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Originally Posted by chrispenycate  I don't see why the situation would necessarily cause social conflict. Through most of human history society has been based on the inequality of its members, without anything like as much evidence to demonstrate this inequality.
Some of the longest lasting and most stable socities had well defined caste systems, and they didn't generate frequent rebellion.
The idea that all human beings are of equal worth is relatively recent, and frankly doesn't seem to give a great stability to a community; "if I'm as good as him, how come he's got more than me?"
I know it's fashionable to assume democracy is the optimum social system but for a peasant, at least, (possibly not a serf) the ability to plan ahead, assuming nothing major will change is an advantage outweighing a lot of votes and rights.
Does the magic get used for practical purposes, or is it essentially wasted on luxuries? |
The social revolution happened long ago with the magicians usurping rule from the peopl ewho are now the commoners. The tower was the instrument that led to the switch. Before the tower, magicians who lived past puberty were spread thin and fearful of the non-magical nobility who ruthlessly hunted them down, knowing that should they organize they would be a great threat to the power base. The tower was built on an island southeast of the southern tip of the continent this story begins on.
Now however, there are very few open rebellions as the magicians are the ruling class. It is essentially an oligarchy with the requirement of being a magician to elevate you to the elite. Not all magicians are created equal, those common born and fostered never garner the luxuries of the noble (i.e. the families who have birthed magicians for generations and generations), but they are still part of the elite class. Commoners, even those who rise above the general public, are still that, commoners.
The majority of magic is used the same way we use technology, to make our lives easier while making sure that our way of life isn't threatened. Therefore, enchantments abound are found in the average castle and manor, and in the event that provinces war with one another, the rabble of the common class is thrown at the other side before magicians find themselves face to face in combat.
But to get back to the short answer, the civil unrest I believe that would come fundamentally with the existance of magic would be that since it is powerful and it isn't something that can be achieved through hard work or theft/conquer, the natural end for those who don't have it would be to make sure that others who have it cannot use it against them. Thus the genocide of the earlier times and the creation of the tower to stop it.
The civil unrest inside the story itself isn't between the common and the noble, but because of the existance of a flaw in the system (the main character). All the unrest is the history of the land.