After some feedback, here are some notes I made on changes to Magecraft and its problems:
· Call Brain Poisoning "Systemic Amnesia". In-universe, "Brain Poisoning" is the slang term. As before, how strongly it effects someone is based on age and power. A change: It also more strongly affects those with more pride and ego, though this fact is actually not well known.
• Also, it affects those who frequently and strongly associate with practitioners of any one particular Magecraft *through* the magic. As in anyone who's relationship with the mage is based on their magic powers. It's not *as* strong but if you associate with one magic system too much you might also start to unconsciously forget that other Magecrafts exist until you're reminded again.
· The Dark Lord is replaced with the Grand Archetypes, which includes a Dark Lord but also includes a Good King, where magic also stacks the deck in favor of someone wise and benevolent to get lots of power and the ability to use it well. A Magecraft will develop a Good King first, long enough for a generation to appreciate at least.
• When people believe someone is benefiting from the Good King effect, especially people outside that Magecraft, and they're in the know, they make ready for a Dark Lord to develop. The person under the Good King effect is usually blind to this, an extension of Systemic Amnesia, but the best place to look for a future Dark Lord, if it's going to be an *individual* (It's not always, or even a person necessarily. Neither does the Good King and that *is both* something people tend to forget) is within the Good King's immediate circle of influence.
• Usually, Magic favors someone with a reason to have beef with the Good King to become the Dark Lord. If interference manages to head the Dark Lord off before they develop, by turning them away from being an asshole or offing them, good times are had by all. Unlike with Witchcraft, trying to avoid the plot won't get you punished. *Not unless you do it so many times you get complacent about it.*
• If a Dark Lord manages to entrench themself, then the third Grand Archetype will appear, the Chosen One. Usually someone with beef against the Dark Lord, always someone with a reason to fight them and with Magic favoring them to win, though strong enough to guarantee that win, just enough to even the odds against a more experienced and unfettered opponent.
• If the Good King is still alive by this point, the entrenchment of a Dark Lord normally causes the Amnesia to lift and the Good King will be able to recognize the problem and the solution, so that'll help. The Chosen One, also, tends to be the least affected by Systemic Amnesia out of the Grand Archetypes.
• If the Chosen One Wins, even odds if they will become a Good King-esque figure. Even odd to that then that another Dark Lord will appear to stir up trouble but just as likely that there will be a Happy Ending.
· Another change: Not every Magecraft is playing out this drama all the time, it seems to cycle. It favors the smaller, less influential Magecrafts more often but when it gets to the big ones it also seems to become more aware and savvy and willing to break its patterns to ensure "surprise and suspense".
• Conversely, something akin to the Chosen One will make an appearance without the need for a Dark Lord. If a populace or any group of people are facing systemic hardship, nothing to do with magic, an associated Magecraft may produce a Messianic figure to clean it up and fix their problems. Like the regular Chosen One, even odds they'll become a Good King esque figure and then even odds a Dark Lord might then show up, but more likely it will be unproblematic.
• The Grand Archetypes are merely the most common variation of Arcane Conflict, a drama that floats or may float, in potentia, around any Wizarding School or Sorcerous Ethnicity. Something that ensures that having Magic around is never boring, not for a large population overall. It's the variation that most people expect, ignoring or ignorant of other forms.
· If you really think about it, there definitely a sense of being puppeted around by a semi-malevolent god. It might give you a happy ending, but first it will make you dance to its tune and put you through the ringer. Science and technology doesn't do that, science and technology doesn't have an *agenda*. "The atom doesn't care if you are worthy, a gun won't thirst for blood in your hands, a cure for cancer won't see you punished for your hubris."
• For all the miracles or promises, and can deliver, there's a reason why wider society keeps even relatively controlled magic at an arm's length. Some places embrace Magecraft, thinking they can play its game and *win*, and some might even be right. And some places do away with it at all and hunt down any practitioners they find.
