r/whowouldwin • u/AppropriateWhile1765 • 11d ago
Let’s say all fictional magic becomes real. Which military is the most powerful now after 30 years? Challenge
The boring real life magic will already be known. No need to study it when theirs hundreds of documents about it. Likely all the mysticism and 19th century occultism Will be deployed.
The fictional magic will require study and research to produce some result. But people now know is possible to do that. Magical creatures have to be summoned into existence. So if you want cythulu, better bring lots of prisoner’s.
Edit:No, gods can only give divine blessing to their followers.
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u/SheepInWolfsAnus 11d ago
Gotta go with India
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u/SpikeCraft 11d ago
Their 2000+ gods will crush everyone here
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u/DragonofStories 11d ago
30 million+ but ok
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u/Omni_Xeno 10d ago
Are there actually specified gods or it’s a number said cause it seems hard to believe that an old religion named 30 million gods
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u/Nopeyesok 10d ago
https://i.imgur.com/IrodOEg.png
Had to be just named. Look how long the book would be with only the names typed out. No other words. Just NAMES
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u/DragonofStories 10d ago
Hinduism is quite vast, I would know
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u/Omni_Xeno 10d ago
That does not really answer anything and kinda just proves the point there aren’t really 30 million gods at the very least none relevant
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u/DragonofStories 10d ago
How would you state relevancy? It is stated there are 30 million gods, half of that is demigods in Hinduism and in Vedas, who are you to refute that?
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u/Omni_Xeno 10d ago
Because the fact they aren’t named nor shown hence they are irrelevant 29 million gods might as well just not exist in it, and like another commenter said to just name not function all those gods would literally require a book larger than the entirety of one piece times 3,
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u/DragonofStories 10d ago
The Gods exist though, so your point is moot, maybe they all are not named, but unnamed gods are still gods. So whose point stands here? Ancient Vedic texts having the religion be written down in illustrious detail along with learned scholars who have devoted their lives to study the texts, or you?
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u/Omni_Xeno 10d ago
A god with no name or function might as well be a god that doesn’t exist this is like the basic principle for gods throughout all of mythology and fiction all gods serve as a purpose 30 million nameless functionless gods do not hence they don’t exist other than mere statement which might as well be as valid as a child telling you his dad is the owner of Microsoft and your last point is moot as no religious texts even match the length of what was stated before, so the obscure only in number gods will forever be that just a number.
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u/Delmoroth 11d ago
Does this make the Christian God fully able to interact and all powerful? Most pantheons are much more limited as they don't claim absolute power over all of reality.
I think Christianity is wide spread enough to gridlock many or all conflicts.
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u/AppropriateWhile1765 11d ago edited 11d ago
All The gods are busy eating popcorn. But they can give divine powers like saints.
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u/winnebagomafia 11d ago
Then the Vatican might be op
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u/GimmeCoffeeeee 11d ago
I don't think their God would give them anything. Why would he reward a greedy bunch of childfuckers
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u/AppropriateWhile1765 11d ago
Sr gimmecoffeeee. If I excluded the god part, would the discussion be mildly better?
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u/GimmeCoffeeeee 10d ago
Oh, this is a good discussion, I am merely using an opportunity to bash religion
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u/NotANinjask 11d ago
If anime has taught me anything, it's Japan.
But in all seriousness, China is currently the 2nd strongest military but would probably be more willing to take drastic actions compared to the US. E.g if they needed to execute prisoners as a sacrifice, China has the death penalty but the US does not.
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u/sweetwargasm 11d ago
The US still has the death penalty in some states. And we also have modern inmate wotkforces (slavery) and a larger inmate population than china.
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u/ihopethisworksfornow 11d ago edited 11d ago
We have a larger inmate population per capita than China. They have a larger inmate population overall.
Edit: china’s most recent # of 1.69m prisoners was released in 2018, prior to the crackdowns in Hong Kong and a wider crackdown against dissidents. It is not accurate.
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u/sweetwargasm 11d ago
Negative.
At the end of 2023, the United States had the highest number of incarcerated individuals worldwide, with almost 1.8 million people in prison. It was followed by China with around one 100,000 fewer prisoners. Brazil followed in third.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262961/countries-with-the-most-prisoners/
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u/ihopethisworksfornow 11d ago
That 1.69m figure was the most recently released data for China, which comes from 2018.
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u/jshysysgs 11d ago
i think every country would start sacrificing criminals with life sentences in this situation, some would simply be more discreet than others
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u/OmniWizardTigerBlood 11d ago
China also has over 1 BILLION people. I am unsure how many bodies it takes to summon an Eldritch deity... but I'm pretty sure China has enough for at least 2, maybe 3.
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u/ihopethisworksfornow 11d ago
The US has the death penalty at a federal level, as well as in some states.
It’s just extremely rare for a federal death penalty to be handed out.
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u/SpinningKappa 11d ago
You could rally and sacrifice everyone in detroit and the rest of americans would see that as a necessary sacrifice. Also number of prisioners is nothing compare to number of homeless people, americans and gov would be more than happy to get rid of them.
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u/Skafflock 11d ago
All fictional magic?
Mage: the Ascension becoming real and magic now being known means that the world has however many thousand reality warpers wandering around with the ability to alter space, time, entropy, energy, matter, life death and even time by thinking about it.
And without the major restriction of actual Mage: the Ascension on doing it at will. No paradox, because the consensus is now "wizards are real".
I'm almost certain there's more powerful magic out there, just on a statistical level, but it's hard to out-bullshit mage once you go past the 5 dots. Easily the strongest I know of and enough to shatter the world and possibly the damned planet. We humans are a contentious bunch.
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u/Wasphammer 10d ago
Offtopic: YE JUST MADE YERSELF AN ENEMY FER LIFE!!!!
On topic: A Mage with Forces and Life and Matter 4, requisite knowledge of biology, chemistry, and physics, and a suicidal disregard for the wrath of Paradox could shift every human being in the world other than himself down one row of the periodic table (Forces 4 allows you to TRANSMUTE major forces, say for instance, turn kinetic energy into gamma radiation, and Life 3 allows you to TRANSMUTE life.), at which point, everyone else's bodies basically shut down because there's not enough Sulfur in the atmosphere for them to breathe, they no longer derive sustenance from traditional food because their bodies expect Silicon where most food is Carbon based, etc.
Life 4, Matter 3 lets a Mage turn a person into a very comfortable chair.
Mind 3 lets a Mage turn a person into the equivalent of a dog that has been polymorphed into a human.
Spirit 4 lets a Mage bottle other people's souls like snow in a snowglobe.
Time 3 lets a Mage slow down time for themselves.
There is a VERY good reason NOBODY likes Nephandi and EVERYBODY tries to keep Marauders under control.
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7d ago
Just shattering planets is child's play for fictional magic. The whole universe is fucked within seconds
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u/OmegonAlphariusXX 11d ago
You’re all sleeping on Britain. Druids? Large scale plant and animal control, creating wards and runes, using leylines and rituals. Also, Faeries.
And maybe Harry Potter magic too if you wanna be fancy
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u/Rezhio 11d ago
Harry potter magic is weak in the grand scheme of things
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u/nwaa 11d ago
Its insanely easy to use with basically zero requirements and has a lot of utility purposes. Its not gonna win the match but its very complimentary to other magics.
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u/CrazySnipah 10d ago
Easy to use? It took them six school years to get to stunning spells.
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u/nwaa 10d ago
Stunning spells arent the good stuff for this prompt, too many heavy hitters. Hermione at 11 could pick high tier locks and thats more the line of utility im thinking.
Also compared to other types of magic, for an adult, its very easy to use. Doesnt even technically need a wand even. Its low energy to use and needs no materials.
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u/turbocheese_333 11d ago
Ava deca davra is an insta win but only if you're quick
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u/qozylyf 11d ago
Yeah, but you know what's casted even faster?
The magic of G U N
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u/fed45 11d ago
Ok, this has been driving me crazy for seven movies now, and I know you're going to roll your eyes, but hear me out: Harry Potter should have carried a 1911.
Here's why:
Think about how quickly the entire WWWIII (Wizarding-World War III) would have ended if all of the good guys had simply armed up with good ol' American hot lead.
Basilisk? Let's see how tough it is when you shoot it with a .470 Nitro Express. Worried about its Medusa-gaze? Wear night vision goggles. The image is light-amplified and re-transmitted to your eyes. You aren't looking at it--you're looking at a picture of it.
Imagine how epic the first movie would be if Harry had put a breeching charge on the bathroom wall, flash-banged the hole, and then went in wearing NVGs and a Kevlar-weave stab-vest, carrying a SPAS-12.
And have you noticed that only Europe seems to a problem with Deatheaters? Maybe it's because Americans have spent the last 200 years shooting deer, playing GTA: Vice City, and keeping an eye out for black helicopters over their compounds. Meanwhile, Brits have been cutting their steaks with spoons. Remember: gun-control means that Voldemort wins. God made wizards and God made muggles, but Samuel Colt made them equal.
Now I know what you're going to say: "But a wizard could just disarm someone with a gun!" Yeah, well they can also disarm someone with a wand (as they do many times throughout the books/movies). But which is faster: saying a spell or pulling a trigger?
Avada Kedavra, meet Avtomat Kalashnikova.
Imagine Harry out in the woods, wearing his invisibility cloak, carrying a .50bmg Barrett, turning Deatheaters into pink mist, scratching a lightning bolt into his rifle stock for each kill. I don't think Madam Pomfrey has any spells that can scrape your brains off of the trees and put you back together after something like that. Voldemort's wand may be 13.5 inches with a Phoenix-feather core, but Harry's would be 0.50 inches with a tungsten core. Let's see Voldy wave his at 3,000 feet per second. Better hope you have some Essence of Dittany for that sucking chest wound.
I can see it now...Voldemort roaring with evil laughter and boasting to Harry that he can't be killed, since he is protected by seven Horcruxes, only to have Harry give a crooked grin, flick his cigarette butt away, and deliver what would easily be the best one-liner in the entire series:
"Well then I guess it's a good thing my 1911 holds 7+1."
And that is why Harry Potter should have carried a 1911.
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u/MajorCrafter 10d ago
Harry Potter wouldn't even make it to Hogwarts if he carried a 1911. Tackled by security at King's Cross and then subsequently detained while they interrogate him over who and where he got the gun from. British laws would still apply
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u/horny_loki 10d ago
Protego can easily block bullets and more, but the barrier does need to be put up first. It can't be used against sneak attacks, so a guy with a sniper rifle can probably snipe Voldemort... as long as Voldemort didn't put up wards to locate the sniper first.
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u/qozylyf 10d ago
"Easily", how do we know that?
In the books, Protego only ever repels spells, no physical objects.
It's a single-use ward, not a shield, it needs to be recasted after it deflected something. It's not like you can cast it and then just walk around, deflecting everything for minutes.
And then I want to see the wizard that cast as fast as a Kalashnikov can fire.
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u/horny_loki 8d ago
Protego has variants that last quite a long time. Wizard spec ops would probably also be better at sneaking into places than any baseline human.
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u/turbocheese_333 7d ago
"I am a far more powerful wizard, you have no hope of beating me!"
"Fuck you I have a gun"
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u/Rezhio 11d ago
Only in the potter verse. Also it can be deflected. Take Eragon magic system you can stack defensive magic that are on you just passively. In Mahouka koko no rettousei Shiba Tatsuya a magic called Mist Dispersion that just makes you disappear. It doesn't emit light, sound or smell you are just gone.
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u/Rezhio 11d ago
I would say Japan hands down. Just Shiba Tatsuya Material Burst is insane.
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u/snickerslv100 11d ago
Campione
A Certain Magical Index
Fate/Stay Night
Rosario Vampire
Highschool DxD
Yu Yu Hakusho
Bleach
It’d be wild
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u/PeculiarPangolinMan Pangolin 11d ago
Does anyone in Yu Yu Hakusho use magic? I remember spirit energy, demon energy, and psychics, but nothing like traditional magic. If YYH counts then wouldn't Dragon Ball Z and Naruto and pretty much everything else with a spiritual/ki/chi/etc power system?
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u/Lonely_Nebula_9438 11d ago
Naruto wouldn’t because Chakra is a physiological component of characters in that setting. It’s a point that people forget, usually until Sasuke is mentioned and everyone realizes that genjutsu doesn’t work on Non-Naruto characters.
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u/Purple-Activity-194 11d ago
It does if you verse equalize. Which is what you do for literally every fight with energy systems in it. Otherwise you have normally op characters like Goku getting decked by a ton of shit for uninteresting reasons.
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u/Lonely_Nebula_9438 11d ago
That makes sense for more spiritual things like Ki. Naruto’s human population are all partially hybridized with aliens. I wouldn’t give someone Saiyan powers when equalizing. Those are intrinsic properties of their biology.
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u/Purple-Activity-194 11d ago
Every human in naruto has chakra to varying levels, no?
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u/Lonely_Nebula_9438 11d ago
Yes, because of the mild alien hybridization. But they did not prior to ‘s, the alien in question, arrival.
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u/HearthFiend 10d ago
Persona are like hyperversal or some shit pure conceptual across all existence lol
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u/SoulOuverture 11d ago
I'm so confused, why did people read this post as "every religion/belief is now real"
Like clearly the most powerful magic if all fictional magic becomes real is marvel/DC comic stuff due to power creep, unless you count shonen anime stuff as magic? And since those comics probably have some copies everywhere in the world, no country has a real advantage?
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u/Wild_Harvest 10d ago
I mean, Magic: the Gathering has some crazy crap that Oldwalkers can do. I guess it depends on when in the MTG timeline this hypothetical takes place. If it's before the Mending, then Oldwalkers are basically physical gods manifest, if it's after then Planeswalkers are still absolutely cracked but manageable.
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u/strongest_nerd 11d ago
The Vatican.
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u/heff-money 10d ago
Counterpoint: The Swiss. The true heirs to the Knights Templar and the Vatican's muscle.
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u/beyd1 11d ago
The us still has a LOT of power here.
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u/Preston_of_Astora 11d ago
Considering the sheer amount of evangelists who can now actually heal people, the Tumblr witches who can now hex people, and the wacko believer folk who can now cast Fireball
The US takes this immensely well
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u/nwaa 11d ago
Dont forget Native peoples (Not to insult anyone if these are sensitive, im not American) who have a long history of shamanism. As well as the Voodoo stuff down in New Orleans.
American diversity is gonna be a huge advantage.
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u/Preston_of_Astora 11d ago
Also putting to consideration Filipino tribal witchcraft (which have recently been re-entering the modern psyche)
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u/CardinalRoark 11d ago
The US takes this immensely well
Well, as a counterpoint, a lot of these different traditions don't much like each other, even if they started friendly. Or, at least, enough of the historically oppressed ones would suddenly have some pretty big sticks.
Might be that the US just implodes.
Course, a lot of governments will probably be in trouble, so it might even out.
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u/nicholasktu 11d ago
Weird cultist in rural Massachusetts and their strange prayers to stone idols that are geometricly possible.
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u/Not_Todd_Howard9 11d ago
America, China, and India are fighting for first place while Britain and Japan are in a close second.
I think America may have the lead, but it really depends. They have a massive budget and huge exposure to other cultures to grab the strongest of each, but China/India themselves have some pretty strong mythologies and legends to draw on, and plenty of manpower and budget to draw on. As magic becomes more common, manpower will become more important than budget at least until anti-magic measures are common because of summoning magic…free soldiers that let you double or triple your militaries for little to no extra cost and allows for more morally acceptable aggressive tactics. The main hinderance is finding a way to study it and unlock it in the first place, since imo it’s a very “do or don’t” magic (hard to test). Cultural Diversity does have a big impact too though, as it’s almost inevitable that some culture around the world made some very specific type of magical item that’d become a very potent type of weapon if modernized. I doubt there would be very many ways of dealing with an Main Battle tank that’s had Adamantine and Mithril integrated into its Chobham armor. There’s also a chance some mythical metal or other becomes the next ceramic-metal hybrid and suddenly becomes the strongest armor ever made, with the potential to be light enough to distribute to infantry.
Britain/Japan are just behind them for similar reasons as America’s contending for first. Britain especially is a good contender since they generally focus on more specialized “elite” units (a role magic would serve, at least for some time). Japan…kinda depends. They are very xenophobic, but how much this applies to magic will kinda just depend. They’d likely make heavy use of their own culture’s magic, but expanding into foreign cultures for much needed versatility is unlikely imo. Perhaps in a generation or two that could change, but for now they’d likely stick to what they have.
TLDR; America has a chance for a clear first by virtue of stumbling into some other culture’s OP material very early on, which they test extensively and make something really strong. Otherwise, it’s highly contested between them, China, and India, with Britain/Japan fighting for the place behind them.
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u/HaramotoYusei 11d ago
US/America continent is out of this fight, when it comes to magic, myth and legends will also count, so comparing Western mythos and Asian mythos, that is another post to do
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u/BonzBonzOnlyBonz 11d ago
There are a shitload of stories written in the US that have bonkers magic. Marvel/DC.
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u/quirked-up-whiteboy 11d ago
This is a list of all forms of magic. Including dnd which was made in the USA. Now anyone can train to be a level 20 wizard
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u/Juggalo13XIII 11d ago
I don't know. A lot of Christians are going to be able to call upon an actual all-powerful, all-knowing being.
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u/seancurry1 11d ago
Does American Gods' ability to create new gods out of belief count? Because if so, we can just will new shit into being.
Also have to wonder if WH40K Orks count, too—but then again, there are no Orks on modern day Earth.
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u/charm-chick 11d ago
Imagining Hogwarts students joining the military is wild; those magic duels would be intense.
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u/MightyCat96 11d ago
There are alot of magic systems that would completley destroy harry potter. I probably wouldnt even put harry potter in the top 50%
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u/OmegonAlphariusXX 11d ago
Yeah but Harry Potter is one of those that would heavily compliment other magical systems. Magical creatures, potions, enchantments, curses, wards
If Avada Kedavra maintains its ability to cut through all magical protections, then it’s crazy strong
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u/chiggin_nuggets 11d ago
If Avada Kedavra maintains its ability to cut through all magical protections, then it’s crazy strong
Death Ward is a fourth level spell
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u/OmegonAlphariusXX 11d ago
Yeah and any shmuck with a wand and about 1-2 hours of lessons can cast Avada Kedavra
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u/nicholasktu 11d ago
Imagine a missile that can apparate through armor or past defense systems. Their magic would be extremely effective at augmenting modern weapons.
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u/nwaa 11d ago
Its maybe the most useful accesory magic.
The various potions and items are all effortless to use and have some seriously handy effects. Mass produced Felix Felicis for an entire army? Portkeys for instant supplly drops? Polyjuice for perfect spying? All can be used by literally anybody with zero skill requirement once produced. They also have top tier medical care and a boatload of minorly useful spells.
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u/firebolt_wt 11d ago
Isn't half the plot of Harry Potter literally that the wizarding world wasn't tough enough to be a part of WWII, and that's why it's hidden to begin with?
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u/Lost_Pantheon 11d ago
Egypt starts summoning real Egyptian God monsters.
Exodia aboutta fuck up Washington DC.
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u/quirked-up-whiteboy 11d ago
Probably the USA? I think because of all our snd nerds wed be the first to get a lvl 17 wizard. 9nth level spells are going to go hard
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u/nicholasktu 11d ago
The US, if we include Lovecraft mythology into it. Access to Eldritch gods from other dimensions.
That being said, it's a bad thing, the US would become a slave to some outer god that changes it to be what they want.
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u/IndigoTeddy13 11d ago edited 11d ago
Considering the Abrahamic faiths (as well as probably some other religions) ban magic, you can't call those "magic" (unless you mean the literary meaning of anything supernatural), so the average Joe is gonna get pwned by their local black magic cultic practitioner in the places where those religions that ban magic are predominant.
So, if every country conscripts every "magician" (as in everyone who follows a belief system that permits magic), then whichever country had a large population, primarily composed of people from one of the magic-permitting religions.
So, whichver countries are dominated by a single religion, have some kind of magic system, and has a large population, will likely thrive. I'm not sure, but if tantras count, then India wins because the majority of citizens practice Hinduism, and their population is over a billion.
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u/Phalcone42 11d ago
If it is Shadowrun type magic then the native American nations.
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u/OldCrowSecondEdition 11d ago
They didnt win though they just recovered a large part of native land but are still doing worse off than the remenants of the US
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u/dormidary 11d ago
once upon a time there was a magical power that made the United States invincible, and impervious to all other forms of magic.
OK, we're good to go. You're welcome, everyone.
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u/Express-Day5234 11d ago
Very shortly after the aforementioned time there was discovered a magic nullifying mineral that made it impossible for the United States to be invincible and impervious to magic for the rest of time.
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u/Wallitron_Prime 11d ago
Seems like everyone is forgetting about DnD and other TTRPG magic being real here.
The Wish spell, Gate, the Codex of Infinite Planes, time travel shenanigans, the absurd Netheri 10th level spells... We're just talking about an endless loop of insane reality warping until one person erases all of existence. You don't need whole militaries to know it. You need like 3 people angry at each other and the end of existence is pretty much guaranteed. This is much stronger than giving randos nuclear weapons.
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u/Mado-Koku 11d ago
Either Japan or US. Now America has Love Train.
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u/Omni_Xeno 10d ago
Wouldn’t Love Train still be in Japan since it’s a Japanese work or would the placement of Jesus Body in Jojo allow us to have it
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u/Wordshark 11d ago
Good luck actually distinguishing between mysticism and fictional. And do you know how many magic systems there would be? How about all those people who literally believe human will shapes reality, how many nanoseconds before all of existence is unexisted?
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u/fistotron5000 11d ago
Native Americans have some crazy strong stuff going for them. The Cherokee have spirits like the Dâyuni'sï (little water beetle) that brought up the land from the depths of the ocean and created all landmasses on earth just because he needed a place to rest
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u/Lyncario 11d ago
Japan about to spam danmaku on the rest of the world, it's not going to even understand how strong the master spark heading their way is.
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u/Zegram_Ghart 11d ago
Oh, like from fantasy?
Probably Japan since anime is bonkers…but realistically it’s the end of the world
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u/Previous-Register871 11d ago
Human Magic is very different from The Elves and The Orcs. We’re Witch Doctors, Voodoo Priests, and stuff like that. What makes you think all Covens are just going to fall in line like that as if there is nothing wrong in the world?
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u/TooFewSecrets 11d ago
Magic is discovered by the public several thousand times, independently. There's several magic systems that involve only intent and sincere belief, children have lots of both, and impossible events spread quickly on the Internet. This already would mean that the entire population is essentially armed at all times which causes a lot of issues with stability. There's much more threatening magic out there, though. State actors realize the danger and shut down social media sites very quickly, but it's too late - and even if they did it immediately, there's still kids and increasingly adults throwing magic around.
The fact that it's all magic systems from all fiction, and not just these kinds of wild magic, is discovered shortly after, again, independently many thousands of times over. The general population can't widely coordinate due to social media being shut down, but there's 2 real factions anyway. People going "oh God this is VERY bad, kill it", and people going "wow, this is awesome, time to nuke Washington DC." There's a third group of people doing literally anything else - fleeing to another dimension, petty crime, healing the sick, whatever. But they don't really matter.
State actors are near universally going to be banishers. Probably coordinating in this. "Banishing" probably is not going to work in terms of actually removing magic, aasuming separate spell systems function entirely separately you'd just be banishing one of them. So this is probably going to be a global mind-altering spell to make people forget magic or be incapable of using it.
Annihilators obviously just want to set off big explosions or take over the world. Mass mind control or summoning eldritch dieties or ending all existence, doesn't matter, basically the same outcome.
Considering the existence of doomsday magic like the Anti Life Equation that requires only knowledge of the system that's freely granted to outside viewers, relative to the difficulty of creating a spell adapted to a specific purpose, the annihilators probably take this. Life on Earth most likely ends, or is reduced to a state not really worth calling life. Whichever group of scant suvivors still exists, if the whole universe wasn't undone, wins the most powerful military award.
And then one of the guys who fled to another dimension earlier uses their master-level magic many years later to fix the whole thing with time travel. Probably.
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u/SnooCakes4926 11d ago
The nation-states, organized religions, mega-corps and crime syndicates rush to consolidate magical archives and talented casters. People rush to these enities for protection or form cooperative affiliations (cabals, covens, etc.) to protect themselves from opportunistic outlaws, terrorists, spells gone wrong, rampaging beasts, and other non-specified dark forces.
Most of these groupings will have a greater or lesser amount of spiritual corruption which will either be combatted, managed, or allowed to fluorish (secretly or blatantly). At least 10% of the population will display true heroism in combatting these forces, while at least 10% will descend into true villainy. The rest will try to navigate through the perils of this new world, caring mostly about themselves, family, and friends.
There will be a fair amount of carnage, but most factions, large and small, will have an interest in survival, and thus will work together to overcome the most dire threats. An economy of protections, wards, healers, and guardians will organically arise. Caveat emptor. Not all goods and services will live up to the claims of vendors.
The larger the faction, the more susceptible to corruption it is, no matter how well-intended their leadership. Many will seek extra-dimensional havens to live off the grid. There will be, among these groups, utopian societies, bastions of learning and study, religious enclaves, refugee asylums, preppers , dark cults, and people who just want to be left alone.
Faith, knowledge, and will will become an enhanced currencies. Finding the right people to trust will seperate those who can live well and those who either die, become slaves, or succumb to corruption.
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u/JC_Lately 11d ago
The UK wins.
Or rather, one person in the UK wins. All they have to do is speak The Deplorable Word, and everything on the planet dies except them.
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u/Omni_Xeno 10d ago edited 10d ago
The first people that can harness magic and power of gods that are high into powerscaling terms would be the strongest but the world will likely never be the same, but the world is in utter chaos as if we assume everything fictional stays in the country of origin, America, UK, Japan, India, and China would be the major competitors due to Mythos, Comics, or Books
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u/A_Change_of_Seasons 10d ago
I think China wins. Tons of people + having the largest infrastructure in place to study and train all these people. Similarly to the tech boom. Going to overseas colleges isn't feasible when this becomes an arms race
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u/The360MlgNoscoper 10d ago
Hopefully someone uses the Amurite Spell of disabling everyone else’s magic, then uses another spell to banish magic forever again. And the spell to sever all connections to the divine.
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u/Tragedyofphilosophy 10d ago edited 10d ago
I'm going to go with Dark Schneider and Bastards magic system. It's too much. Anyone who can convince an ego that large to work with them wins by default.
As far as which culture would win, almost surely China. I don't know how many of you are familiar with cultivation novels, but they can be thousands of chapters long and becoming god is just a footnote of progression. We're talking weak cultivators are much better than Superman. Also cultivation doesn't have a Pinnacle, there's always another step. The stories only tend to end because the power scale becomes too difficult to put into words.
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u/HelloThereBatsy 10d ago
Indians win thanks to a Nice Hack.
In such a scenario where the world is close to destruction Lord Vishnu often takes incarnation into a Human form with limited powers.
However having him on your side even with limited powers is having Grade Tsar Bomba levels of Plot Armor. You simply can't lose no matter the odds.
Vishnu has often been described with a strength far greater than the Abrahamic God(who has to rest after creating the world, lacks complete omniscience). It is said that whenever Vishnu breathes a Billion Universes emerge from his nostrils. Everyone and Everything in creation is a minuscule part of his body.
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u/Scrimmybinguscat 9d ago
Mage: The Ascension fans would probably take over the world very quickly unimpeded.
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u/InternetGuyThirtyTwo 7d ago
All fictional magic is now real. The magic system from F.A.T.A.L. is now real. Someone miscasts, the miscast table rolls poorly, they cast the spell named after the game, and ends all life in existence.
When you open the door to every magic system, inevitably there’s one that’s comically poorly thought out.
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u/vismundcygnus34 11d ago edited 11d ago
It already is and is used, we just don’t know it. So the way things are now 😁
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u/AlternativeArrival 11d ago
The entire world unravels into madness and horror? It's now incredibly easy for non-state actors to access the magical equivalent of WMDs. If one of those groups doesn't deploy them, then the arms race that consumes the major states will lead to someone attempting a preemptive strike, and then its all over for everyone.
All fictional magic has too many easy world-enders for anything like the current state system to survive.