Organization: The Magic Association

The Magic Association is a brotherhood of wizards and witches as old as the world. Since its creation, it has served as the center of occult knowledge and growth on Earth and the handful of magic worlds that remained tied to it.

The Magic Association's highest duty is to ensure human happiness and comfort; novice wizards are often sent out into the world near their academies to use simple magic to bring little comforts to those in need. More powerful mages are deployed directly into the hearts of darkness, using strength or kindness to combat threats while masquerading as charitable organizations and NGOs.

The Magic Association is split into hundreds of regional branches, focusing on the specific needs and attitudes of the local population. It is no surprise, then, that neighboring Associations are often at each others' throats; Wizards are a fractious, egotistical bunch, men and women with the pride and guts to pierce the veil hiding the Fantastic World from the eyes of the mundane.

That egoism leads the Association to believe itself a sort of "magical police," the only organization with the resources and wards needed to protect the sacred items and mystic artifacts enshrined throughout the worlds. The Association similarly holds itself as the keeper of the secret of magic, working to keep the world of the arcane hidden from mundane eyes for the sake of keeping order and balance.

This job has become more difficult as of late, particularly in Tokyo, which seems to be a focal point for otherworldly activity. Often, the Association finds magical girls to be more nuisance than anything else; while more progressive mages will do what they can to help, the Association will usually only assist and recognize magical girls who draw their power from an artifact in which the Association is interested.

In Japan, the Magic Association has two major branches, the Kantou Association and the Kansai Association. The Kansai Magic Association is led by Eishun Konoe, and is based in Kyouto, out of the Konoe family's sprawling compound. It favors Eastern-style magic, employing a mixture of sword techniques and Onmyo mysticism. The Kanto Magic Association is led by the 107th Devil Hunter Madoka Mano, and is based out of Infinity Institute. Infinity's magic classes cover every field, but its highest-ranked wizards prefer Western-style spirit invocation and elementalist magic, much to the chagrin of Mano, who is Eastern to the core. It is perhaps indicative of how deep wizard rivalries can run, that the dispute over favored magic schools has led to a deep rift between the two Associations.

Example Character Concepts

Appropriate Magic Association characters include:

• A young wizard between the ages of 10 and 15, gone out into the world to provide a little light to the darkness with simple magic. They probably have a lot of pluck, but not so much combat power...until an artifact finds them, perhaps.
• An arrogant magician seeking to secure magical artifacts to secure power and prestige for his or her family. They may or may not actually have anyone's permission to be doing that.
• A neophyte magical girl recently selected as the personal guardian of an artifact the Association thought it had a pretty good grip on...until it was stolen!

Example Theme Affiliations: Cardcaptor Sakura, Devil Hunter Yohko, Little Witch Academia, Pretty Cure (especially Heartcatch, also many Fairy Realms keep embassy relations), Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (Midchildan connections to Earth go through the MA), Magic Knight Rayearth (Fuu, also Clef), Miraculous Ladybug, Shugo Chara!, Vividred Operation

• This list is not exhaustive, nor universally accurate for a given theme's protagonists, but exists to give an idea of typical themes (or characters within a theme) connected to the organization.

Cast of Characters

This list can be edited by players to add their characters to their appropriate organization. Feel free to add your name as a link to your character page!

Cardcaptor Sakura: Syaoran Li

Cooking With Mascot: Kuniko Saito, Gordon

Lost Inheritor Yumi: Yumi Ohzora, Raiko Takashima

Magic Knight Rayearth: Fuu Hououji, Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Mami Tomoe

Shugo Chara!: Amu Hinamori, Kukai Souma, Nadeshiko Fujisaki, Tadase Hotori, Yaya Yuiki, Yuu Nikaidou

History

In the years following the end of the Silver Age, the wizards of the world scrabbled for direction in a world that could no longer accept them. Most chose to retreat; many of the Earth Court's scions retreated to the faraway realm called Elysium, vanishing from Earth forever. Others chose a less final option: Following the new archwizard the Lifemaker into his hand-crafted dimension, the Magical World, Mundus Magicus. Although there were natives, mostly the Beastmen of Hellas, the mages were able to carve out their own nation and begin securing territory. That other world's stories are long and many...and matter only little, to the wizards of Earth.

When Puella Magi began appearing on the scene, the wizards who remained on Earth were dazzled. It became clear quickly, as the Puella Magi Madoka Magica outpaced them at every turn, that the Earth mage community needed guidance. On Earth, their ability to advance their art was limited; both training and artifice was more difficult, for the scattered wizards of Earth. The Magic World presented them with the extra magical potential that would be necessary to keep pace with the powers of magical girls - and with the shocking strength of the powers of darkness. Therefore they made a pact: The Magic Association headquarters in Mundus Magicus would have governance over Earth's wizards, keeping secured artifacts safe and advancing the cause of magic development. They would provide support when things get dire, and license and support the great Earthly magic academies. In exchange, the mages of Earth would continue on their work, going about their most important work of all: Guiding the people of Earth to happiness.

Slowly, mages drew together into local communities, mastering their arts and engaging in local rivalries. The young went out into the world to help the common man; adults, and adolescents with the guts to force the issue or the Contracts to strengthen them, went out to fight the darkness as demon-hunters and researchers, preparing the way for the future. That compact has endured into the modern day, but it has been a bumpy road. When Clow Reed's world-breaking wish tore open the doors of the worlds, darkness unlike what had been poured in from every portal. This new darkness was more powerful than what had plagued the world until now - and more numerous. The Tuner Organization formed to fight this upsurge, and the Magic Association had to match it with new training, new spells, new weapons... and old ones, unearthed from their vaults when they'd hoped to keep them locked up forever. They could manage it, but only just...and when Lord Dune appeared, everything changed again. He represented a new, terrifying reality of power; darkness that dwarfed any other, a shadow that could only be dispelled by the light of miracles that the Magic Association simply did not have.

The Magic Association's masters in Mundus Magicus began to doubt that the Earth could be saved, anymore. The modern leadership has largely removed themselves from Earth's troubles; sending aid when asked, but leaving Earth's mages largely to their own devices. They have much bigger concerns than the trials of a world swarmed by an impossible doom.

This was only exacerbated by the fiasco of the Bellum Scismatica. The Great Wizard War that rocked both Mundus Magicus and Earth, a battle that nearly spilled into full view of the public and reshaped landscapes; although the treachery at the heart of that war was in time rooted out, the dozens of unbelievably powerful mages who emerged from it, and the troubling revelations that only the privileged few have heard, have rendered the Association's leadership more distant than ever, contemplating terrible deeds.

In the Schism War, the Gateport between Mundus Magicus and Infinity Institute was broken. Because of this, even in this age of isolation at the top, the Magic Association in Tokyo is somewhat traditional, directed most chiefly by Madoka Mano and her personal foibles to safeguard the innocent - and fight that which would bring them harm.

For more information, please see: Organizations, Theme Primer, Theme