Editing Magipunk:Magic (section)

=== Day-to-day Life ===

Not to be underestimated is the simple ability to create light. A simple spell produces colored light in sufficient quantity to illuminate a small room, but not be blinding. The whiter the light, the more complex the spell and the more mana it takes. The difference isn't huge, but it's enough that the cheaper employers often get by on very yellow light, and colored lighting is generally used when there's any "atmospheric" reason to do so in a bar or the like. 

Magic can power a wagon or chariot, instead of a horse. However, this is a relatively inefficient use of power, and is beyond the means of most common people: animal transportation is still the default mode of transit. The rich may have personal carriages that are horseless, and particularly powerful sorcerers may simply fly (or, if they are capable of it, teleport), but doing so is ostentatious and moderately rare. Magic is, however, sometimes used to keep animals placid, or to otherwise supplement animal transportation. 

Magic can capture an image in a mirror or other reflective surface, or inside a crystal. This is an important means of making semi-permenant records for a population with a low literacy rate! Putting an image in a mirror is temporary, generally lasting a few weeks (depending on the amount of mana expended), while capturing an image in a crystal is permenant (the actual physical crystal is altered). Since crystals are non-organic, they can be created by magic, and several Alliances are increasingly finding demand for selling standardized crystals for long-term image storage. At the moment, however, mirrors remain a bit cheaper, and give a higher-quality image. 

Many of the day-to-day chores that require heat (from cooking to warming your residence to cleaning) are done using magical heat sources instead of mundane ones. Creating a precise degree of flameless heat is relatively easy with magic, though the poorer folks will find it a bit wasteful when mundane flame could do the job. Because it's possible to heat a room without any infrastructure other than a power token, most of the middle-class to poor residential areas make no provision for heating their own rooms -- that's the responsibility of the tenant. 

Long-distance communication has become radically eased by magic. There are several different methods of magical communication, but the two most common are direct "sendings" (telepathic communication directly between two minds) or image casting through linked mirrors. Sendings are useful because two individuals can directly contact each other without requiring that either know where the other is, nor interrupting anyone else. However, the individuals must either know each other reasonably well, or have something of each other, like blood or hair. Otherwise, given two linked mirrors (made together), it is possible to cast one's image and voice through one to the other. However, this elicits the possibility of being heard by bystanders, and is inconveniant if the intended recipient of the message is not around the opposite mirror.