Nexus Event - Lore Dump (Part 2)

“So, wait...” Hermione paused, sipping at her drink. “I was under the impression that, outside of the initial violence of conquest, Muslim governments were largely tolerant given their realm's relatively cosmopolitan population. Was the oppression and threat of violence really that severe as to form the impetus for a societal schism?”

 “I assume you're referring to the oft-repeated application of the Jizya, the tax on non-Muslims, as a comparative mark of tolerance of their own system. Especially when one compares such things to other contemporary realms, especially Christian ones?”

“Precisely,” Hermione nodded, tapping a finger against her chin. “I'm not sure how back the Millet System of the Ottoman Empire goes, for example, but it could be considered another such example. Many Muslim communities were remarkably tolerant of non-Muslim ways of life, you have to admit.”

“For the time periods we're speaking of, yes,” I granted, emphasizing the qualifier. “Though, again, we're running into the risk of oversimplifying nearly a millennia and a half of complex socio-cultural, economic, and legal interactions across three continents.”

“Acknowledged,” the bushy-haired bookworm affirmed, “but even still... I think my point stands.”

“It does,” I nodded, “but it overlooks one of the classic mistakes many historians and researchers make.”

“Oh, what's that?” Hermione asked, a trace of defensiveness in her tone as I poked her academic pride. Which, if she was this bad at age eleven, I shuddered to imagine what she would be like if she ever got into university.

“Telling someone in the Medieval Middle East that they have it better than someone in Christian Feudal Europe doesn't actually mean anything or help their situation in a material way,” I informed her.

Hermione's brows furrowed. “But it's not supposed to-oh.”

“Yep,” I grinned, taking a deep drink.

“Oh,” Hermione stated again, her eyes wide with realization. “That... yes, I suppose that is a rather subtle yet profound issue at play when analyzing these issues. To clarify, you're saying that just because one region or ruling class was more tolerant than their contemporaries, such a distinction isn't really germane when discussing how it affects the motivations and lives of the people actually living under them.”

“Comparative analysis is all well and good from a modern academic perspective,” I moderated my earlier statement. “But bringing it up in this context is...”

I rolled my hand at the wrist, making a vague motion in the air as I struggled for a word that wasn't either condescending or outright insulting.

“Ancillary, at best,” Hermione filled in, giving me a smile.

“Just so,” I hummed thoughtfully. “Even if I think you understand the thrust of the point, a more material example to further illustrate things might be your own experiences here in the magical world as a muggle born witch.”

Hermione jerked slightly in her seat, blinking as she transitioned from the passive thoughtful academic to the culture-shocked child transitioning to an entirely new world. “That... I don't think I ever would have thought of it like that. I suppose there are some similarities, aren't there?”

“How would you react to a comparative analysis of the situation you're facing here in wizarding Britain versus the much harsher caste-based magical societies in India, China, or Japan?” I asked gently. “Imagine being approached by some wealthy professional who is very knowledgeable about your situation and being informed that you actually have it very good and shouldn't complain so much.”

“I suppose I'd be rather irked,” Hermione huffed, frustration mixing with humor as she contemplated my scenario. “Regardless of where my personal treatment stands against a gradient of other such examples or knowing that it could be much worse, it isn't very satisfying to be treated as a second-class citizen in a society very clearly not built to accommodate people of my identity.”

“And that really is the fundamental issue at play in western magical societies,” I stated, leaning back and crossing my legs as I reached for my drink again. “I'm not going to digress into an analysis of eastern magical societies right now – perhaps another time – but it doesn't really matter how good or bad someone 'has it' a thousand miles away when you have to deal with paying more taxes than everyone else, being looked upon with suspicion or accused outright of crimes you didn't commit, or barred from civil service because of some aspect of your birth or identity that you refuse to alienate yourself from merely to fit in.”

“Under that lens, it is rather understandable how the magical populations of these regions felt they didn't have any recourse but to form parallel societies,” Hermione nodded, picking her pen back up and beginning to write. “Just a moment, I need to get all this down. It's terribly important and I allowed myself to get too involved in the discussion to keep taking notes simultaneously.”

“Take your time,” I stated, picking up a few slices of chilled meats and cheeses and assembling a small sandwich for myself.

After a short break where we mutually indulged in a bit more food and drink, Hermione cleared her throat. “So... can I assume that something similar was happening in European societies during these periods?”

“Similar, but distinct,” I confirmed, removing my wand and giving my clothing a quick tap that banished the small crumbs coating it. “It's probably best that we transition here to the High Medieval period, that is, between one thousand and thirteen hundred AD-”

“You do know that modern historians are attempting to convert to the Common Era standard rather than the religiously-denoted Anno Domini demarcation, correct?” Hermione interrupted, her pen still scraping away.

“The term 'Common Era' actually originates during the early seventeenth century and as such isn't really all that 'modern' in its use. I won't be using it, though, given that I am in face a Crown Prince of the Kingdom of New Camelot and, therefore, ascribe to the belief that rulership is a divinely-ordained position anointed by the Most High,” I stated, my voice bland and overtly irritable.

Hermione had looked up when I'd contradicted her and my level stare drew a flush to her cheeks, forcing her gaze downcast again as she realized this wasn't something I was going to be shamed into. “Ah, well then... I'm terribly sorry, please go on?”

I cleared my throat and took a breath, pushing away the momentary frustration with practiced ease. Hermione might be less of a know-it-all when confronted with people who genuinely and provably knew more than her on a given subject, but she was still overeager to show off her knowledge and academic skills.

“The High Medieval period was, in many ways, the high-water mark for upper-class magical and mundane relations since the Fall of Rome.” I paused pointedly. “While also representing the low-water mark for lower-class magical and mundane relations.”

“That's... quite the dichotomy,” Hermione stated, quietly stunned. “How do you explain the difference?”

“How do you explain the dichotomy of political opinions between the upper and lower-classes today?” I asked in reply, admittedly somewhat cheekily.

“Well... there are a number of reasons,” Hermione hedged, nibbling on the end of her pen. “But for the sake of brevity, I would say money.”

“That is what tends to make the upper-class and the lower-class what they are, respectively,” I acknowledged. “But to go more in-depth on the subject... money allows one access to many things: formal education, land ownership, the ability to travel, the power to bribe officials, the ability to hire their own military force to keep peace in their lands...”

I drained my cup as the thought percolated in Hermione's head and her pen scratched. I moved to pour myself more from the pitcher. “That is one thing that stays constant throughout both of our societies, I suppose. And that difference between upper and lower-classes manifested in poorer witches and wizards being less capable of defending themselves from mundane individuals, specifically the nobility and the churches, but also the regular peasantry.”

“Was it religious persecution?” Hermione asked, frowning. “I did a bit of research on the subject before coming to Hogwarts and the earliest real evidence there is for that kind of thing is in the mid twelve-hundreds with the formal establishment of the Inquisition and Pope Alexander the IV's ruling that sorcery amounted to heresy.”

“Religion played a part in what happened next, no doubt, but it was more complicated than one simple issue,” I stated slowly, puzzling out my own words on the topic. “While the old magical cults to the pagan deities of Rome had faded in the time since the Fall of the Western Empire, magicals were looked upon with suspicion when they attempted to enter Catholic houses of worship and generally kept of a kind of folk-paganism or quiet atheism. Neither of which, I'm sure you can imagine, enhanced their popularity or acceptance with their neighbors.”

“So they were shunned?” Hermione asked, her eyes flicking up to me.

“More like, they were kept at arm's length,” I stated. “Magicals could often offer services and products that mundane people simply couldn't, even with the minimal kind of education most families could pass down. Just a potion that could remove warts or cure boils was often invaluable in an age with otherwise primitive medical treatments. Likewise, the power to mend objects or obscure a village from an advancing group of bandits was highly prized. The result was people who liked what you could do, but wanted as little to do with you as possible and blamed any poor turn of luck – bad harvests, sickness, livestock deaths, etc – on you when no other easy target was available.”

“Wouldn't anti-muggle wards solve that problem, though? Simply allow the wizards and witches to hide in their homes?” Hermione pressed.

“To what end?” I riposted, making her frown. “You're taking the magical education of the modern age for granted, here. Even for the few especially learned or lucky magicals who knew how to construct such wards or had an ancestor who had done so, being truly apart from the community in the way you're suggesting would mean growing one's own food, raising your own livestock, making your own clothing, and all manner of other tasks. Villages exist for a reason, simply put, and it was during this time that magicals started congregating properly for the first time since Rome fell in large numbers and setting up their own communities. Some of the oldest magical towns in Europe date from the first century AD, in fact.”

“Fascinating,” Hermione muttered, taking more notes. “So communities simply pushed out magicals and forced them into their own segregated areas?”

“That and the Crusades,” I sighed, fidgeting in my chair and feeling joints pop as I did so. “Which... were something of a giant mess for both magical Europe and the magical Middle East.”

“That's a bit of an understatement just from what I understand of the subject on the mu-mundane side of things,” Hermione noted with a small smile.

“Pursuant to our side of things... the Crusader armies and the armies raised by the Muslim world in response, both needed magicals to serve in some capacity,” I explained with a frown. “It did not particularly matter whether they were skilled magicals or not, they just needed to be able to do something to help the army, particularly if it looked impressive enough to intimidate hostile forces.”

“I can see why mass conscription like that would be potentially damaging to relations between the two worlds,” the bushy-haired witch hummed. “And wealthy magicals were exempt from service?”

I nodded in affirmation. “When they did go to war, wealthy wizards – and rarely witches – traveled as a part of a ruler's personal traveling court or were enobled to act as a royal guard. Additionally, they were often actually paid, as opposed to conscripted magical soldiers who frequently went unpaid and were told that they should simply be thankful for the opportunity to die in God's service and have their blasphemy and apostasy forgiven.”

“That's...” Hermione trailed off, obviously struggling to find the words.

“That same tendency to stiff magicals of debts carried over when people traveled back to Europe as well. While magical mercenaries – often known as hit-wizards – was never exactly a common occupation, it became rarer and rarer for any magical to accept employment under a non-magical lord simply due to the chance they wouldn't be paid and the danger posed if they tried to demand it.”

“Danger?” Hermione asked, disbelief evident in her tone as I quenched the thirst I'd worked up talking at such length. “While I can imagine a modern soldier with a gun would stand a good chance against a wizard with the element of surprise, what chance would a bunch of... well, medieval knights stand?”

“Even the most well-trained combat-oriented wizards and witches of this era would be a pale shadow when compared to the sheer skill and knowledge of those today,” I reminded her pointedly, to which she blushed. “Due to the rigors of life in general, that did mean those who survived tended to be individually more powerful, but... well, everyone has to sleep at some point. A common tactic on the noble's part was often to get a wizard drunk and then take advantage of their stupor to have them murdered while defenseless.”

“Oh, I... hadn't thought about it that way,” Hermione admitted with a frown, scribbling more in her notes. “And they didn't simply do such things to wealthy magicals?”

“Those with wealth tended to be more capable in addition to being more wise to the moods of the court and the noble they were pledged to,” I stated. “That isn't to say such things didn't happen, but there was also the question of such wealthy wizards having friends or family who could act in retribution were they to suffer an untimely death.”

“I suppose money really does mean you live in a different world,” Hermione admitted softly, then froze and looked at me with alarm. “I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean-”

I waved her off. “Don't worry about that. It's the truth, after all. I try not to be the kind of person who gets mad when someone tells the truth like that.”

“Ah... alright then,” Hermione stated, still a bit uncomfortable. “So... it was the lower-class magicals that started the official movement for what would become the Statute of Secrecy?”

“We are getting to that point in history, yes,” I hummed. “The 'Print Revolution' in the magical world happened about two hundred years earlier than in the non-magical world. The invention of the self-writing quill and the proliferation of certain copying charms started to make the written word more common among our communities, increasing literacy, and thereby beginning a multiplicative – if not exponential – increase in the variety, complexity, and efficiency of modern spells and magic in general.”

“That would most like trigger a commensurate awareness of their general condition as regards political organization and rights,” Hermione hypothesized. “At least, if what I know of the muggle world carries over properly.”

“That was more or less what happened, yes. Whereas the magical communities had begun living apart from the mundane ones over the previous centuries, slowly shifting away from each other, the emergent refusal to participate in conflicts like the Crusades, and the continually mounting tension from religious ostracization and persecution began the impetus to create autonomous bureaucratic structures in the thirteen-hundreds. This, in turn, began the process of creating a political administration. Along the way, wizarding society started realizing that, in an absolute and explicit way, we could exist without non-magical society... and that was the real beginning of the Statute of Secrecy, at least in a formal way.”

“I think I remember seeing some well-articulated arguments for why the Statute – or what eventually became the Statute – should be implemented from that time period,” Hermione stated. “Although, in the history books, it seems as if such tracts emerged out of nowhere. There wasn't any discussion of public sentiment prior to the fifteen-hundreds-”

“Which focused almost entirely on the height of the European Witch Trials,” I guessed without guessing. “And completely disregarded or failed to mention any level of social, economic, and cultural complexity to the situation.”

“I wouldn't want to disparage the literature on the subject, but...” Hermione pulled an awkward place.

“To be perfectly fair, the Witchcraft Trials were pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back. They came at a time when magical society had already been dealing, for centuries, with the Inquisition, forced recruitment into the Crusading Armies, religious persecution and economic disenfranchisement... in point of fact, there's a lot to be said regarding the comparison between magical communities and Jewish communities in Europe.”

“Really?” Hermione asked, then nodded. “I suppose I can see where you're going with that thought. European Jews, especially in the east, started forming small self-sufficient market towns around the same period because of similar pressures, didn't they?”

“Shtetls,” I clarified. “That's probably why some of the largest and oldest magical communities in the area are populated primarily by Jews who used the skills of their magical family members to essentially convert their settlements to fully-magical areas of habitation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to escape the wars that ravaged nearby mundane communities.”

Hermione blinked. “Even that late? How were they allowed to do that if the Statute was signed in the late sixteen-hundreds?”

This is actually a good segue,” I noted, idly drumming my fingers on the table. “Even within Europe there were communities that were slow to accept the Statute being enacted. In particular, one of the problems was the fragmentary nature of magical political organization. Britain, France, Denmark, Spain... these countries had the advantage of a unified non-magical government that gave the wizards a template to pull from. Even then, though, there were some analogous growing pains in the magical world to the nationalism of the non-magical one.”

“And in order to sign a binding political agreement like the Statute of Secrecy, you'd have to have some kind of internationally-recognized governmental structure,” Hermione stated, sussing out the point and looking contemplative as a result.

“Have you taken a close look at a map of the various European polities in the magical world?” I asked her pointedly.

Hermione blinked, then shook her head silently.

“The Basque Country,” I stated bluntly.

Her eyes widened and she stiffened in her seat. “Really?”

“I don't think anyone's explained it to the French or the Spanish, yet.” I paused, chuckling. “But that's just one example, and a minor one at that. The real issue has always been the Magical Principalities of the Germanic States. If you've read anything regarding the Dark Lord Grindelwald?”

“A bit? He was active during the late thirties and early forties, wasn't he?” Hermione asked. “Roughly coinciding with the Second World War.”

“In a previous age, Grindelwald would have been spoken of much more fondly, especially had he succeeded in his attempt to unify the principalities. His tactics, though... were suitably cruel that they belonged within that earlier age. Modernity simply doesn't forgive the kinds of black magic he used so easily,” I explained. “More germane to our discussion, though, is the fact that there are a handful of the old German princely states that never signed the Statute. They're small ones and, in large part, they still maintain some level of secrecy simply due to the fact that magical communities live apart from mundane ones, but...”

“There's no legal enforcement mechanism to compel them to erase their citizen's memories,” Hermione understood. “But if that's the case, wouldn't rumors or proof of magic society-”

“Get erased and confiscated the moment they move past the border?” I interjected. “Or simply disregarded as wild tales and evidence of some kind of mental condition?”

“B-but television-” Hermione tried, waving a hand expressively.

“In the kind of quality an immediate broadcast you'd need to be able to catch something like that on film?” I asked. “Television is almost at the point where you can get someone on-site with a camera in half an hour and have everything hooked up for broadcast to the station and then to the wider world. There might be a reduced amount of latency in the signal itself, especially in the last decade, but we just don't have the kind of ease-of-use and portability to allow someone to be on-site with a camera when magical phenomena happens.”

Which would change in ten to fifteen years, but a decade and a half in the future wasn't today.

 “When you put it like that...” Hermione grudgingly nodded. “So, which countries today aren't signatories to the Statute?”

I leaned back in my seat and thought on the question. “Well... it's fewer than you'd imagine, but they're important. The Magical Congress of the United States of America signed for many of the same reasons the European countries did, though the surviving population of native American practitioners probably strengthened the impulse, as it allowed their communities to better hide themselves. The Caribbean magical communities, though...”

“That's where New Camelot is located, isn't it?” Hermione asked suddenly.

I nodded. “New Camelot is on a warded island the size, often referred to as Jamaica's Twin just west of that same island. There are probably a dozen other islands that have warded themselves off in that region, all of which have significant mundane populations that live on them. There's a similar phenomenon in Indonesia, as well, with small island kingdoms run by a magical royal houses. The magical population of Australia... well, the one that hails from European-descended lines signed the Statute, but the aboriginal communities – note the plural there – still operates on a tribal societal level. There's virtually no way to push them to enforce the Statute.”

“What about Africa? Sub-Saharan Africa specifically, given you've talked about the north of the continent,” Hermione asked.

“Most of the people living on the magical side of the divide in Sub-Saharan Africa simply don't acknowledge the existing mundane political structures and have something of a loose tribal confederation instead.” I explained slowly. “Keep in mind that these are very broad summaries, but... Africa is still a hotbed of witch hunts-”

“It is?” Hermione blinked, startled.

“It is,” I confirmed. “Literally thousands of people across the continent are accused of being witches, very often orphans and young children so that society can justify no providing for them.”

Her eyes wide, Hermione pressed a hand over her mouth. “That's horrifying!”

“The magical communities of Africa have actually made a practice of... well, essentially abducting magical individuals accused of witchcraft to extract them from volatile situations.” I grimaced, but there wasn't really a more polite way to put it without disguising the truth. “Granted, most magicals, especially the children, opt to stay with the tribes after their experience on the mundane side, but it's still a necessary evil to combat an unnecessary one.”

“And you said India, China, and Japan are more complicated than that?” Hermione asked in disbelief.

I sighed deeply. “The respective regions have an unfortunate habit of each dynasty retreating from advancing forces attempting to overthrow them, magically concealing their position and simply setting up an isolated city-state under their rule. There are roughly fifteen major cities with a population of over a million beings each, all of them claiming to be the true ruling leaders of each respective country's magical population. At least, that is the case for China and Japan.”

“And India?” Hermione asked.

 “India is subdivided into so many princely states that it functionally doesn't exist as a singular magical political entity, much like Germany,” I explained.

“That is...” Hermione struggled for words.

“Something of a catastrophe, given the situation we're facing, I'm aware,” I stated, my tone turning suddenly grave.

Far more than you, yourself, know.

~~~

Here's the second part of the Lore Dump for Nexus Event and concludes the things that I won't be able to work into the story organically very easily.

Hope everyone enjoys it.

Next update will be more Mind Games and the Naruto side of Industrious.

Thank you for your support and patience.