Magical Anthropology
Magical Anthropology
There are'nt many witches and wizards, a fact which is deduced in The Phoenix. It isn't difficult to get an estimate of a total population size if the size of an identifiable sub-group is known and the population as a whole follows some basic assumptions.
Any interested reader can work out the population of wizards in the Harry Potter books by using two facts;
The number of students in a year at Hogwarts.
The proportion of the UK population that are of the same school age.
Using a similar technique for the world of the Blank Magic books gives a total estimate of the number of British witches and wizards alive during Word War Two to between five and ten thousand. I.E. Normals outnumber Wizards about 5000 to 1.
Of course the numbers can't be exact and there may be particular factors magical or otherwise, that could change the number but it's a good working approximation.
Other fantasy books have been written where magic is a wild, non-inheritable talent and it relies on some ordinary soul who must be taught magic by an established practitioner. This creates stories that focus too narrowly on that single individual and are inevitably set in worlds where the knowledge of the existence of magic is commonplace.
Even these books acknowledge that there must be some talent involved. Compare this to our own real world where anyone should be able to learn music but not everyone can be a Beethoven or Paul McCartney.
In the Blank Magic books I take another path and assume that magic is mostly hereditary.
Now a society with such a small population will face problems.
Genetics
If we assume that magical talent is linked to the parent's genetics and not all children born to wizarding couples are themselves magical then logically it makes sense that wizards should marry witches for the maximum continuance of magical folk.
Like any other group there are spontaneous combinations of normal parentage that can produce magical offspring. (where there's been a dalliance between a magic user and normal somewhere in the ancestry). Unfortunately, in the era where the stories take place, such individuals are normally considered to be mad or dangerous and are often comitted to institutions.
Marriage amongst any genetically close group has drawbacks:
In a small sub-group, if the rule about marrying within the group is reinforced rigidly then the magical population will be sustained but any genetic defect that occurs in the population will also be sustained e.g. a tendency to become mentally unstable. Depending upon the probabilities you might end up with a bunch of magical folk who are criminally insane... Not a good thing when you are outnumbered 5000 to 1.
Therefore another tactic for population survival would be to allow intermarriage but cluster into larger groups. This ensures enough genetic diversity at the cost of a potentially slower growing or even a numerically static population state. Of course there is some compensatory effect in that there is a good chance that a child with even a single magical parent may be magical
In the books, most countries only allow marriage within the magical population. In Britain, however, intermarriage is allowed and this has the additional benefit of widening the magical society's skill set.
Group Identity.
It is a fact that, throughout history any sub group who are different in any population encounters discrimination. Usually this discrimination takes the form of exclusion and/or hostility. The difference need not be racial, it can be behavioural or even based on allegiance. To protect themselves groups often resort to secrecy.
They hide their activities from the general population. This can work, but the consequence is that, when the secret is revealed, the reaction of the majority population is more extreme. As magical power is difficult to contain, magical folk come in for their own share of trouble. Our own history in Britain is filled with witch trials.
Manpower
Any cohesive society has specialists. Even in the most primitive societies in prehistory a tribe of hunters contained their own specialists and support staff: chasers, ambushers, weapon makers, cooks, tanners... the list is endless.
With a large group these roles can afford to gender discriminate; most males are front-line, most females are back-office. However, in a society with a small population it cannot afford to assign gender roles; there simply aren't enough people. Therefore witches have equal status and responsibility as wizards.
Specialisation
Since magic is a diverse field there are also not enough people, even with gender equality, to cover every branch of the subject in question. Add to this the propensity for individual witches or wizards to become narrowly focussed into their own specialisation and you will inevitably get a society where some gaps will exist in the continuum of knowledge.
Hence, when an expert witch or wizard dies there is often nobody to take over their speciality so a subject can die out along with a wizard. For example this happens with Medical Chronomancy in the books. The skill dies with its only practitioner.
Any interested reader can work out the population of wizards in the Harry Potter books by using two facts;
The number of students in a year at Hogwarts.
The proportion of the UK population that are of the same school age.
Using a similar technique for the world of the Blank Magic books gives a total estimate of the number of British witches and wizards alive during Word War Two to between five and ten thousand. I.E. Normals outnumber Wizards about 5000 to 1.
Of course the numbers can't be exact and there may be particular factors magical or otherwise, that could change the number but it's a good working approximation.
Other fantasy books have been written where magic is a wild, non-inheritable talent and it relies on some ordinary soul who must be taught magic by an established practitioner. This creates stories that focus too narrowly on that single individual and are inevitably set in worlds where the knowledge of the existence of magic is commonplace.
Even these books acknowledge that there must be some talent involved. Compare this to our own real world where anyone should be able to learn music but not everyone can be a Beethoven or Paul McCartney.
In the Blank Magic books I take another path and assume that magic is mostly hereditary.
Now a society with such a small population will face problems.
Genetics
If we assume that magical talent is linked to the parent's genetics and not all children born to wizarding couples are themselves magical then logically it makes sense that wizards should marry witches for the maximum continuance of magical folk.
Like any other group there are spontaneous combinations of normal parentage that can produce magical offspring. (where there's been a dalliance between a magic user and normal somewhere in the ancestry). Unfortunately, in the era where the stories take place, such individuals are normally considered to be mad or dangerous and are often comitted to institutions.
Marriage amongst any genetically close group has drawbacks:
In a small sub-group, if the rule about marrying within the group is reinforced rigidly then the magical population will be sustained but any genetic defect that occurs in the population will also be sustained e.g. a tendency to become mentally unstable. Depending upon the probabilities you might end up with a bunch of magical folk who are criminally insane... Not a good thing when you are outnumbered 5000 to 1.
Therefore another tactic for population survival would be to allow intermarriage but cluster into larger groups. This ensures enough genetic diversity at the cost of a potentially slower growing or even a numerically static population state. Of course there is some compensatory effect in that there is a good chance that a child with even a single magical parent may be magical
In the books, most countries only allow marriage within the magical population. In Britain, however, intermarriage is allowed and this has the additional benefit of widening the magical society's skill set.
Group Identity.
It is a fact that, throughout history any sub group who are different in any population encounters discrimination. Usually this discrimination takes the form of exclusion and/or hostility. The difference need not be racial, it can be behavioural or even based on allegiance. To protect themselves groups often resort to secrecy.
They hide their activities from the general population. This can work, but the consequence is that, when the secret is revealed, the reaction of the majority population is more extreme. As magical power is difficult to contain, magical folk come in for their own share of trouble. Our own history in Britain is filled with witch trials.
Manpower
Any cohesive society has specialists. Even in the most primitive societies in prehistory a tribe of hunters contained their own specialists and support staff: chasers, ambushers, weapon makers, cooks, tanners... the list is endless.
With a large group these roles can afford to gender discriminate; most males are front-line, most females are back-office. However, in a society with a small population it cannot afford to assign gender roles; there simply aren't enough people. Therefore witches have equal status and responsibility as wizards.
Specialisation
Since magic is a diverse field there are also not enough people, even with gender equality, to cover every branch of the subject in question. Add to this the propensity for individual witches or wizards to become narrowly focussed into their own specialisation and you will inevitably get a society where some gaps will exist in the continuum of knowledge.
Hence, when an expert witch or wizard dies there is often nobody to take over their speciality so a subject can die out along with a wizard. For example this happens with Medical Chronomancy in the books. The skill dies with its only practitioner.