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Basic Trope: A mundane universe used to have a magical aspect to it.

  • Straight: Tropestan used to be populated with wizards and witches, dragons, and castles but is now populated by Office Drones, dogs, and skyscrapers.
  • Exaggerated: Everybody's Dead, Dave; even the Muggles are long gone.
  • Downplayed: Only a select few have special powers of any kind. Most people, animals, and plants are quite ordinary.
  • Justified:
    • Nobody is bothering to teach or learn the skills needed to master magic or psychic power; Alice may have the requisite latent abilities, but what good are they to her if she doesn't ever use them or learn to use them?
    • The universe feels it has Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions, trusting in science instead of magic.
    • Magic was often misused in the past because Humans Are Bastards; strict bans have been placed and enforced on its teaching or general use.
    • Dragons have been overhunted to extinction (for meat and leather, as well as to protect villages and virgins). Witches and wizards, meanwhile, have been assimilated into the general Muggle population, or became victims of genocide by said Muggles.
  • Inverted:
    • Tropestan is now populated by wizards and witches, castles are not an unusal sight, and people keep dragons as pets, when just a few decades ago, it was populated by mundane people living in mundane cities with mundane pets.
  • Subverted:
    • The magic isn't gone, the people that rely on it hide it to prevent persecution.
    • Few people even have magical powers anyway; they're inborn traits, perhaps tied to genetics.
    • Mundane Made Awesome
    • The world doesn't rely on magic, but it does rely heavily on science (which can seem like magic to some.)
    • Most of the general population has some belief in the supernatural, even if they have never experienced it for themselves, or if it relies on Clap Your Hands If You Believe.
    • Here There Were Dragons. Komodo dragons. They are extinct in this country now, though. Ant they were not magical in any sense whatsoever. Because magic doesn't exist.
    • Outside of the rigid, self-isolated, and Orwellian state of Tropestan, magic is quite commonplace. Tropestan's rulers prevent all contact between its citizens and outsiders, for fear the Tropestani might learn about magic's existence.
  • Double Subverted:
  • Parodied: ???
  • Zig Zagged: ???
  • Averted:
    • Magic is alive and well in this setting.
    • Or, magic never existed in the first place.
  • Enforced: The Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism
  • Lampshaded: "Once, dragons flew over the skies...but not anymore."
  • Invoked: People start killing off dragons...and discouraging use of magic and killing people who dare to use it even for benevolent purposes anyway.
  • Exploited: An amusement park tries to drum up business by giving its patrons the Theme Park Version of the Middle Ages.
  • Defied: Dragons are a protected species, and no one discourages use of magic (as long as it's for good purposes) or persecutes those who use it.
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Deconstructed: Magical elements were systematically removed from Tropestan in the backstory in order to help ensure the safety of the common folk. However, there's no guarantee that people can't rediscover sorcery or secret populations of mythical creatures, so Tropestan will need to find some way to contain the problem at cost.
  • Reconstructed: The extermination was extremely thorough. As a result, the Tropestan antimagical agency runs behind the scenes effectively enough that ninety-nine out of a hundred people will never read about magic, never mind encounter it.

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