sir.