While terminology may differ internationally, in this country those with magical talent are generally called sorcerers or sorceresses while those who are incapable of practicing magic are often referred to as dullkin. Both sets of terms have their critics.

For one, there is no gender-neutral term for a sorcerer or sorceress. While some have proposed the term sorcerex, it has failed to catch on and the generally conservative magical community is wary at best of anything but the most traditional conceptions of gender.

For another, there can be no denying that the term dullkin as used to refer to those who are not magically gifted can be seen as an insult. There are some dullkin who have embraced the term, generally couching it as an anti-elitist move. Others have attempted to encourage the use of the more palatable nullkin in its place. Nullkin, meaning those with no (or null) magic, has gained in popularity of late, but many still see it as unnecessarily divisive, while others argue that there was nothing wrong with the term dullkin in the first place.

Regardless of these differing viewpoints, Magnolian Academy officially endorses the term dullkin and it is in common use among its students and faculty. While there are many dullkin that work in the school, as janitors, as cooks, and the like, they are always labeled as such and generally made to wear a distinctive uniform or name tag. The city of Greenford, too, uses dullkin in its official business – in the town charter, for instance, which sets a four-dullkin limit on the nine-member city council that elects the mayor from among its number. Every dullkin attorney, doctor, or police officer must be specially licensed by the city, while sorcerers and sorceresses have no such requirement.

Of course, the ability to use magic unquestionably makes lawyers, doctors, and cops better at their jobs, so this is rarely enforced. But even in Greenford, which has attracted a large population of sorcerers and sorceresses who are Magnolian alumnae and have settled nearby, the percentage of residents who are dullkin hovers around 90%.

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