So, let's go more in depth with how the Gift works. Here's the basic breakdown:

• The Gift is raw magical potential.
  To be Gifted is to have any potential ability to cast spells. In order to do a single thing with magic, you must be Gifted. It's the most basic prerequisite! Those who aren't Gifted can try all the rituals they want, but nothing's going to come of it. It's the one thing that's immutable: you're either Gifted, or you're not.
• Talent is what you do with the Gift.
  So, you've got the Gift! Now you have to figure out how to use it. There are several factors that go into this, all of which fall under the umbrella of Talent.
  • Ritual: The manner in which you cast.
  • Affinity: A particularly rare strength or specialty within the Gift. Casting spells that fall within your Affinity comes more easily and intuitively than other types of spells. Rituals are simpler for spells within your Affinity.
  • Spell: The particular Ritual actions you must perform to cast a spell. The complexity depends on a Gifted person's skill and the magnitude of the spell (and if they have an Affinity for it).

Here's a quick example. Let's say Sally is Gifted, and her Ritual is interpretive dance. Sally wants to cast a spell to light a candle. Since this is a simple spell and completely within the wheelhouse of any Gifted person who's bothered to learn magic, all Sally has to do is make a graceful gesture with one hand, and voila: a lit candle!

Now, let's say Sally's moving, and she has a bunch of heavy boxes full of books. She figures levitating the books onto the dolly will help things go faster. Since there are numerous heavy boxes, her spell will have to be a bit more involved. She's got to do a short dance, making sure to hit the right moves at the right time. Some of the moves might be complex, but she's trained with her Ritual for half of her life now, so it's not a huge ordeal. Just a minute of her time, and now, the boxes are floating onto the dolly. Phew.

But what happens when Sally tries to curse her arch-enemy with a nasty case of eczema? Whatever branch of the Gift that falls under, it definitely isn't in her wheelhouse, and it's going to have a greater impact than lighting a candle or levitating a few boxes. Sally's going to have to prepare for this. Likely, she'll have to choreograph a brand new spell for it. With some careful practice and planning, she thinks she's got the right spell ready. She starts the Spotify playlist she put together for this occasion, and she dances!

Unfortunately, she trips up two-and-a-half minutes into her spell, and botches the whole thing. Now Sally has a sprained ankle, and her arch-enemy's skin looks as flawless as ever. Ugh...

Good thing Sally is one of the cool 1% of Gifted people with an Affinity, and her Affinity happens to be mind control. She doesn't like to use it much, because it's really creepy and ten different kinds of illegal, and also she's still not that great at it... but she's so mad at her arch-enemy that she decides to utilize it, anyway. So, Sally composes a complex curse: to implant the idea in her arch-enemy's head that skin care regimens are pointless and unnecessary.

But first she has to wait for her ankle to heal before she tries to work the spell.

So, who's Gifted, exactly? As stated, you're either Gifted, or you're not. Essentially, think of it like a recessive genetic trait. (Or, a bare-bones, possibly incorrect understanding of recessive and dominant genetic traits.) Barring some kind of anomaly, two Gifted parents will almost certainly have a Gifted child. One Gifted and one non-Gifted parent may or may not have a Gifted child. Two non-Gifted parents are even less likely to have a Gifted child; however, it's not impossible! After all, they could have been carrying it as a recessive trait, and through genetic luck of the draw, their kid came out Gifted. When does the Gift manifest? Those with the Gift have it from birth. But, for the most part, the act of even using the Gift has to be pretty deliberate, so it's practically unheard of for, say, a baby to accidentally cast a catastrophic spell. Until they're capable of working out their Rituals and learn to cast spells, Gifted children can't really do anything with it.

Still, some Gifted children-- those with particularly powerful Affinities and a hell of a lot of innate talent-- may cast spells without meaning to. Plus, curious Gifted (and non-Gifted) kids are pretty likely to experiment with Rituals and casting. How does anyone figure out if they're Gifted or not? TESTING. But what kind and when? Would it come up in a blood test? Genetic test? Or is there some kind of test kids take in primary school? If a Gifted kid comes from a non-Gifted family (genetics, adoption, switched at birth, Gifted parent's death, etc.) and never gets a chance to take whatever the test is, and never tries to learn Rituals or anything, it's entirely possible for them to live their entire life without realizing their potential. How does anyone learn to use their Gift? So, even though the Gift is hereditary, it requires Ritual to utilize. And usually, Gifted kids aren't taught theories and practices until they're about 10 years old. Traditionally, Gifted children were taught by parents, family, or mentors within the Gifted community. Today, there are after-school programs (and in-school programs, for some), community programs, private tutors, and other formal and informal means of learning.

Some Gifted people are entirely self-taught, thanks to the internet.

NOTE: Are there talks about instituting age requirements for Gifted kids to learn? Learners permits etc. At this time, is there any legislation in place mandating how and when they can learn? Tell me more about Rituals... In its simplest terms, Rituals are the actions that somebody must take to use the Gift. Ritual is necessary to practice, to do any real magic. As stated, Ritual can be just about anything: incantations, drawing, coding and equations, singing, dancing, use of focus objects, carpentry, extremely structured/rigid ceremonies, highly abstract performance art, and so on. But, more importantly, Ritual is unique to the individual. This doesn't mean that two people can't have the same Ritual (that would be silly), so much as your Ritual is tied into some aspect of who you are.

Once a Gifted kid begins to learn the fundamentals about the Gift, and the major factors that go into using it, it's time to put their newfound foundation of knowledge to the test by developing their own Rituals until they successfully cast a spell. Creating a Ritual that works best for them is an act of self-discovery. Generally, Rituals are influenced by the Gifted person's nature, personality, interests, and upbringing.

Ritual allows a Gifted person to use something that just clicks with them, to harness and direct magic potential. A Gifted person's Ritual of choice is not set in stone. Some keep to the same Ritual their entire life; others find that their Rituals change with their experiences and interests. Tell me more about Affinities... There are some types of magic that no Gifted person can access, unless they have an Affinity for it. Which-- good luck with that. Only about 1% of the Gifted population even has an Affinity at all. For the rest, their dream of using necromancy to raise a skeleton army will have to remain just that: a dream.

For those with an Affinity, one or more of these odd subsets of magic may come more naturally to them, intuitively and (in some cases) less dependant upon complex Ritual. Unlike with Rituals, Gifted people can't choose what types of magic they have an Affinity for, if they have one at all. While Affinities are about as close as it comes to "superpowers" in this universe, Gifted people with Affinities aren't all-powerful. Since many Affinities are heavily stigmatized and difficult to even get much hands-on practice with, many Gifted people with Affinities don't bother cultivating them.

As for what counts as an Affinity: think of things like necromancy, mind control, shadow magic, healing, and so on. So, not bad magic, necessarily, so much as powerful, potentially world-breaking magic. The list isn't exhaustive, because it's meant to be as open, flexible, and customizable as possible. Affinities can be as broad as the above, or even more narrow and specific. Tell me more about Spells... Once a Gifted person works out their Rituals, they can start casting spells! Time to crack open a book and find one--

Oh, wait, that's not how it goes. There are no books to tell a Gifted person what to do to cast a particular spell, no incantations that would even work from Gifted person to Gifted person. Like Rituals, spells are entirely unique to each Gifted individual. They have to use their knowledge, their experiences, their creativity, and so on, to craft their spells. Of course, Gifted people aren't flying totally blind here. Behind just about every type of spell one wants to cast, there are magical theories and principles, which are much more universal.

As with anything to do with the Gift, spellwork is a combination of raw talent and hard work. Once a Gifted person figures out how to make a spell work, it can get easier with repetition. With enough practice, little oft-repeated tricks can become so easy that they take hardly any effort at all. Some spells are as simple as a snap or a whistle or whatever the Gifted person's Ritual equivalent would be.

In short: magical theories may be universal, but spellwork is completely up to the individual. Think of it like composing a song (creating a spell), and then playing that song (casting a spell). You can play the same song over and over again, or remix it into something old with something new, or compose a new song entirely. Wait, so what's the deal with Talents? In all honesty, "Talent" (when it's capital-T Talent, not lowercase-t talent) is just the socially-acceptable euphemism for much of the above (Rituals, Affinities, Spells, etc). It's a quick and simple way for people who aren't Gifted to talk about and conceptualize what Gifted people can do, without just calling it what it is: MAGIC SPELLS.

Look, this may be a universe where magic exists publicly, but it's also only been known to by society-at-large for less than a century. There's still some resistance to the idea of magic, and many would rather couch it in broader terms. What's to stop Gifted people from taking over the world? Raw potential to cast spells aside, Gifted people are like everybody else. Which is to say that: just because somebody has a talent, it doesn't mean they're going to do anything with it. Magic does actually take time, effort, dedication, etc. This means that a lot of Gifted people (especially these days, with technology being what it is) don't really bother to cultivate it. Not everybody is into it! To many Gifted people, magic might seem like a whole lot of work for not a lot of payoff. And that's fine. Maybe they don't do anything with it; maybe they only treat it like a hobby. Some make it their entire lives, sure, but that's not the universal experience when it comes to Gifted people.

Think of it like this: there's a ton of people who enjoy playing basketball. Among them, there's a smaller number that's got a real skill for it. Among them, an even smaller number plays for a living. And among that smaller number, a tiny percentage are superstars. And among that tiny percentage, there's only one LeBron James.

The vast majority of Gifted people aren't LeBron. They're not even... I don't know enough about basketball to namedrop some mediocre pro player. But you get the gist.

Basically, the reason Gifted people aren't wreaking havoc all over the planet is for the same reason most people don't. It takes too much time, too much effort, and they're not interested in it. They've got their own shit to worry about! Are there any risks to using the Gift? Uhhh... sometimes. But it's fine, don't worry about it.

Okay, okay, so Gifts, Rituals, and spells aren't without their risks. But if you approach things safely and responsibly-- practice, do your research, don't go crazy-- then there's really no issue. If you're reckless about it, you may screw up a spell and hurt yourself, nothing you can't bounce back from. And if you're exceptionally reckless, frequently irresponsible, or just have a knack for monumentally fucking up... you've got a real chance of doing what people today call: flaming out. Tell me more about flaming out... And what is flaming out? It's when a Gifted person fucks up so supremely that they burn alive from the inside, or are slowly pulled (atom by atom) into another plane of existence, or get devoured by a chthonic entity, or attract a demon that subsequently possesses them and slaughters their friends and loved ones... Stuff like that.

Flameouts are statistically rare occurrences, because to achieve that particular level of fucking up, you've got to possess just the right blend of competence, incompetence, intelligence, stupidity, and so on. Terminal underachievers are unlikely to flame out, because they never try anything ambitious enough that would put them at risk of it. Ambitious, hypercompetent overachievers may be at a slightly higher risk of flaming out, but chances are they're responsible enough to tread carefully when messing with the sort of spells that might lead to a flameout. It's those unfortunate people who manage to intersect both groups that are at any real risk of it.

Still, rare as they can be, flameouts have the potential to cause immense damage to people, property, and communities. There are only a few known cases of highly destructive flameouts in modern history, buuuut that they ever happened at all is the source of some fear and suspicion.

First, a quick history of the Gifted community:

People with Gifts have been around, in some capacity, since the dawn of human civilization. Most likely lived and died without ever realizing they had the ability to do magic. Some learned, but kept it close to their hearts. Others were out in the open, as mystics, spiritual leaders, folk healers, and so on. Which isn't to say all mystics, spiritual leaders, folk healers, and so on possessed the Gift. Some were regular people, just as most victims of witch hunts throughout the centuries were regular people.

Gifted people were never part of some single, united community. Rather, they tended to change with the societies in which they lived. Rural Gifted people tended to live in their own bubbles, while those in more densely populated areas began to find each other and form underground communities and secret societies. And, with exploration and immigration and cultural diffusion, Gifted people were able to share and spread information amongst each other. For centuries, Gifted communities were essentially regional, some with varying degrees of formal governance; others, without any formality or leadership at all.

People's worlds were smaller, back in the day, and information traveled slowly. That was how the Gifted community kept its secrets for so long. Of course, Gifted people were exposed throughout history, but that would become the stuff of witch hunts, or superstition, or folklore.

In time, this became increasingly difficult. Photography became more common. And then sound recording and video. And travel. Travel became so much easier. The rise of the radio, motion pictures, television, broadcasting... Plus, it's not like there was any unified governing body of Gifted leadership or anything. Who would be able to enforce secrecy? Trepidation and self-preservation had been enough to keep most of Gifted society underground throughout history, but in a rapidly changing world, that was no longer a compelling enough reason.

As the 20th century unfolded, the writing was on the wall. Worldwide, irrefutable discovery was inevitable. In the throes of the Second World War, there were scattered, documented incidents of spells in action, or Gifted people (some soldiers, some civilians) flaming out spectacularly. At the time, though, the incidents were only reported in isolation of each other, across the world, with nobody connecting them. Strange phenomena, nothing more.

But that was enough for Gifted communities across the world to attempt to organize a summit amongst themselves. Many regions went unrepresented, both because of the recent world war, and the fact that Gifted people are just as susceptible to xenophobic, racist, and imperial attitudes as the non-Gifted population (leading to a prioritization of certain voices over others). Still, with those who were present, a decision was made for the Gifted community to formally introduce themselves to the rest of the world.

In 1946, Gifted representatives made a formal declaration of existence and peaceful intentions to the United Nations.

So it was smooth sailing from there, right? Yeah, sure. Everything was fine after that!

Okay, okay, so the existence of magic was a huge shock to the world. The transition from "there's no such thing as magic" to "oh my god there are wizards all over the planet" was... rocky. Sure, some countries adjusted pretty quickly and easily. Others were full of tension, social upheaval, and scapegoating. In the worst cases, there was violence and persecution, rekindled witch hunts (not that they ever fully went away before). And, in a few regions, Gifted people absolutely tried to stage coups and take over.

For the purposes of this post, we're going to narrow our focus to the United States from here on out. Much of the worldbuilding is meant to be flexible, and you can probably get a sense of how other countries handled the existence of Gifted people based on real-world modern history for the regions. Okay, tell me more about the Gifted community in America... To be clear, there were more issues sweeping through the country than just the existence of magic. Gifted issues were just one facet, among many, of an ever-changing American society. For the most part, you can assume the following is occurring alongside American history as we know it: 1945-64, 1964-80, 1980-91, and so on. Events and issues relating to the Gifted community did not replace the Civil Rights Movement, Women's Liberation, Gay Liberation, or anything else. In this universe, Gifted is just one of many identities that can intersect and interact with others.

In the 1950s, many Gifted people refused to reveal themselves, continuing to present a public image of being just like their non-Gifted neighbors. With the profound social pressure to be the Perfect American Family, many opted to go along with it. In cities, of course, there was somewhat more freedom to be openly Gifted without fear of harassment or other repercussions, and so some thriving Gifted communities emerged in major cities. Elsewhere, especially in heavily fundamentalist areas, there was extreme, sometimes dangerous backlash against the very existence of Gifted people.

The 60s and 70s, however, saw more Gifted people coming out in the open, and coming together. Many Gifted youth became involved in activism, and they pushed for legislation that would support and protect the community. One example of a popular issue at the time was public school programs to identify and teach Gifted children from a young age, so that all Gifted children could be given the same opportunities to learn and grow their Talents. (This would also, Gifted activists hoped, have the benefit of identifying Gifted kids from non-Gifted families, the ones who otherwise would have fallen through the cracks.) This proposal was, predictably, highly unpopular amongst non-Gifted parents, who complained it would be government overreach. Many Gifted people were also concerned that such a program might lead to a registry that could be used against the population.

In any case, by the 80s, there were more Gifted politicians and shit. A lot of the initial hysteria about Gifted people had died down a bit in the 70s, but were rekindled in the 80s with the growing strength of fundamentalists in the US. That good ol' Satanic Panic really hit the Gifted community hard.

The 90s was when things had largely settled, and it was becoming less and less politically viable to attack the Gifted population. By the 2000s, they're practically mainstream, and occasionally trendy. Is there a federal office for Gifted issues? What about law enforcement? Magical law enforcement... stuff... exists... And bureaucracy etc. Not wholly separate from non-magical LE and departments/agencies/etc, and not secret (or any more/less secret than CIA, FBI, etc doings) Magic forensic science Restrictions on acquiring particularly new Do Gifted people have roles in international politics and conflicts? Yes. Big ones. Are there more magical beings in this world than Gifted people? It turns out: demons are real! And it doesn't stop there, exactly. ​What's that about demons? Demons exist. Now, here's the good news:

• Demons aren't evil! Well. They're not all evil (#notalldemons). Some are total assholes who get off on tormenting people and rending them into confetti on a mental, spiritual, and physical level. Others are kind, sweet, and practically benevolent! Most fall in some gray area in-between, just like people. The problem is: the demons most likely to interfere with humans are the dicks of the demon world.
• Demons don't live in the same plane of existence as humans! This means they don't have any physical forms in our world, unless they find their way into somebody's body. Even then, their influence might be limited. If they manage to gain control over a person's body, however, they can use that person as a meat puppet.
• Demons can't possess people willy nilly! To some degree, they have to be invited by their hosts. And to even host a demon, you have to be Gifted. So regular humans are completely safe from possession; a demon couldn't get in even if it wanted to.

So, Gifted people who practice their magic responsibly really have nothing to fear when it comes to demons. For the vast majority of people, the chances of encountering a demon in any way are very, very slim. In order to draw a demon in, accidentally or deliberately, a Gifted person has to be a particular blend of skillful, talented, and recklessly stupid. Most Gifted people with the skill and raw talent to summon a demon... are smart enough to exercise caution. Most Gifted people who are recklessly stupid enough to summon a demon, don't have the skill and drive to do it. It takes a special kind of idiot to tick all those boxes.

So, what are demons, exactly? They're beings that have an intrinsic connection to the Gift. Beings that live in an another reality. Separate, but parallel, overlapping our world. What do they look like? Nobody really knows, to be honest. They tend to take on different forms to their victims.

Demons are connected with the Gift, same as Gifted people are. However, nobody knows what that connection is, exactly. Are they made from the same primordial ether? Are they living embodiments of magic? Or were they once like humans, but have somehow become one with the Gift? Some Gifted people speculate that demons are actually a state of "enlightenment," that truly ambitious Gifted folks can attain.

Now, here's the kicker. Because very little research on demons even exists, and there's no real proof of their existence... officially, they don't exist. If a Gifted person becomes possessed by a demon and starts wreaking havoc, it's generally assumed that they're mentally ill, or inherently violent/unstable, or hopped up on drugs or some kind of irresponsible magic. For the most part, people default to just assuming mental illness, and they'll use a handy euphemism to refer to demonic possession: a Complication.

Because demons don't (officially) exist, a Gifted person who commits crimes under the influence of a demon will be held accountable for it. The upside is, because most Standards don't know anything about demons-- don't believe in them at all-- that means they're generally not used as a reason to, say, discriminate against Gifted folks. And the Gifted community does have resources for handling this particular issue. Well, not demons, specifically, since they don't exactly happen all that often. But there are resources for managing magical maladies.

Today, being Gifted in America isn't half as controversial as it once was. In fact, Gifted people, by and large, enjoy greater acceptance than ever. Now, make no mistake: there are still many people across the country who either outright hate Gifted people (fiendish abominations that they are, cursed by the devil himself), or, at best, regard them with fear and suspicion. Plenty of Americans are all-too-happy to scapegoat the entire Gifted population when one of them flames out or a strange event that defies explanation occurs.

Still, it's a lot better than it used to be. Thanks to the strides made in the 90s and early 2000s, the Gifted youth of today live in a world that's light years more tolerant than their predecessors experienced.

The Generational Divide

• Greatest Generation lived through magic users "coming out" into society.
• Baby Boomers lived through major social upheaval and saw legislation and governing bodies change to accommodate magic society.
• Gen Xers grew up being fully out in the open, but with very little (if any) positive representation, and saw a lot of "magical culture" as an underground thing.
• Millennials and onward grew up with more tolerance, acceptance, and increasingly positive/casual portrayals in media and society.

Are Gifted people discriminated against? In some ways, yes. Gifted are not an analog for real-world marginalized groups. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. all still exist in this world. Fear of magic users does not replace this, and isn't comparable. Rather, as with the real world, these factors intersect with each other.

SOME of the fear is rooted in what's likely a pretty rational fear of something that's 1) probably stronger than you and 2) inexplicable. The Gift can absolutely be frightening to people who aren't Gifted. Plus, there's that fact that innocents have been caught in the middle of a Gifted person's flameout before, and died hideously.

AS A RESULT: in some places, there's some suspicion/fear in regular human society re: magic folks, since magical flame-outs can, you know, lead to destruction and harm to bystanders. Hugely destructive magical flame-outs are highly uncommon occurrences, but since they have happened before, there's some stigma maybe IDK What are some stereotypes held against Gifted people? Presumably, though, there's less stigma if you've got a more harmless-seeming affinity or a nice, socially acceptable ritual (ie if your ritual is just rubbing crystals together instead of bloodletting). There's more societal backlash if people think the type of magic you do is one of the ones with worse reputations/stereotypes/etc. Generally, things that might be considered "dark," rather than "light." (Though these aren't official classifications.)

Bards are generally stereotyped as being shady, self-absorbed, phony attention seekers. WHAT OTHER STEREOTYPES ARE THERE? What's with all the euphemisms for everything? Gifts. Talents. Affinities. In the US, there's a lot of resistance towards just calling things what they are: magic, spellwork, powers, sorcery, and good, old-fashioned witchcraft. Hell, even magical injuries-- often weird and difficult to define, practically undetectable and untreatable with modern medicine-- are just shoved under a sterile umbrella of Complications. So, you know, if you've sprung some kind of magic leak and your life essence is slowly bleeding out of your every pore, people will just go "Oh, that sounds like quite a Complication."

Magic is real. On some level, despite dressing it up in other words, everybody knows it. They accept it, to varying degrees. But that doesn't mean society-at-large is comfortable really and truly accepting the existence of magic, with all of its accompanying implications. Such as: does this prove or disprove the existence of souls, spirits, angels, deities...? And, since there are people simply born with the ability to do magic, does this mean that there are other magical creatures out there?

As far as non-Gifted people are concerned, however, the official answer to both of those questions is: No. TELL ME MORE ABOUT IDK GROUPIES OR SOMETHING Hucksters and shills who sell stupid books and supplements to non-Gifted people to "awaken their gifts." There are a lot of scammy people who go on talk shows and get mega rich on this. Weirdos with Gifted fetishes, only try to date Gifted people, etc. Wannabe Gifted folks

short writeup on how this is a universe made with the intent of exploring the 'average' Gifted person, the mundanity of the fantastic, etc.