SHADESthe future is so bright
POLITICS
it seems that the world is falling to pieces at the seams which once held society together.
that which we took for granted is being questioned by each of six major political parties,
each of which is planning to take the office of minister of magic by storm after the surprise
assassination of minister finch-fletchley. from the violently liberal to the staunchly cons-
ervative, the playing field has been leveled and all six teams are up to bat, setting the stage
for the most politicized and chaotic election the magical world has yet witnessed.
MURDER
assassination has become the political statement of the future. whereas before, if a
political figure wasn’t popular, he was voted out of office. now, in this rapidly careening,
fast-fire world where nothing will slow down, the only plausible solution is to kill him, and
thus strip him of all present and potential power. the minister of magic, while the most
influential, was definitely not the only one. high-ranking members of various political
parties are dropping like flies as each faction tosses morality out the window in order
to squelch the rising tides of all the opposition.
ESPIONAGE
nothing’s a secret. here in the future, there are impossibly tiny devices manufactured
by the thousands, magical machines designed specifically to eavesdrop or silently observe.
these flies on the wall ensure that nothing you say can be kept to yourself. your views,
your opinions, your thoughts, they can be found out absurdly easily if you don’t care-
fully guard your words. spies are infiltrating even the best-protected political headquarters,
and, of course, those damned newspapers always seem to figure everything out.
DIPLOMACY
careful deals are being wrought between the powers-that-be that run the wizarding
world from underground. political bargains are struck daily and always changing, fluc-
tuating with the shifting circumstances, and politicians are kept constantly on their toes,
trying to appease and conquer at the same time. it’s a difficult world made up of several
precarious delicate balances, and the merest touch could send it collapsing to the ground.
Now, the Ministry of Magic is holding an election for the next Minister of Magic, the one who is either going to pull the world up from all the swirling turmoil or sink everyone further into it. He or she has one shot, one opportunity to prove his worth – and that’s winning the election. With a six-way ferocious battle for power, candidates must fight tooth and nail, not only against their rivals but against their own parties if they’re ever going to have a chance to emerge on top. With everyone’s colorful views clashing together and forming a mosaic impossible to take apart and piece back together, the political horizon has suddenly gotten a whole lot louder and polychromatic, representing the muddled minds of the confused people who are running the show. Nobody really knows what they’re doing. They’re just fighting for what they honestly believe whichever way they know how, with no hesitation or pretention involved. And the product of this is an erratic, fragmented political landscape with completely unpredictable floes and waves, as everyone clings to political authority in an effort to stay afloat. And the threat of blackmail and humiliation and death is a constant cloud over the sunny hopeful skies, hovering as a darkling reminder that even a new minister of magic isn’t going to fix the fundamental problem that keeps throwing a wrench in the works of governmental perfection – human nature.
