A Modern Magical World

[Corvus 501]

Magic is around, out of the way, discreet, and not much thought about. While the general population is aware of its existence, little thought to it is given unless it's right in front of them. History remained much the same, only with a few more myths and urban legends being remotely true. WWI, for instance, remained much the same, only with some halfway deceit body armor available, and much more effective medical treatments available.
The actual magic users and life forms tend to be discrete about their presence, with few exceptions. Most species tend to be reclusive, and the human magical population tends to consist of either civilians indistinguishable from the normal population, or Fate/Stay Night style scientists and soldiers, compleat with the freelancers and mercenaries.
The magic systems are somewhat varied, consisting to Psionics, Ki manipulation (magical martial arts),(mostly) F/SN style magecraft, MGLN style device baised magic, Holy/Unholy magic, alchemy (Full Metal Alchemist flavored) and serial others that I probably haven't thought about yet.
However, that was then, this is now. After a good 800 years of relative obscurity, magic is coming back into mainstream society. Soldiers use basic Ki manipulation, reinforcing their bodies to the point where they can use their full strength, (not the "avoid ripping mussels point that the brain enforces) doctors can use literally magical cures, alchemist have long been making room temp superconductors, and IASA (NASA's international counterpart in this AU) may have launched a warp drive equipped probe after cheating outrageously with magic.
Magic, politely ignored sense the dark ages, is coming back into the limelight, what happens now?

[biostem]

Has magic been studied or systematized to the point that it is well understood how to accomplish certain effects? For instance, "say words W, while performing motions X, using components Y, to get effect Z"? If it is or can be understood to this degree, then I expect the first world countries to create specialized organizations to study, perfect, and police the use of magic. And depending upon the difficulty, things like spells that create magical fire or lightning/electricity could replace fossil fuels in many circumstances.

I also expect that there'd be some sort of mandatory or highly incentivized recruitment for the magically inclined into the military or the aforementioned special organization.

[Raw Shark]

How did something this useful get politely ignored since the Dark Ages? And can we please get some general limits for what each style of magic can do and what quantity and type of effort it requires?

[Corvus 501]

@Raw Shark: It just happened. Officially, that is. What may have happened was a large group of divine magic users where able to slap up disinterest fields linked to the concept of magic. Specifically seeing obvious displays of it or using magic circumvented the field, allowing magic users, their families, and various officials to interact with the magical sections of the world. However, the field came down shortly before WWI, leading to the massive changes taking place "currently".

[Corvus 501]

The magic systems themselves work in sever different ways. Psychic powers, for instance, have four different expressions, consisting of telepathy,including empathy, sensing, which can be anything from object reading to seeing possible futures, limited energy manipulation, and telekinesis, which is everything from lifting cars to setting people on fire.
Ki manipulation consists of using internal generated magic (in this case it's the magical counterpart of ATP) to reinforce the body or objects, and at higher levels increase the force levels from blows beyond what's possible with pure physical strength. It can also act as a minor healing factor, allowing faster and more through healing, and far greater stamina.
Outright magic, on the other hand, is all about using Ki and psychic power to manipulate mana, excess life energy produced by life, life analogues, and death and death analogues. This includes (and mostly consists of) nuclear fusion and fission. In this case, the main limit to magic use is the amount of Ki in the body, and a person's skill in controlling mana.

[Raw Shark]

Holy crap. So, if skilled individuals can duplicate nuclear fission and/or fusion, that's going to get implemented with a quickness, whether it goes public or not. This could have all kinds of results, from a post-scarcity technotopia, to a bureaurocratic state centered around access to energy, to Mad Max, depending on how things play out.

[Corvus 501]

Fusion and fission produce mana, and lifeforms turn it into easier to use variants, like plants converting sunlight during photosynthesis. Fusion and fission, like the sun and the radioactive material that drives plate tectonics radiate a constant supply of mana. While, straight mana is extremly hard to use, not to mention somewhat toxic, but as it cycles through the ecosystems it becomes steadily easier to use, ending with the mana converted by one's own body, Ki.

[Gaidin]

@Raw Shark: It just happened. Officially, that is. What may have happened was a large group of divine magic users where able to slap up disinterest fields linked to the concept of magic. Specifically seeing obvious displays of it or using magic circumvented the field, allowing magic users, their families, and various officials to interact with the magical sections of the world. However, the field came down shortly before WWI, leading to the massive changes taking place "currently".

I see what you did there.

[Corvus 501]

This scenario MAY have been inspired by a tv troops binge

[Zwinmar]

Put a bunch of fuel in a bag of holding, run pipes to the engine. Put cargo in a bag of holding...etc, you get the idea. Should make getting to space very easy.

[Corvus 501]

Link bag of holding to firearm with internal magazine. Turn M1 Garand into overpowered semi auto only M14 clone. Magically dump recoil somewhere else, and you can make a select fire version, and probably load it with more powerful rounds than 30'06s.

[LadyTevar]

The Pandemic of 1918 ("the Spanish Flu") was a magical plague. It would be a in-universe explanation for the sheer scope of ruin it caused. Why make a plague like that? Same reason war broke out in the first place -- someone was unhappy with the current state of affairs, and decided to 'kill a duke'.

IRL, there were two waves: The Spring wave was mild, with victims recovering within several days. Deaths were low, mainly of elderly and very young. The Fall wave was highly contagious and left those afflicted with lungs full of fluid that killed within hours or days. What made it truly deadly was the Fall wave struck healthy young people -- soldiers at first, then other able-bodied men and women who would normally be more resistant than the elderly and young. As the pandemic raged, whole families died, towns were quarantined, crops rotted in the fields, businesses shut down, and even funeral homes could not bury all the dead. Spotty records mean the true tally of death is unknown, but estimates of 20million up to 100million afflicted and dead around the world.

The Real World cause? A mutation that let the virus weaken the bronchial tubes and lung tissue, followed by bacterial pnuemonia. The background of World War One made the flu easier to spread, carrying it around the world.

[Corvus 501]

Sounds like it would work, the wide scale deployment of magical medicines and doctors could also cause the final breakdown in the "disinterest field", leading to the current magitech civilization.