The International Statute of Secrecy
Global Magical Society: The International Statute of Secrecy
by Aldwin Urquart
The International Statute of Secrecy. What is it? What led to its formation? Ever such intriguing questions, and ones that oft find themselves unanswered within Pellaras. An unfortunate effect of The History of Magic Professorship being held by a... rather absent specter. When examining the Statute, a historian must not limit sources to those of magical origin. The layman will, perhaps, know that the International Statute of Secrecy, henceforth referred to as the ISoS, was ratified in the year 1689. What the layman might assume, rather incorrectly, is that this ratification was a unanimous agreement by all parties now member states of the International Confederation of Wizards.
Such is not fact. You see, to understand the circumstances that led to the conceptualization and ratification of the ISoS, one must first allow for the use of no-magical sources, and one must broaden the period they are examining. As is often with pivotal historical events, the precise events that led to the creation of the ISoS far predate its first conceptualization. Muggleborn entrants that have recently been enlightened of Pellaras' existence might, perhaps, posit that the preceding events were the witch hunts of the early modern period. Whilst a factor, it was largely disconnected from the true knucklebone that led to the current day. For that, we must look further back, to the Protestant Reformation.
The Reformation, as pertaining to Pellaras' sister nation of England, was rather more political as an affair when compared to the Reformations of other countries, which found themselves standing on a ground of theological disputes, which mundane scholars of religion believe to have been mere continuations and intensifications of extant trends within contemporary medieval Catholicism, rather than the prior notion of a wholesale rejection that they had foolishly thought. The true depths of the Reformation, both English and otherwise, whilst interesting are of little import when one discusses the ISoS. Instead, one must look to what has been dubbed the Pellarastic Reformation, and the Zauberonic Reformation. Within Zauberon and Pellaras, then Bavaria and England, the nation's eventual citizens, the Magiers and the Pellars, began to become discontented. They saw their magic as a sign that they had been gifted by the Christian Lord, and their non-magical neighbors were tainted by Satan's influence, unworthy of such a gift. They sought to make their own Churches, such that they might properly honor the Lord, in a holy place clean of such a miasma.
The Pellars would do so by weaponizing a heresy known as the Elfredian Heresy, named after its heresiarch, Elfreda of Wiltunscire - now modern Wiltshire - otherwise known as Saint Mungo, recognized by adherents as the true Saint Mungo, rather than the Muggle sharing the same name. The Magiers would do much the same, combing the archives of their nobility to find a heresy with which to distinguish themselves. The crux of Elfreda's centered on Christ's blood, and the claim of his sharing his pure blood with the Disciples, leading to the modern magical population. Zauberon's Adelmanic Heresy, named for Adelman of Salzen, centered on the belief that predestination was both a key aspect of God's Plan and that only those of a magical nature were destined for Heaven.
As the years went on, the discontent grew, with yet more nations developing similar feelings. The various heresies, and the pockets that held anti-clerical beliefs, would eventually be criminalized, with orders in the line of the Spanish Inquisition being tasked with punishment, leading to the misconception that the witch hunts led to the ISoS. It was not efforts to eliminate magic that furthered the antimiscegenist attitudes, but competing theology, and religious suppression.
The attitudes of the time would eventually reach their boiling point, prompting the formation of the ICW, as a means for the nations that would become its first member states to meet and plan. Through many conferences, the founding nation-states would decide on two primary routes forward. The first was the casting of a veil over the respective magical settlements that had developed by the time, such as they would cease to exist to any who was not magical. The second was the dissolution of the governing bodies that were ruling the nations and consolidating them into full governmental bodies that would operate as branches of the ICW.
As time went by, other nations would follow suit, joining the ICW and becoming signatories for religious persecution, and others becoming member nations to facilitate smoother trade of goods, gaining access to the trade agreements and shipping routes of the signatory nations. While many believe all current signatories ratified the ISoS by 1692, this is yet another mistaken belief. Rather, the last member state was the United Magical Federation, presently known in the Muggle world as the United States of America, having become signatories in 1902, having still been occupied with combating the last of the colonial forces that various magical nations had sent, the last being the Abitibiwinni-Zagovic War, between the Abitibiwinni Nation (the UMF having elected not to recognize the separation of the landmass into separate non-magical countries also elected not to rename the Indigenous Nations with a single endonym) and the Zagovars of Zagovora (located within the Muggle nation of Russia.) The UMF is on record as saying they are only signatories so long as the trade agreements the member states have negotiated with each other are beneficial.