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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aenghus" data-source="post: 6408112" data-attributes="member: 2656">It's weird, loads of good suggestions in this thread, and I'm stuck on the thought that in a pseudomedieval society based on historical precedent, this would end up yet another way to grind down the peasantry.Peasants were often prohibited from owning weapons, forced to used the lord's mill and pay for the privilege, effectively discouraged from improving their holding in many cases by retroactive rent rises or eviction in favour of richer tenants, and generally opressed. In a fantasy society many societies would outlaw magic use by peasants, and perhaps force them to use the lord's magician and pay for the privilege.There would be loads of room in such a scenario for the tacit toleration of underground peasant magic but opression of any knowledge of battle magic or magic deemed dangerous to the social order. Obviously the average game doesn't portray the grinding opression of the masses, and it's can be depressing to contemplate the barriers to the adoption of improved methods and labour saving spells and devices. Often new ideas are seen as threatening the social order by the ruling classes, who are doing fine thank you, so there is less impetus from above to adopt them, more often neutrality or outright hostility.</blockquote>