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For me, it would definitely be the Bronze Age, and centred in Mesopotamia: the technological revolution of the silicate valleys that produced the first professional farmers, soldiers, merchants, scribes, kings, priests, prostitutes, teachers, thieves, physicians and of course magi. The craft of working magic might be the most important of all, making a tribe strong enough to settle and survive and grow instead of having to scuttle from place to place, always running or hiding from some supernatural threat. The big difference would be in the Realms of Power. The Gods are powerful bringers of both good and ill*; dangerous spirits are to be placated as often as opposed; and the world abounds with cunning and wonderful creatures. I would wrap them all up into one source of wild power. The role of civilisation is to turn chaos to order, making deals with the gods for fertility and protection, repelling savage creatures and peoples, making life safe for humans to flourish. And yet magi, the most powerful bastions of civilisation, needs must draw their power from the magical wilds (though others might protect simple nomads and noble magical creatures from repressive kings, brutal armies and corrupt court wizards). Most ancient kings acted as priests, but many had a retinue of seers and magicians, so if there's an equivalent to the OoH, it won't prohibit its members from serving their local rulers. But it has to forbid direct aggression against other cities and magi, otherwise its members would be mortal enemies much of the time (and they would quickly destroy the towns they're fighting over). Instead of having to be discreet, magi might have to refrain from violence, at least against other civilised people, which explains why texts describe magic as being used more for healing and divination rather than slaying one's enemies. In the Bronze Age, the church was very much a part of the state - whether a city-state (in Greece, early Mesopotamia, or the Indus Valley), an empire (later Mesopotamia, especially Assyria) or a nation (Egypt, China). A magus has more in common with his fellow magi than his fellow countrymen, and his power comes from the uncivilised outlands, so relations with the king would be uneasy. Rather like the problems that can arise in modern countries when they need the expertise of groups of scientists who don't share the government's aims. On a more practical level, there are differences from Medieval times, but none that I can think of are huge. For magi, the biggest problem is that parchment and paper haven't been invented - Egyptians use papyrus, but in Mesopotamia a small library comprises thousands of clay tablets. All metal is rare and expensive, and iron - from meteorites - is the most valuable of all. No-one can ride a horse, but in the later Bronze Age chariots are used (and the horses might run even faster if the charioteer is Gifted). Just about any field of scholarship is more primitive than in the Middle Ages, with superstition filling the gaps. A rather macabre thought has struck me: the very earliest dynasties in Sumer, Egypt and China all practised human sacrifice, but in all three places it was rapidly abandoned as the culture advanced. Coincidence? *For example, the Sumerians knew that the gods had once drowned virtually the entire human race; they hadn't yet found out that this was perfectly acceptable. (Edited for spelling.)
Edited 9/10/2005 1:51 pm ET by ArsBrevis
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