Editing Supernatural Law: New Orleans (section)

==The Universe==
The universe works more or less the way the scientists say it does. Everything is governed by natural laws. Magic does not exist.
But ours is not the only universe there is.

Our Earthly realm does not exist alone. There are many others. Heavens, Hells, Fey realms, and even stranger ones. They have their own laws. Perfectly natural to them, thoroughly supernatural from our point of view. Some of these other realms are close enough in nature to ours that given the opportunity, it would be possible for us to physically visit them. Others are so alien that death, madness, or both would result should we step into them, assuming such a thing would be even possible. This multitude of different realms is commonly called by a lump term of Other Side.

What we call magic is simply the result of Other Side touching our realm, for even the closest of those realms has natural laws different from ours. And even though the realms are separate, sometimes they are drawn together and touch. If the touch lasts long enough or happens often enough, a permanent path may form, although those are not easily traversed. Throughout human history, interaction has occurred. And a rare few people, particularly sensitive to the Other Side, have over time learned to tap into the other realms. To draw and wield forces from the Other Side. They have been called by many names. One of those is mages.

But magic is not something anyone can do. A mage is drawing upon the powers of an alien realm, momentarily overriding the natural laws of our realm with those of another. Something like that cannot be done without a connection to that other realm.

The original mages discovered weak points between universes. Managed to contact the beings on the other side. Entered into pacts with them. And were changed.

The ability to work magic is genetic. Every mage is an anomaly. Their ancestors were exposed to alien energies, and ever since then, their bloodlines have carried a touch of the Other Side in their genes. In most bloodlines this power has been diluted through intermarriage with normal humans. Other bloodlines have only married other mages in order to keep their power strong, but this has resulted in inbreeding, health issues and mystical ailments.

Obviously, the Other Side is not empty. Some realms may be lifeless wastelands, but others possess their own ecosystems, inhabitants and civilizations. They may not be like ours, but they too have laws. This may surprise a clueless mage who summons an imp or a sprite and binds the creature into service. Not realizing that the creature may have social circles where such an act is seen as abduction and slavery. Furthermore, the creature from the Other Side may be under someone’s protection. And Fey Lords and Archdevils may have issues with their subjects being abducted. They may have laws against that. And laws always have enforces. Whether they are Fey Knights or the Cohorts of the Archdevil of Law. Or Hell Cops, as their colleagues on this side tend to call the latter these days.

The trouble with enforcing law over different realms is that it is not necessarily simpler for the inhabitants of the Other Side to journey here than it is for us to visit their realms. But in our world there were bloodlines of mages, already tapping into and attuned to other realms. So agreements and further pacts were made. In return for various perks, the families and organizations of mages agreed to enforce the will of the authorities of the Other Side. For a very long time, the mage enforcers were little more than bounty hunters and troubleshooters, often coming into conflict with both local authorities and agents of different Other Side authorities with conflicting goals.

All that changed in London, in year 1829. And the man who changed it was Sir Robert Peel. British Isles contain many paths to the Other Side, and London at that time contained numerous secret societies of magic practitioners whose enforcers occasionally clashed on the streets. When Peel started his police reform, rather than cracking down on these groups he saw the need for magic-specific law enforcement and instead called a council. Peel argued that infighting between officers of the law was counterproductive, and they should instead work together. As part of the greater police force. Obeying its rules and principles, but also having the support of the greater organization.

The negotiations were not swift or easy, but eventually resulted in Metropolitan Police Force gaining its first mage detectives. This proved to be a massive success. Within the next few years, London experienced a drastic decrease in arcane crime. By 1857 ‘peeler mages’ were being incorporated into the police forces of every city in the UK. In the coming years, other nations would come to adopt the strategy. At the same time, high level talks started to take place between our governments and the various rulers of the Other Side.

It is now the modern day. Officially, magic does not exist. The governments are suppressing the knowledge, because that was what was agreed with the powers of the Other Side, from whose perspective our magic tends to involve stealing their resources and abducting their citizens. They do not want to see it become commonly used even if they have uses for agents on our side and therefore do not want to outright ban magic either. And since many powers of the Other Side are effectively highly powerful and dangerous alien civilizations, our governments listen what they have to say. It is not terribly well kept secret though. There are just too many people involved. “Magic is real and the government is using it” is about as common a conspiracy theory as “UFOs are real and the government has a deal with aliens.” Actually, very often this turns out to be the same thing. Still, the official truth holds sway, even though there is secretive scientific research into other realms, most militaries have a cadre of battle mages at disposal, and just about every large city has a magic crimes department. Oh, and don’t go trying to win any of those “show real magic and win a million” offers. They are all traps for the fools who might try to out the secret.

Welcome to New Orleans. Welcome to Occult Crimes Division. Officially, the division handles cult-related crimes. As far as the other cops know, if a case looks like it is from the X-Files, it is probably cult stuff and OCD should be called. However, you can see only so many weird things and not suspect that something is going on, especially if the weird thing is coming at you claws and tentacles flailing, so particularly for more senior officers it is an open secret that what OCD handles really is more occult than cult. And sometimes the division gets involved in more ordinary cases due to that. It is not supposed to happen, but if the case is going nowhere it is not that uncommon for a detective to approach the OCD and say: “I have a hunch that this might be cult-related, would you take a look” in the hope that the unique talents of the Occult Crime Detectives will provide new clues.

And what about mages brought in for crimes? Some of them may have ways to escape from cells and confound court proceedings. Well, good luck with that when the mortar used to build your cell came from Hell VI and the cuffs on your wrists were forged by an Angel. And rest assured that when you go to court, the judge, jury, prosecutor, and even the bailiff are all mages. You are supposed to be judged by a jury of your peers, after all.

So what do Occult Crime Detectives do? Arrest renegade mages and hunt down the monsters that slither through from the Other Side? Escort around Dukes of Hell and other dignitaries visiting from the Other Side? That, yes, but those cases are exceptional. The routine is far less action packed and glamorous.

Maybe they do a sting on licensed alchemists to make sure that no one is illegally selling controlled substances from under the counter. (Love potions, for example, are highly illegal. They are considered to be a particularly insidious date rape drug. The victim usually does not even realize that a crime has occurred.)

Or they might have to deal with a public or domestic disturbance. Magic and intoxication is a bad combination, and when a mage couple starts arguing violently, the situation may get too heated for the regular cops to handle.

But in the game, the (relatively) dull routine will mostly be glossed over. The cases featured will revolve around crimes and serious incidents that involve magic in some fashion. But something less serious may come around occasionally as change of pace, although these cases are very likely to be swiftly resolved.