Why hide the weird?

[Rebell L]

Hello,

I have been developing my WIP's backstory lately, and i keep coming back to the same thing.

So far, it seems my story can't work without a divide between the real and fantasy type worlds, but Iv'e decided to let the barrier between them collapse and focus on the failed cleanup efforts of the two sides.

Only problem is, I can't think of a good reason why the magical world would hide and how they'd keep everything contained (before they fail and everything goes public), or how the population would react exactly.

Thanks
L

[Montero]

As for hiding - possible reasons:

Power is not what it was so need to be secure
Seen as very scary by non-magical world so safer to hide

Both of which track back to the sort of myths about fairyland is just the other side of the hill/the ring of stones etc and the fae used to roam the land but retreated in the face of fast breeding aggressive human race.

[thaddeus6th]

As per Montero, I think hiding for their own safety (like the mutants in X-Men) could be a strong motivating factor.

You could also introduce a Z factors. Why make them hide just from non-magical people? Given how warlike mankind is you could have two or more sides of the magical world, and have them hide more for protection from one another than the non-magical sorts.

Keeping stuff contained depends on how you make the magic work. You could have glyphs that prevent non-magical people from seeing/hearing/remembering magical things, or have objects that inhibit magic to prevent exposure to magic. Or, and I quite like this idea, you could do the above but also have some arcane executioners who eliminate people who get any evidence of magical doings.

The population would probably meet the news with a combination of credulity and conspiracy, with relatively few being sceptical but pragmatic.

[James Coote]

Maybe there are vested interests (on both sides?)

It may be that ideas in one world conflict with the prevailing ideology in the other. It may be someone is getting rich of trading between worlds and wants to keep it quiet to protect their margins

Perhaps there are diseases in one world that don't exist in the other?

[Sapheron]

This has always been a problem for modern fantasy stories that are trying to look like they're set in our world. Different people have different takes at it.

My last work had the same issue. Luckily, the story placed a large focus on the powers of belief. In fact, a large part of the plot was the fading of magical powers and creatures, due to so many humans believing they weren't real. As a side effect of this, it created a worldwide illusion that hid anything 'unreal' from normal people. The villain's aim, in fact, was to break this illusion and stop magical things from hiding away.

Beyond my personal take on it though:

I think the Dresden Files are the best place to look. The series has pretty much every approach possible. There are the weird things in a parallel fairy land. Then you have the vampires, wizards and similar living among mankind, but keeping a low profile so that a new phase of witch hunting doesn't happen. In some cases where evidence is found of the supernatural, its dismissed as fake or some strange set of coincidences, simply because people don't believe in it. Other stuff is deliberately covered up by the government. Yet more, mostly ghost type stuff, is beyond the perception of most normal people, so is everywhere without being visible.

So, I'd suggest reading a load of modern fantasy and seeing how they handle the issue. As a supplement you could look at real life conspiracies and cover ups. I can't image you'd need to change tactics much from the things the governments of the world already do.

[David Evil Overlord]

A witch hunter with a machinegun could kill many, many Faerie.

Humans breed faster than Faerie. Imagine millions of witch hunters with machineguns.

Um, how about you form the Faerie rearguard, and I escort the Faerie women and children to a safe hiding place?

[RJM Corbet]

Originally Posted by Rebell L

... I can't think of a good reason why the magical world would hide and how they'd keep everything contained (before they fail and everything goes public), or how the population would react exactly ...

Originally Posted by Sapheron

This has always been a problem for modern fantasy stories that are trying to look like they're set in our world. Different people have different takes at it ...

Yeah. This seems to be one of those questions that probably has as many answers as there are stories, or worlds. It just throws up new questions, whenever you try to answer them?

But I think the modern division between church and state is a fair example? Or how certain religions have to worship secretly, in certain societies?

[Rebell L]

Originally Posted by David Evil Overlord

A witch hunter with a machinegun could kill many, many Faerie.

Humans breed faster than Faerie. Imagine millions of witch hunters with machineguns.

Um, how about you form the Faerie rearguard, and I escort the Faerie women and children to a safe hiding place?

Haha!

Makes sense. But what about the other side? We're not totally evil, or in the military, or likely to take on a Faerie, so how would the average person on the street react to the change?

[RJM Corbet]

Originally Posted by Rebell L

... Makes sense. But what about the other side? We're not totally evil, or in the military, or likely to take on a Faerie, so how would the average person on the street react to the change?

Maybe the government will have to convince them the Faerie are trying to build a nuclear bomb?

[David Evil Overlord]

Originally Posted by Rebell L

Haha!

Makes sense. But what about the other side? We're not totally evil, or in the military, or likely to take on a Faerie, so how would the average person on the street react to the change?

True.

Many humans will want to experience the Faerie glamour, even if it proves to be as addictive as any human-made drug. Others will see Faerie as the scapegoat for all human ills, from AIDS to the GFC. They're the new furriners comin' an' takin' all our jobs!

So you'll have humans against Faerie, and humans against the humans who are against Faerie, and...

[Vertigo]

I think you would have widespread panic, whipped up into a frenzy by religious groups and cults. Just as with 'aliens', no matter the 'reality', some would belive them benign and fawn over them, others would belive them evil and want to kill them all.

[Sapheron]

I think possibly an even greater proportion would think 'it's not my problem' and continue with their daily lives until a dragon actually came through their wall.

[Vertigo]

Well that's probably true. But then it's also probably true of almost all cases of widespread rioting. So I suspect the smaller crank minority would be very visible.

[Interference]

Interesting point someone made about religion, which actually is a belief in magic (by some interpretations), and a belief strongly held by those who have experienced the magic first-hand. How has that affected our attitudes towards religious people? It has impacted directly on church/mosque/synagogue attendances; on meetings for the initiated (Masons, Rosecrutions, Gnostics etc); directly or indirectly on politics (Tony Blair claims to have sought advice from his God before launching his self-serving, vote-grabbing and ego-boosting war in Iraq) and, I'm sure, a lot of other stuff.

Bring Magic or the dreaded Magick into the public forum and you will have believers and non-believers, followers and detractors, just as we have already, though perhaps even more common and polarised, with UFOs and the Illuminati.

[booksforlunch]

Originally Posted by Rebell L

Only problem is, I can't think of a good reason why the magical world would hide and how they'd keep everything contained (before they fail and everything goes public), or how the population would react exactly.
L

Have you considered a mixture of simple xenophobia and the faster population growth in humans?

Back in the day, when magic was more open (resulting in myths, fables and fairy tales) the "magic people" had more than enough room to avoid the "icky" mortals. Can be any reason why they hate us. Maybe our "ways" are repulsive, maybe we are the equivalent of mayflies and just as annoying, maybe we simply "stink".

Fast forward to the cure/prevention of diseases and better agricultural techniques and BAMM! more and more people in more and more places. If you were an immortal, you packed your stuff and looked for more secluded places.

If you need an explanation why they ALL went into hiding, just have some kind of United Magical Nations that made the decision that in order to protect all races, everyone had to hide, even if some didn't mind humans as such.