[quote=@naomimyselfandi] I know this was a rhetorical question, but I don't think it should be. "Magic as technology" is one approach, and many well-respected stories use it, but it's not the only way, and I don't think it's the approach [@Gisk] wants to take. As long as magic requires a witch, it will never replace electricity - no one's going to contract a witch every time they want to put the kettle on. To be clear, I'm not trying to argue for the superiority of either approach; I'm just not sure we're collectively on the same page about what sort of story we're trying to tell here. Gisk, am I correct in understanding that you see the setting here as more or less like the real world? [/quote] There's a movie, Onward. In it, people could use magic, but it was difficult to learn. So when someone comes up with the light bulb and a means of powering it, they started moving towards tech, and not many people use magic. To me, that seems to be a logical progression. Then there's the world of Harry Potter - the mages keep themselves hidden from the muggles, so you have cars and flying broomsticks. And that makes sense to me. [hr] In this world, we have magic which is still being practiced despite the existence of technology and a cost to work that magic.... So I have to ask how that works? Edit - Okay, I accept that science and math classes are a necessary part of the curriculum, so there would be development along these lines. [hr] There is another series I've read by Patricia Briggs - Mercedes Thompson. Basically, the main character is a VW mechanic working in Seattle who also is a skinwalker - she can transform herself into a coyote. And she was raised by a werewolf pack - her neighbor is the Alpha of the Seattle Pack. And one of her customers is a vampire who had a van customized into the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo. In this setting, like Harry Potter, the magical world maintains a separation between itself and the mundane. To quote MIB, "People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." But the various factions of magical beings realize at some point they're going to be exposed (same argument for supers, what with face recognition software, etc). So the fairy folk came out first, and wind up having to move to a reservation but they were able to control somewhat how they got represented. The werewolves at the start of this series are trying to work out how to come out to the public themselves. Turns out there's a lot of werewolves in the military... [hr] So, in the 80's, we had the satanic panic, where religious groups were denouncing Dungeons & Dragons, while people and places like pre-schools became suspect due to the McMartin case (children were encouraged to tell stories about rituals, etc.) and lead to cameras being installed in them. What if part of that panic was wizards coming out of the closet? (The government was aware of the wizards but hid their involvement as it wouldn't look good to admit they were working with them. Some UFO sightings were, in fact, wizards. But not all of them....) Sanctuary was originally built to be exact that - a sanctuary. A magic bunker, as it were, one of many scattered around the country. (They haven't forgotten Salem.) Thus we have secret societies, much like today's preppers and militia groups preparing for Armageddon, against the day the government comes for the wizards. The town itself is warded to prevent errant magic from leaking out.... [hider=MIB Incident Report GH-601024][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3nzj65BOBU9[/youtube][/hider] ...but things sometimes happen. Some of the mages are not happy with the decision to come out when they did. We could also have busses arriving at various times with protesters. [quote]Ladies and gentlemen, we will be having a protest at the main gate by the Westboro Baptist Church today. While you may defend yourself as necessary, we would like to remind you that turning the protesters into frogs or any other offensive magic will result in immediate expulsion, [i]no matter who started it.[/i][/quote] But yeah, there may be more things hidden away or even forgotten, little (and not so little) caches of various magic weapons, creatures, or even minor gods. Because where there's ghosts, there's....