Chapter 49:

On August 1st 2010 at 12:00 noon Earth time, non-magical media had the following announcement.

Starfleet is announcing the source of some of its capabilities. Some people are born with an ability to harness forces that are not understood by physics. With education and practice they can use these abilities in useful ways.

The potential to harness these forces are something one is born with. It cannot be acquired. It is not channeling forces of others, but something one has within oneself.

"This is Clyde Lewis and welcome to Ground Zero. We welcome again to our show Starfleet representative George Spivak. George I'm happy to have you back and as you know I have talked a lot about Starfleet in the two years since you were last on this show, the good, the bad and the ugly, and will continue to do so after this interview."

George said, "I'm happy to be here and answer your questions."

Clyde asked, "We finally get the answer about what sounds like magic. Why the drip drip drip of little bits of information at a time?"

"The safety of our people. There were perhaps 50,000 people convicted and executed for witchcraft in mostly in Europe, in the 1450 to 1692 era. We are trying to introduce information at a pace helps with cooperation and peaceful relations."

Clyde asked, "Is there more you are not saying?"

"Yes. The main announcements will be in the next weeks."

There wasn't less visible reaction to the announcement than expected. There was much speculation, but nothing that appeared dangerous, so the next announcement was made on August 9th.

People with magical abilities were once part of the same communities as those without. In the centuries after the year 1000 persecution of those accused of witchcraft increased, to the point of mass executions. While most of the victims of these executions were in fact not witches, the need for the Wizarding world to hide from the non-magical world became obvious.

The separation of the communities increased, until in 1692 all those with magical abilities around the world formed governments, that each had as their main responsibility keeping the existence of magic secret.

In the last 318 years there has been a separate sets of governments and a separate society for wizards and witches, and others. A later announcement will describe the others.

The magical governments prevent misuse of magic, protect non-magicals, prevent the loss of secrecy of magic, and coordinate with their local non-magical government to help those goals. Those non-magical governments had knowledge of magic, as did close family members of children who exhibited magical abilities.

The magical community finds those children who exhibit magic, and educates them, helps them control their abilities, and helps their families to understand the unique challenges their children face.

After 300 years of secrecy, the magical government faced two reasons to plan to end the secrecy, culminating in this announcement. One is discovering evidence of extra-terrestrials. Earth needs to be united before meeting them. The second is the growth of technology and the increasing difficulties of keeping information secret.

In 1993, the magical governments formed an organization, called Starfleet, which as the name suggests, is a long term project to build a fleet of starships and face our galactic neighbors as peers, not as an undeveloped planet to be colonized. Its is a cooperative effort between governments both magical and non-magical.

Starfleet, from its beginning, combined the best of magic and technology to develop Earth's capabilities as fast as possible. At the same time, its discoveries were used to help the people of Earth to the maximum extent possible.

The new set of arrangements between the magical and non-magical governments is mediated by Starfleet. While the secrecy has ended, the separation of governments will continue. Magical people will be governed by their magical government. The magical methods of hiding will continue for those who want to, but those who want to live openly can now do so. Law enforcement of both sets of governments will continue to make sure that mistreatment against magicals and non-magicals will be prevented.

Those who exhibit magical abilities sufficient for magical education are automatically detected magically and are contacted by the age of 11 or later in the rare cases where the ability manifests itself after that age.

This announcement had even more impact than the announcement about extra-terrestrials. added an entire section telling all about magic. Only magical creatures were off-limits until they were to be later announced to the non-magical public.

There were many interviews given. Some of them described the abilities of magic. Some described the history of magic. Some proactively addressed all of the negative views of witchcraft and gave explanations. One presentation had,

"Do witches and wizards cause diseases? No. Magical law enforcement strictly prevents harm from being done to others with magic. In fact, magic halted a dangerous disease, SARS in 2003.

The magical community has, as does the non-magical community, mostly good people, but the occasional criminal. It also has magical law enforcement to prevent negative uses, but also to try to undo damage where possible when crime occurs.

Starfleet has an additional mission, to keep a united peaceful Earth, which is to proactively prevent any warfare or armed conflict in the non-magical or magical communities."

There were scheduled demonstrations of magic. Security was setup to try to catch anyone who would use a demonstration of magic to ambush magicals, but nothing major happened. Minor things like people panicking when a chair is turned into a tiger were easily handled and not criminal matters.

On August 18th,

The is the last of the announcements of previously secret knowledge. Many mythical beings are real. Goblins, giants, centaurs, merpeople, selkies, elves, vampires, leprechauns , werewolves, and more exist. Many other magical creatures exist such as banshees, manticores, trolls, and dragons also exist.

The magical community has arrangements with every one of the sentient magical beings, to live peacefully together with them. They are kept away from non-magical people.

Those creatures that are dangerous will continue be kept away from non-magicals, while those that live peacefully among us will be carefully introduced to non-magical environments that accept them.

There are also a variety of magical plants, some of which present hazards. These are kept from appearing in non-magical areas.

There are also some witches and wizards that can transform into animals. They present no more danger than the person otherwise would, since they maintain their own mind during their transformations.

Another aspect of the magical world is that there are a small number of ghosts, which only magical people can see or hear. In addition, there are some magical creatures can only be seen or heard by witches and wizards.

"This is Clyde Lewis and welcome to Ground Zero. We have learned that many of the topics speculated on this show have now been confirmed as true. I do not know what to think about that, it is certainly not to say I told you so, but to continue to look into anything that does not seem right and true and report it to the best of my ability.

We welcome again Starfleet representative George Spivak. How much inteference has there been in the non-magical world in the last 300 years?"

"The magical world has largely stayed away from the non-magical, until gradually changing that policy starting in 1993. Magical people have stayed away from non-magical wars. During World War Two, there was a parallel war in the magical world, between Germany and its neighbors. However, while parallel, those wars were not coordinated with each other."

Clyde asked "What about other manipulations, such as economic?""

"Trade between the two economies are carefully regulated. The magical world has its own currencies, and the links between them are carefully designed for stability and fairness. Much of the banking system in the magical world is handled by Goblins.

However, since 1993, our new emphasis has changed from non-interference, to speeding the development of both economies as quickly as possible. Since then, starting as an experiment in Kazakhstan and later becoming world-wide, the best researchers, both magical and non-magical, have combined their efforts to increase technology, efficiency in production, clean energy, health care, and of course space exploration and development."

Clyde asked, "Are there more secrets being held back?"

"There are personal secrets that are not revealed due to privacy. There are military secrets that are not revealed. Keep in mind that broadcasts travel at the speed of light and can be received by extra-terrestrial spaceships, and years later even near other stars."

The Straits Times in Singapore had an interview,

"With the end of secrecy, would it be possible for Singapore to build its own systems to provide food and water domestically?"

"Yes. While aid from Starfleet needs to be allocated, magical companies are now free to do business with non-magical companies and governments. The Basic Needs Centers provide food and water, but other sources of supply can be purchased by those capable of constructing this type of infrastructure."

"Why will there continue to be a two separate governments in Singapore?"

"We have well over 300 years of being a separate community. We long predate the nation of Singapore and the first British presence here. The geographic bounds and the makeup of the different magical communities have changed, but every place with people has had a magical government since 1692 and often many centuries before that.

We have a way of life that has diverged significantly from the non-magical world. We also have a different way of living due to our abilities. The model that we are moving towards is a united Earth comprised of separate countries peacefully cooperating with each other."

National Geographic had a documentary,

"We are filming from a dragon sanctuary in Romania. We will show you a number of different types of dragons and their every day life."

The San Francisco Chronicle reported,

"The worldwide headquarters of Starfleet has been underground in the Presideo. Now there is a planned above ground campus at that site. In addition, there are land planning debates about also building parts of its campus in areas adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, which is currently park land."