The courier(spoilers)

[MartinK]

Might be another option to confronting the energy companies directly, one the earth dragons might especially like: farms. Many farmers already try to enhance their income by installing modern windmills or solar panels to collect energy they can sell back to the power companies. So, sell them kits for small-scale "mana generators" that supposedly convert the life energy of growing plants into electricity; I know that's not how the magic works, but as the dragons don't want to let out that the earth dragons are the source, it's ...

I'd think it a rather poor idea to even tell them that magic has to come from somewhere. If nobody has asked seriously where magic actually comes from, people will now have an answer. And if there is an answer, then the question is obvious and others start to ask how that can be. You know, there are countless scientist types in every major developed country that was taught how to ask questions about how something works when we only know a question and the obvious answer but nothing else. After all, Newtons theory about gravity started with an apple that fell from a tree and everyone knew that it obviously always falls down but nobody could explain why. So the story of how humans became aware of gravity began... we all know how much of today's literature, especially science fiction, makes use of gravity in one way or another.

[khyranleander]

Eh, not an unimportant consideration, but scientists generally assume everything has a source; we just went through some minor hoopla about scientists finally proving the Higgs "god particle" existed, which is essentially thought to be the source of MASS! In the case some inquisitive human finds out about magic, he might just wonder how modern science had missed something common to an entire culture and not necessarily limited to one species.

Now, the way I stated it might be a problem, since it could be twisted to say magicians are a kind of vampire, sucking up someone's life to cast their spells. Don't need to add THAT hysteria to the mix! Maybe better to say either lifeforms naturally generate small bits of magic as an accidental byproduct, and my "generators" are actually just more efficient collectors -- akin to solar panels.

Of course, it all depends on if Fel thinks the idea is useful for his plotline. I originally commented more on how I thought might be better implement the power-source idea, excited by the concept. But I've since reconsidered, and while it could be useful, it could easily prove more trouble than it's worth. For now, it seems most who know about magic assume it's tied to the dragon species, and only they can use it, so it's a moot issue. Depends on how much leaks due to the conflict with China, and how badly the dragons find themselves in need of a subterfuge. Among other things.

KB

[SYED]

Current magical lore is complex and advanced enough to hide the the fact magic comes from earth dragons. SO it will takes decades for humans to become magics users, then years more before they become decidated researchers. hopefully by then magic is widely used and accepted. IF the researcher is a magic user, then they might agree to hidding the source of magic out of hteir own self interest. If it is a non magic user then there are always solutions. THe dragons are likely to remain the experts of magic for decades as well as the main keeper of magical lore. So any new discovery and researchers would work with and through them.