- - - - -
Lord Voldemort surveyed the office of the Minister of Magic, currently occupied by his servant Lucius Malfoy. The pale, long haired wizard was currently looking paler than usual.
"Lucius," Voldemort said. Lucius got up, scurrying over like a rat. He bent down to his knees and kissed the hem of his robe.
"M-My Lord," Lucius said. Voldemort stared down upon his servant with an expression of anger.
"When I rose today, I found no food set before me," he said dangerously. "I found no Daily Prophet. I found no tea nor coffee. And when I went to the bathroom, did you know what I found?"
"Ah..." Lucius tapped his fingers together. "No... Soap?"
"That, and no toilet paper," snarled Voldemort. "No water! I had to do everything, everything with magic! Which did not ease my hunger! Nor my temper! Now tell me... What is going on?"
"Well my Lord," Lucius managed, tapping his fingers together, "the thing is that, ah, there were some issues with the last order you had me issue..."
"What issues?" Voldemort growled. Lucius coughed. He got behind his desk, and made a show of flipping through a few sheets of parchment-Parchment, Voldemort noted, that had been recycled numerous times.
"Ah... Ministry Order 45-Alpha-97... 'All contact with the Muggle World is to be henceforth banned."
"So?" Voldemort demanded. "Cutting us off from the filth of the Muggle World has been my goal, my dream!"
"Yes, yes my Lord," Lucius said, "but the problem is that, quite frankly..." He tapped his fingers together. "Without the Muggle World, we have, er... Significant supply issues."
"Supply issues?" Growled Voldemort. "Like what?!"
"Well, food for one," Lucius said quite reasonably. "You didn't think we just magicked food out of nothing, did you? Even transfiguration can't supply the needed amounts of food to feed our population. We buy it all from the Muggles since they produce such vast amounts."
"Buy it?! With what?!" Voldemort demanded.
"Well, gold of course," Lucius said. He held up a galleon. "We have so much gold it is essentially worthless to us, but to the Mudbloods, gold is quite valuable indeed. They use it for all sorts of applications-"
"I fail to see how this has anything to do with my water or soap or newspaper being cut off," Voldemort growled.
Lucius looked as though he was resisting the urge to laugh, and had only squelched it through long years of practice.
"Yes, well, the muggles also produce massive amounts of soap, of linens, of cleaning supplies, materials for potions, and yes, water-I mean, we could have wizards purifying it at all hours of the day but it was seen as a waste of resources," Lucius explained. "So instead we just buy it from the Muggles with gold, with a few other precious metals we can create alchemically, even with a few feats of magic they are able to pass off as science-"
"Are you telling me," Voldemort said dangerously, "that the whole of the Wizarding World cannot even survive without Muggles?!"
Lucius coughed. "Well... Frankly my Lord... Not in our current form, no..."
- - - - -
A pretty simple idea that would require some thought to execute properly, but the idea is simple: The Magical World is actually dependent upon the Muggle world.
You don't see Wizards going out to farm, to mine, to refine common items that are not from magical creatures. Why should they? They're wizards! So the Ministry of Magic instead buys the basics of life from the Muggle world since we manufacture so much of it. Under dummy accounts, hidden corporations, and secret negotiations with Muggle governments the Wizarding World obtains things like:
-Food
-Textiles
-Common metals like iron, copper, lead, etc.
-Purified water
-Paper
-Ink
And other goods. Magic can accomplish a lot, make the manipulation of these items as easy as casting a spell but it has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is the Muggle world.
Hence, the Wizarding World as it stands literally cannot survive without the Muggle World. Not unless they direct large numbers of their population into growing food and manufacturing needed goods.
Thoughts?
Lord Voldemort surveyed the office of the Minister of Magic, currently occupied by his servant Lucius Malfoy. The pale, long haired wizard was currently looking paler than usual.
"Lucius," Voldemort said. Lucius got up, scurrying over like a rat. He bent down to his knees and kissed the hem of his robe.
"M-My Lord," Lucius said. Voldemort stared down upon his servant with an expression of anger.
"When I rose today, I found no food set before me," he said dangerously. "I found no Daily Prophet. I found no tea nor coffee. And when I went to the bathroom, did you know what I found?"
"Ah..." Lucius tapped his fingers together. "No... Soap?"
"That, and no toilet paper," snarled Voldemort. "No water! I had to do everything, everything with magic! Which did not ease my hunger! Nor my temper! Now tell me... What is going on?"
"Well my Lord," Lucius managed, tapping his fingers together, "the thing is that, ah, there were some issues with the last order you had me issue..."
"What issues?" Voldemort growled. Lucius coughed. He got behind his desk, and made a show of flipping through a few sheets of parchment-Parchment, Voldemort noted, that had been recycled numerous times.
"Ah... Ministry Order 45-Alpha-97... 'All contact with the Muggle World is to be henceforth banned."
"So?" Voldemort demanded. "Cutting us off from the filth of the Muggle World has been my goal, my dream!"
"Yes, yes my Lord," Lucius said, "but the problem is that, quite frankly..." He tapped his fingers together. "Without the Muggle World, we have, er... Significant supply issues."
"Supply issues?" Growled Voldemort. "Like what?!"
"Well, food for one," Lucius said quite reasonably. "You didn't think we just magicked food out of nothing, did you? Even transfiguration can't supply the needed amounts of food to feed our population. We buy it all from the Muggles since they produce such vast amounts."
"Buy it?! With what?!" Voldemort demanded.
"Well, gold of course," Lucius said. He held up a galleon. "We have so much gold it is essentially worthless to us, but to the Mudbloods, gold is quite valuable indeed. They use it for all sorts of applications-"
"I fail to see how this has anything to do with my water or soap or newspaper being cut off," Voldemort growled.
Lucius looked as though he was resisting the urge to laugh, and had only squelched it through long years of practice.
"Yes, well, the muggles also produce massive amounts of soap, of linens, of cleaning supplies, materials for potions, and yes, water-I mean, we could have wizards purifying it at all hours of the day but it was seen as a waste of resources," Lucius explained. "So instead we just buy it from the Muggles with gold, with a few other precious metals we can create alchemically, even with a few feats of magic they are able to pass off as science-"
"Are you telling me," Voldemort said dangerously, "that the whole of the Wizarding World cannot even survive without Muggles?!"
Lucius coughed. "Well... Frankly my Lord... Not in our current form, no..."
- - - - -
A pretty simple idea that would require some thought to execute properly, but the idea is simple: The Magical World is actually dependent upon the Muggle world.
You don't see Wizards going out to farm, to mine, to refine common items that are not from magical creatures. Why should they? They're wizards! So the Ministry of Magic instead buys the basics of life from the Muggle world since we manufacture so much of it. Under dummy accounts, hidden corporations, and secret negotiations with Muggle governments the Wizarding World obtains things like:
-Food
-Textiles
-Common metals like iron, copper, lead, etc.
-Purified water
-Paper
-Ink
And other goods. Magic can accomplish a lot, make the manipulation of these items as easy as casting a spell but it has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is the Muggle world.
Hence, the Wizarding World as it stands literally cannot survive without the Muggle World. Not unless they direct large numbers of their population into growing food and manufacturing needed goods.
Thoughts?