History Main / MagicalSociety

** One of the unspoken functions of Unseen University is to keep wizards tangled up in bureaucracy and academic politics, and to ensure that they can live comfortably without having to actually do very much. That way, they're not turning their magic on everyone else, and over the years since the university was founded, wizardry in general has become more sedate and inward-looking. Which makes the world a considerably safer place: it's noted that "there were still quite deep scars in old buildings that showed what happened when you had the other kind of wizard", and that in the old days, the plural of 'wizard' was 'war'.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': The White Council exists as a sort of union of the world's more powerful human wizards. Membership isn't strictly compulsory, with it being described as more of an acknowledgement of ability rather than power (though power ''is'' required, and implicitly, skill -- they have strict minimum criteria and only accept the top one percent of practitioners), with Dresden comparing it to being like having a black belt. However, like the Aes Sedai, they're very reluctant to let someone with real power out of their grasp, and in addition to protecting humanity from various non-human factions (vampires, etc), it enforces Seven Laws of Magic over both its own members and all other human ('mortal') practitioners. As in, if someone breaks one of the Laws, even in ignorance, they're performing dark magic and unless a Council Member is willing to take the offender on probation as an Apprentice and can persuade the Senior Council that they're salvageable, they'll execute them on the spot.

* ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' introduces us to the Learned Society of York Magicians, a group of polite English gentlemen who sit around discussing magical writings and history, and who would ''never'' do anything so uncivilized as actually attempting to cast a spell or two. Many such societies exist around England, functioning as nice social clubs... Unfortunately for them, when a "practical" magician finally shows up, he turns out to be of a somewhat anti-social type.

* ''Literature/TheOldKingdom'': In ''Clariel'', there is a group of Charter Mages in Belisaere which concerns itself with threats to the Kingdom, especially those of a magical nature. It includes Kargrin, a magic teacher; Gullaine, captain of the Royal Guard; Roban, a guard in the employ of the Goldsmiths' Guild; and Ader, a schoolmistress. All are current or former employees of the King, who no longer takes an interest in governing.

*** It's also worth noting that in the Age of Legends, there were both male and female Aes Sedai, with the White Tower essentially being formed from a fusion of the remaining factions of female Aes Sedai in the Westerlands, and they were implied to be politically powerful even before the War of the Shadow put them in charge.

* ''Literature/SweetAndBitterMagic'': The Coven in [[MagicalLand Within]] are the group which govern witches.

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Sometimes, a magical society exists for the benefit of its members, while other times, it is a structure created to control them (whether for benign purposes or otherwise). It could be both at once - by creating rules for themselves, mages may decrease the extent to which [[BewareTheSuperman people consider them dangerous]]. It might be a loose support network which only comes together for specific issues, or it might be a rigid hierarchy that demands unity and obedience. A magical society may be responsible for [[SuperRegistrationAct keeping track of magic users]], which might involve genealogy or even [[SuperBreedingProgram breeding programs]] if it's dealing with a MageSpecies. It may also act as the Magic Police. Joining a magical society may be [[MutantDraftBoard an obligation]], a rare honour, or anything in between.

%%* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': The Palace of the Prophets. It's also suggested that something of this nature existed within the Wizard's Keep at Aydindril, but is no more because there are so few wizards left.