Misused (alt names crowner 31 Oct 2021): Witch Species

Currently, as defined "Witch Species" seems to be a discussion on witches in general, and thus treads on the toes of Our Witches Are Different.

However, going by the wick check a lot of uses are about "magical species" or "there is more than one magical species in the setting".

How about renaming it to Magician Species or something to a similar effect?

Well, Magician has a different connotation- that is, a character, usually a male, who can't do real magic and just does stage tricks. Because this trope is almost Always Female, and can obviously do magic...

Would put forth more 'Magical Human Tribe' or 'Magical Human Species' , they are a race of magic users but aside from that they are Human or Human Adjacent. (I would call even the page image misuse as they are straight up Golems with Vivi being all 'Do Androids Dream?'.)

And in works where normal humans can use magic members of that Tribe/Species are a cut above the rest by orders of magnitude.

Leaning more on Tribe tbh.

Edited by Memers on Oct 17th 2021 at 8:25:24 AM

Magical Human Species works. How about adding a line of clarification in the description for future misuse?

Works in theory but not in practice; people don't read descriptions so heavier tweaks are usually needed to stomp out misuse. But a rename alone can do wonders, and there's no reason not to clarify on the description. It's just more of a band-aid than an actual solution.

Edited by WarJay77 on Oct 17th 2021 at 12:25:08 PM

What about Mage Species or Homo Magicus?

While we're at it, it would be best to remove Real Life examples and move them to Myths and Religion as humans casting magic spells don't exist in real life.

Edited by Nen_desharu on Oct 17th 2021 at 4:28:13 AM

I actually also thought of Mage Species right before I saw your post.

I think Mage Species would be a good name for this.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 17th 2021 at 3:44:13 AM

I would push for 'tribe' as a redirect to species. In a lot of works its like obscure tribes of mages and such which play the role such as the Witches of the Hexen Clan in Trails of Cold Steel who can use actual magic vs the Magitek of the rest of the world.

Edited by Memers on Oct 18th 2021 at 4:04:58 AM

Made a crowner for the definition and name.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 23rd 2021 at 1:01:47 PM

I posted a bulletin on ATT.

If the trope is renamed, what would be the new name? (Seeing the crowner so far, I dont think that wouldn't happen, tho).

If that option succeeds, there would be another crowner to decide the new name. Mage Species, Magical Human Tribe, Magical Human Species, and Homo Magicus have been the suggested options so far. Personally I'd like to add Mage Tribe as another possibility.

Call it?

So... Is this about a variant on a regular species but added magic? Or... any species without mentioning any connection to any other...

A.k.a Magical Subspecies vs. Species With Magic.

On that note, Species With Magic doesn't make it sound clear enough that it's about a species, that has magic, somehow... Magic Using Species?

Is a Magical Subspecies an important sub-trope since then there's possible interbreeding between the magical and muggle versions, ala Harry Potter, etc?

Hmm... That'd be more of a Magic Gene thing, in effect, than talking about species, which is the expression of genes?

Edited by Malady on Oct 29th 2021 at 8:27:49 AM

It’s Fantasy… Genes are not a thing in most fantasy.

And really magic might not be completely exclusive to them. They might be able to teach others just they are hording the knowledge, it’s super engrained in their society, or it comes naturally.

Where does the crowner leave the "there is more than one magical species in the setting" usage?

- Yeah, but I mean, functionally. Species is a less important distinction than genetics.

For example, the main difference between a magical bloodline and a magical species, is prevalence? But I guess that's off topic...

- I'd say that would be "multiple of this trope exist in the setting", if this is a trope for a species as a whole.

I mean tribe, village, city, country would all qualify under this imo.

If there are other magic inclined peoples and such in the setting it’s gotta be everyone of a given whatever. Like say in Warcraft there everyone can technically use magic in it but the Blood Elves, their entire society is based on magic. So much so it’s a straight fantasy addiction to said magic.

Edited by Memers on Oct 30th 2021 at 6:37:18 AM

If it's gonna be that broad, then I'd just call this Magical Group or something.

That would just be a case of multiple examples existing in a work. The word "species" was intended to be plural in the crowner; the fact that the word can be either singular and plural is just a result of the English language making no sense.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 30th 2021 at 7:40:33 AM

As a friendly reminder, this trope has been officially announced as NRLEP due to real life not having magical humans.

Does "inherently magical species" mean creatures who can cast magic or humanoids (or humans in everything but name) born capable of magic?

Edited by Amonimus on Oct 30th 2021 at 8:21:27 PM