Anyone keeping up with the centralized random idea thread will recognise a lot of what I'm about to summarise, but for those who haven't:
In a nutshell, the existence of the supernatural is revealed on a major scale, to the point where Magi cannot cover it up. Some event that has a huge global audience is interrupted by a rampaging dragon or something. One of the Euro 2004 matches? It's recorded live, and millions of people were watching, more than can be mind-wiped. Furthermore, a copy of the footage was uploaded onto the internet. Youtube was first created in 2005, so if this is prior to the 5th Heaven's Feel, it doesn't exist yet, but there were video hosting sites that pre-dated it (AOL?) so...
The association hasn't been compromised (yet,) but the less conservative members conclude that the odds of them remaining hidden indefinitely are now dangerously low, and it's now a question of how long until the masquerade is completely destroyed.
Apparently it's possible that mage-craft exists that imitates Aoko's 5th true sorcery, which would allow the incident to be retconned out of existence via time-line manipulation bullsh*t. However, for the purposes of this idea, we'll hand-wave it by saying that it's too wide spread, or something. Aoko might be able to do it with the actual 5th (accept no imitations,) but she can't be contacted until it's too late. She's no Association lapdog.
So how would the magi react? Well, Lorelei is the vice-director of the clock tower for a reason, and I imagine that the majority of the members of the three Great Branches would follow the will of their respective directors in this situation (although talented, disillusioned magi who aren't part of the pseudo-aristocratic elite, and feel unappreciated and held back by current magi society might see potential opportunities later on, and begin planning accordingly.)
While the magi big-wigs (and possibly a representative from the Church) are debating what they should so next, I could see the option of mass murder on a scale that makes Mao Zedong look like an amateur being brought up by random extremist Magi a-hole, but ultimately vetoed or decided against, partially due to the sheer scale (a children's ward is one thing, this is quite another,) but also due to the fact that it's impractical. Atlas apparently has sh*t capable of ending the world, as a result of their research into things that could prevent an apocalypse after the first director predicted the end of the world, but as to whether they've got something that could only targets a set figure, or even just non-magi? Less likely. The implication was always "unstoppable uncontrollable WMD's" rather than "incredibly powerful smart bombs." That said, Magi society actually has WMD's, and is therefore a nuclear power of sorts. Good old MAD...
Therefore, after much debate and negotiation, the association decides to reveal themselves partially, controlling it's emergence into the public eye, in an attempt to ensure that they are both seen positively and that the full extent of their power/influence remains hidden. They approach the governments of their respective host countries first, of course. Their really sordid history gets buried, and the members of the association that are unstable and not particularly fit for public scrutiny are either hidden or liquidated. If the Church also decides to reveal the existence of the Burial Agency to said governments (or the U.N, or Nato, or whoever,) then perhaps the Association emphasises it's association with the Burial Agency.
So we've got the Mage's Association being outed as a predominantly benevolent organisation, attempting to answer profound questions about the universe, preserve the slowly weakening and fading magecraft that everybody wants a piece of, we've got governments trying to get their hands on their own magi, we've got defectors from the association who want recognition for their talent instead of their bloodline, we've got world leaders concerned that stuff like dead apostles actually exist, and wanting to do stuff about it...
Anyway, I think the idea has a lot of possibilities, but would probably be quite complex to write, and involve too much politics for me to want to write it.
In a nutshell, the existence of the supernatural is revealed on a major scale, to the point where Magi cannot cover it up. Some event that has a huge global audience is interrupted by a rampaging dragon or something. One of the Euro 2004 matches? It's recorded live, and millions of people were watching, more than can be mind-wiped. Furthermore, a copy of the footage was uploaded onto the internet. Youtube was first created in 2005, so if this is prior to the 5th Heaven's Feel, it doesn't exist yet, but there were video hosting sites that pre-dated it (AOL?) so...
The association hasn't been compromised (yet,) but the less conservative members conclude that the odds of them remaining hidden indefinitely are now dangerously low, and it's now a question of how long until the masquerade is completely destroyed.
Apparently it's possible that mage-craft exists that imitates Aoko's 5th true sorcery, which would allow the incident to be retconned out of existence via time-line manipulation bullsh*t. However, for the purposes of this idea, we'll hand-wave it by saying that it's too wide spread, or something. Aoko might be able to do it with the actual 5th (accept no imitations,) but she can't be contacted until it's too late. She's no Association lapdog.
So how would the magi react? Well, Lorelei is the vice-director of the clock tower for a reason, and I imagine that the majority of the members of the three Great Branches would follow the will of their respective directors in this situation (although talented, disillusioned magi who aren't part of the pseudo-aristocratic elite, and feel unappreciated and held back by current magi society might see potential opportunities later on, and begin planning accordingly.)
While the magi big-wigs (and possibly a representative from the Church) are debating what they should so next, I could see the option of mass murder on a scale that makes Mao Zedong look like an amateur being brought up by random extremist Magi a-hole, but ultimately vetoed or decided against, partially due to the sheer scale (a children's ward is one thing, this is quite another,) but also due to the fact that it's impractical. Atlas apparently has sh*t capable of ending the world, as a result of their research into things that could prevent an apocalypse after the first director predicted the end of the world, but as to whether they've got something that could only targets a set figure, or even just non-magi? Less likely. The implication was always "unstoppable uncontrollable WMD's" rather than "incredibly powerful smart bombs." That said, Magi society actually has WMD's, and is therefore a nuclear power of sorts. Good old MAD...
Therefore, after much debate and negotiation, the association decides to reveal themselves partially, controlling it's emergence into the public eye, in an attempt to ensure that they are both seen positively and that the full extent of their power/influence remains hidden. They approach the governments of their respective host countries first, of course. Their really sordid history gets buried, and the members of the association that are unstable and not particularly fit for public scrutiny are either hidden or liquidated. If the Church also decides to reveal the existence of the Burial Agency to said governments (or the U.N, or Nato, or whoever,) then perhaps the Association emphasises it's association with the Burial Agency.
So we've got the Mage's Association being outed as a predominantly benevolent organisation, attempting to answer profound questions about the universe, preserve the slowly weakening and fading magecraft that everybody wants a piece of, we've got governments trying to get their hands on their own magi, we've got defectors from the association who want recognition for their talent instead of their bloodline, we've got world leaders concerned that stuff like dead apostles actually exist, and wanting to do stuff about it...
Anyway, I think the idea has a lot of possibilities, but would probably be quite complex to write, and involve too much politics for me to want to write it.
