how to oppress mages

OK, in my story, the (pseudo-medieval) country used to be a magocracy, but since mages don't reproduce as readily as non-mages, the non-mages ended up with enough population to take them on despite the advantages of their magic. (This was made easier by the fact that my mages require preparation to do any but the simplest spells, and most spells require at least two mages working together.)

Now, the non-mages are in control, and are oppressing the mages. A group of terrorist mages decide to set off a Zombie Apocalypse, since the vast majority of mages can command undead and are therefore fairly safe from zombie attacks. Their idea is to wipe out large numbers of non-mages, with the intention that once the dust settles, mages will be the ones in power.

I want this to come across as Gray-and-Gray Morality. But as it is now, my mages are treated way too nicely and the terrorists therefore come across as supremacist jerks. So I need help thinking of oppression that would help explain why they'd go to such extreme measures to fight back.

Just make them slaves.

If there's anything more useful for getting work done than a slave, it's a magic slave.

Control collars, magic-shielded guards, etc. make sure they use the magic in the way their masters want.

Check Anti-Magic for ideas of the mechanics. Turn Up To Eleven.

edited 30th Jul '11 12:21:11 PM by Leradny

Send all the male ones to pagan Scandinavia, and the rest of them to Puritan New England.

You could go all jewy on them. Like, they need to wear symbols to distinguish them from non-mages, they have to go to specific shops, churches, stuff like that.

The Nazis banned Jewish practices in an attempt to undermine what made them distinct as a group. Perhaps these guys could ban the practicing, teaching, use of magic or magic rituals, what have you. It seems like there's a pretty big divide between the mages and non-mages, hinting that the mages might've developed their own cultural quirks of sorts. Taking away their magic and their quirks would be a pretty damn big blow to their morale and provide some incentive to fight back.

If magic would be advantageous to the state's interest (growing food, building houses, curing sick non-mages, etc.), the mages could be enslaved (like how the Jews were sent to work in ghettos) or called out to do magic only when the state says they can.

But then in that occasion, I would try to be wary of Holocaust allusions.