Reality Shifting Blog - Blog Posts

𝐟𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞...

I'm at a point in life where every day I think at least once, "holy hell, I cannot stay here😹💔...."

the “AuDHD writer” to “burnt out depressed barely making it teen” to the “reality shifter who can finally choose life” pipeline is too real

illvermorny (yes with two Ls) in my wizarding world dr

introduction;

one of my least favourite aspects of the wider harry potter universe is the lack of interest that the author has in fleshing out the universe. there are so many questions that i, as a shifter and fundamentally curious person, have about how magic works, different magical societies and more.

the map above is a map of all the wizarding schools in the world. not many, right? and to top it all off, the way they perform magic is identical between schools. again, ridiculous.

in reality, this is not how society works. i'll use philosophy as an example; eastern and western philosophies are fundamentally different due to how isolated these two geocultural entities were from each other and how their values were intrinsically different, especially in the past.

so, when i was narrowing down my harry potter reality, i decided to make my own version of illvermorny school that i felt was far more fleshed out compared to the vague, uninteresting backstory that the author gave.

maybe if she spent less time being a transphobic prick and more time actually writing an interesting story, i wouldn't have to do this, but i digress.

here's illvermorny, where i attended school in my dr. (as an additional note, i spelt illvermorny with a double l at first without realising that it was one l, but it eventually stuck because i thought it looked better.)

part one (history);

there are about 200 or something magic schools in the world. most are small, regional schools focused on providing a decent education in magic to open up doors. some, like durmstrang/beauxbatons/hogwarts/illvermorny, are incredibly prestigious, open to only the absolute best students or those from prestigious families.

illvermorny college of magic was founded when the first pilgrims settled in america, unaware of the wizarding stowaways on the mayflower. although the indigenous peoples of america have their own magic traditions, the few wizards that snuck onto america to escape the chaos of england after the founding of hogwarts were the ones that brought the ‘spell system’ of magic to the country. the first students at illvermorny were young, muggleborn wizards and witches, the first of its kind. indigenous students were allowed to study as well, creating a culture of magic that went beyond the typical pureblood-muggleborn dichotomy of europe and britain. the school's first few years were incredibly proseporous as the magical community thrived in early america.

eventually, however, suspicions rose amongst muggles about illvermorny and the earliest recorded witch trials happened. young wizards and witches were rounded up like cattle and burned at the stake for so-called satanic activity.

only a couple of wizarding families managed to escape, trekking up to applachia, creating modern illvermorny. early modern illvermorny had many strange, outright cultish rituals due to its isolation.

part two (culture);

the school only started accepting new students during the british colonisation period, through a scouting program thats famous across the world for its scale and intensity; illvermorny scouts are said to be absolutely everywhere in america, mexico and canada. students outside these countries have to personally message principal regis to request an interview.

the modern school has no dorms and no sorting totally unlike hogwarts. rather, there are three housing towers where students stay, named after water (maem), fire (iesh), air (avir), the three classical elements. - students live, eat and sleep in these dorms, where the majority of their relationships will be formed. along with that, there are 5 covens active at illvermorny, which is how extracurricular student relationships are fostered.

students board k-12 and spend all of their youth at the school. classes operate on a university style elective system for years 7+ where different timing of classes and professors are highly valued.

there is no uniform or dress code during class, however there is a formal uniform for special occassions.

wands in illvermorny is very different to hogwarts. wands are highly customisable, and typically glass blown by artisans. they are made for the user, customised to their preference. a famous wand making family is the van der zee family.

the actual curriculum at illvermorny in the early years is focused on practical applications of magic. spells are taught exclusively non-verbally at first, and wandless as well. in senior years, high specialisation in fields is prized, particularly because illvermorny values academic rigour. - illvermorny participates in the quadwizard tournament with beauxbatons, hogwarts and durmstrang, and have won 200 years in a row.

part three (american wizarding society as a whole);

blood purity is not nearly as prized by american wizards. rather, wealth is. wealthy, old money, prominent families such as the hastings of pennsylvania rule over american wizarding society. although these oligarchs claim to care about progress, what they value most is maintaining their power.

on another note, american wizarding society is very secretive. the oldest wizarding families have almost no interactions with ‘nomajs’ due to their fear of persecution. each state in america has its own magic community, but the two most prominent ones are in NY and california. a strong rivalry exists between these factions.

the strongest debate in american magical politics is that of the nomaj problem. so-called traditionalists and progressives argue about nomaj’s connection to magical society, if families of magical students should be aware of their status and even if nomaj should be allowed to interact with magical beings at all, even in a non-magical context.