In Short...

The world of Logic Failure is very similar to our own. LF Earth is at the same technological stage as our Earth, has a very similar political situation, and humans haven't randomly mutated into X-Men yet, or anything silly like that. However, there is one significant difference: Logic Failure Earth has magic, and has done since the first forming of the planet. Where it comes from, or how it actually does what it does, nobody's really sure, but as of the present day humans have learnt to treat the practice of magic almost as a science. Magic is, to the average person, only slightly more unusual than a reasonably advanced computer. Mages are important, certainly more than just the average Joe, and people will turn to watch them in the street, but nothing more. Still, there are some things you can't erase the romance from, and ordinary people the world over would still like to be able to bring a little magic into their lives...

...And The Detailed Version

Magic

There are two kinds of magic in the world: the magic of Wizards, also often called Mages, which is codified and controlled. A science, not an art. Then there is the magic of Sorcerers. Sorcerers, also known as Innates, have the natural ability to tap into the flow of magic directly. Thus, there is the Code of Wizards but the Art of Sorcery. However, both control the same magical Weave, they merely access it in different ways.

Wizards

Wizards (or Mages) are the standard wielders of magic in Logic Failure. They control magic through specially created, magically resonant words and gestures. Each word or gesture, combined with careful concentration, forces the magic in the immediate area to move through a specific motion. A series of them pulls the magic together and weaves it into a spell. Wizards refer to their magic system as Codified Magic, or the Code, to differentiate it from the passive, natural magic fields that lie over the Earth as a whole. Learning the correct incantations for spells is incredibly difficult and requires a focused and highly intelligence mind, as the words themselves are intrinsically magical, and writhe within the mind of the user. Trying to learn a spell more powerful than you can control can result in anything from singed eyebrows to a mile-wide crater, depending on how powerful the spell is, and accidentally uttering a wrong incantation can cause similar results as you lose control of the gathered magic power. As a direct result of this, Codified magic is almost impossible to learn without a dedicated magical teacher and some series concentration, and the schools of magic tend to have heavily reinforced walls...

The Schools of magic are run very similar to standard academic schools, and indeed teach many of the same subjects. In order to get into a Mage School you must be both wealthy and well-connected, as the teaching of magic is an expensive business, mostly because of the impossibly high fees that a Wizard demands before he will reduce himself to teaching. However, if you can get in, you get an exceptional education. As well as the usual teaching of Maths, English, Latin, the sciences and so on, plus a number of foreign languages, the students are taught in the Arcane Languages, magical theory, and of course practical magic. Mage School continues on from Secondary School age through to the age of 25, and school of magic alumni are generally not expected to go to University. Apart from anything, having passed through a school of magic you are automatically eligible for practically any work you may wish to get, and Wizards with a particularly high final result have been known to move directly into high diplomatic office within a week of graduating.

However, the excellence of the course comes at something of a price. Firstly, graduating at all is exceptionally difficult, and only the most intelligence have even the glimmerings of a hope. Incredibly tough examinations at the end of every term rapidly weed out the stupid and the mediocre, and not long after the merely smart. Then, of course, there's the ever-present danger of accidentally blowing yourself up from uncontrolled magical discharge, plus the even higher chance of another student accidentally blowing you up from their uncontrolled spells. Magic is a dangerous business, and the Schools are exempt from all blame should a student kill or maim himself with magic. Not that this stops the wealthy parents sending their children anyway, of course...

Bursaries are also a part of the system, allowing a very few truly exceptional candidates, not otherwise wealthy enough to go, to be sponsored through their degree by the government. However, considering the average (and very low) pass rates and the very small number of poor background student entries, only a tiny percentage of Wizards in the world are from anything other than a rich and well-connected background. Some claim this to be unfair, but in fact the bursaries make an effective counter-argument to this, as they return to their families and describe just how absurdly difficult the course is. If it's that hard, who can really complain when only a few make the grade?

Something not many people worldwide have truly grasped, however, is just how large a percentage of the governments around the world are Wizards. Certainly, there are ordinary people in every government as well, but the exceptional intelligence of most Mages means that they are a clear favourite choice in serious political postings. So far, only one group has grasped the possible consequences of this, and even they aren't sure. Besides, they're just paranoid rumours, scare stories. Aren't they?

Sorcerers

Sorcerers (or Innates, in slang) are the more unusual brand of magic-wielder. In fact, they're incredibly unusual: less than 1 in 10,000 people will be Gamma-level Sorcerers, the weakest form. Sorcerers are humans who, usually between the age of 12 and 20, manifest the ability to control magic as a natural, innate ability. They don't use words or gestures to command magic, they simply tap into it directly through pure concentration. Scientific tests have not been able to differentiate between a normal human and a Sorcerer, but then science always had a few problems when it came to magic.

Sorcerers come in three levels for ease of classification, although they can vary enormously within these general bands: Gamma, the weakest, with at most the power to perhaps light a fire or make a book move around the room. Beta, the average level, roughly equal to newly-graduated Wizard. Any given human has about a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of being one of these. Alpha, the most powerful, equal to a Master-Wizard and capable of exceptional control over the magical Weave. There are probably about three of these world wide, at the most. Then there's the rumour of a fourth, Alpha-Plus, Sorcerers so powerful that a single one could have ended World War 2 with a single, armageddon-like blast, though he would have destroyed himself in the process. Alpha-Plus Sorcerers would theoretically be direct conduits for pure magical energy, capable of impossibly powerful blasts that vastly outweigh that of even the strongest Wizard. However, these are just rumours, and no-one believes in them anyway...

Sorcerous magic, which they refer to as their Art of Magic, tends to be very different from Wizards' Codified Magic. Sorcerers are controlling raw magic itself, while Wizards attempt to refine it into something that can be safely used. Needless to say, when Sorcerers get things wrong it tends to be even more spectacular than a Wizard's failure, as raw magical power blasts through them like the hole at the bottom of the Dam. There is no School of Sorcery, and there'd be no point in one in any case. Sorcery can't be taught, it is an innate ability, and every Sorcerer taps into the Weave in a very slightly different way.

Sadly for Sorcerers, due to their natural powers and their rarity, they aren't viewed well by, well, anyone who isn't a Sorcerer. Ordinary people view them as mutants, human aberrations with power that they shouldn't have. While not actually violent towards them (except in the case of certain gangs and more extreme individuals), Sorcerers are generally shunned by a community. Wizards, on the other hand, despise Sorcerers for their easy access to power that the Wizards themselves had to work for. They see Sorcerers as a threat to their positions, a cross between an enemy and a time-bomb, untrained fools with power they don't even begin to understand. It's a tough life, being a Sorcerer. The whole world is against you, you have a decent chance of destroying yourself early on, and not even you have any idea how the hell you do what you do...

The Weave

The Weave is the name that Wizards gave to the magical currents that constantly flow around the Earth. All usage of magic draws or focuses energy from the Weave, and usage of magic or magical items can be sensed by the twists they make in the magical flow. It takes a Wizard a simple spell to be able to see the Weave visually as an indescribable flowing rainbow, and using this they can see locations where a magic-user has twisted the weave to their own purposes. Similarly, Sorcerers, with their direct access to the Weave, can always sense any imprints on the Weave caused by the usage of magic. The stronger the spell or item twisting the flow, the more easily it can be detected and the further away the ripples spread. It is a less well-known fact that any Sorcerer, whether he is casting spells or not, can be detected in the same way. Sorcerers make a tiny imprint in the Weave merely by their very existence, due to their natural magic. However, this is usually considered useless, as the imprint (even for an Alpha) is almost undetectable except at very close ranges.

Seen visually (using the Wizards' spell Mage Sight), the Weave appears to be a 3-dimensional rainbow-coloured lattice that overlays and runs through the world, so that you are walking through a cacophany of glowing colours with every step. Wizard and Sorcerer magic can be told apart very easily simply by looking at the effect they have upon the Weave, as Wizard magic gestures and words make visible, crackling tears in the lattice, around which the Weave bends. In this way the Weave is dragged into the specific shape that forms one of the Codified spells, and due to this spellcasting is often compared to knitting as a basic analogy. Once the specific shape is formed, the resulting built-up magical pressure causes manifestations in the real world that take a certain shape, that shape being based on the spell-form created. Why it is that the Weave does this is unknown, but new workable shapes, new Codified spells, are being discovered all the time. Of course, the fact that the occasional meddling Wizard hits a dangerous construction and maims or kills himself does not stop others from attempting to find fame with the next important spell.

The far more direct and less rigid power of the Sorcerer, meanwhile, creates a very different imprint. Indeed, Wizards seeing a powerful Sorcerer work magic with Mage Sight active for the first time are often truly terrified, as the Weave itself twists up and around the Sorcerer, flaring around at their bidding like a cloak of power. There is no careful construction of Codified spells here, merely pure magic itself manifesting at the innate will of the wielder. However, such direct control over the Weave is very draining, even more so than the exhaustive concentration required for Wizardly magic. The more power being controlled, the more draining it is, and so any Sorcerers weaker than the more powerful Betas are incapable of more than two or three reasonably strong works of magic in a row. Gammas are simply incapable of even average magic, and find it difficult to do even a small number of weak spells.