The Empire of Walpurgis is name of the wizarding world for the countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The wizarding world is the society in which wizards and witches live and interact separate from Muggle (non-wizarding) society. The two communities are kept separate through the use of charms, spells, and secrecy. Wizards are forbidden to reveal anything about magic to Muggle society due to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.
Magic is honed through study, training and formal schooling, but cannot be simply learnt by Muggles. Non-magic skills, such as picking a lock with a hairpin rather than an unlocking spell, are uncommon to the point of novel rarity. Magic is used for mostly everything, including cooking, cleaning, travelling, communicating, child rearing, and medical treatment. Although on the surface, magic appears morally neutral, the benevolence or malevolence of a spell's nature is tied to the intention behind it. For instance, the Cruciatus Curse cannot effectively torture a victim with pain unless the caster desires to do true harm to the victim. The technology of the Wizarding World appears Medieval in character as the use of magic precludes the need for advanced technology.
History
The Empire of Walpurgis was formed when Reginald Peverell, a young albeit very accomplished wizard, decided to move out of the Roman Wizarding Empire (or RWE), and form his own nation, as he did not believe in some of the ways of the RWE. He took a lot of people with him. He researched and found out that Great Britain had no wizarding occupance whatsoever. That is where he based his operations. In 1852, at age 24, he successfully formed the Empire of Walpurgis which then included the nations of Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales, and the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry of Magic that he created was nearly perfect, and required very few changes throughout the years. The Ministry was so good, even the RWE decided to reconstitute their government based on the Ministry. Other wizarding empires over the years have also used similar systems based on the Ministry of Magic.
In the past 150+ years of Walpurgis' existence, every advancement in the wizarding world has come from Walpurgis. Walpurgis is hands down the smartest wizarding nation on earth, as every last innovation of wizarding society has come from Walpurgian witches and wizards, most notably from Harold James Potter.
Government
The Ministry of Magic is the Walpurgian wizarding world's central authority, bureaucracy and law enforcement. The Ministry maintains numerous departments and offices and is highly organized and efficient. The Ministry is led by the Minister for Magic. Politically, there is no separation between executive, legislative, and judicial branches of power, and there are no elections. The Minister for Magic is selected by his or her predecessor, and the Minister for Magic appoints people for the other high-ranking positions within the Ministry.
The Wizengamot Court System judges those guilty of breaking wizarding law and determines the fate of criminals. Trials consist of a short hearing with no lawyer or arbitrator and without any possibility to appeal. Criminals with life sentences or death sentences are sent to Azkaban where there sentence is carried out. Any criminal with a lower sentence than the prior is sent to Nurmengard. Individuals are never wrongfully imprisoned as the Wizengamot always knows the truth.
The Ministry of Magic controls a great deal of wizarding life, including methods of communication, transportation, internal affairs between wizards and other magical beings, internal security of the wizarding world, Non-Tradeable Material and even sports.
International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy
Enormous effort is expended to keep wizarding society from Muggle knowledge. Enchantment of Muggle property is forbidden, underage wizards are restricted from using magic without a license, and any deliberate revelation of magic is punishable. These laws were created by the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and are enforced by the International Confederation of Wizards, the Ministry of Magic, and every other wizarding empire's government.
The Ministry does not answer to any part of the Muggle government, but its head is obliged to inform the heads of the nations of Walpurgis of events that could cause Muggle notice. Other exceptions to this secrecy include the Muggle relatives of wizards.
Geography
Though wizards live all over the world in various places, there are some Wizard Villages where there are many wizards in one location, and where no Muggles live at all. The only all-wizarding villages in Walpurgis are Hogsmeade, Godric's Hollow and Ottery St. Catchpole.
Economy
The main economic entity in Walpurgis is Gringotts Wizarding Bank, which is run by goblins and an intense security system which includes a subterranean maze and dragons. There are hundreds of thousands of vaults, each with a unique key.
Wizarding currency has three types of coins and no decimal system. The coins are Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. Conversion rates:
- 17 Sickles to a Galleon
- 29 Knuts to a Sickle
- 439 Knuts to a Galleon
Every wizarding empire has their own currency, but each wizarding bank in the world can trade money of each empire, as well as provide an exchange of Muggle money.
164 Knuts are equivalent to one muggle Euro.
Medicine
While Muggle medicine first attempts to stimulate the body's own healing and defence systems, magic can simply impose well-being or create healing from a source other than the body's own system. Potions, spells and magical bandages are administered by trained Healers. Pepperup Potion relieves the symptoms of colds and flu and Cheering Charms provide a rudimentary mood stimulation. Where home remedies and ordinary wizard skills fail, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, the only hospital in Walpurgis, employs Healers who attend to everything from fixing conventional ailments to long-term care for victims of severe neurological damage.
Society
The society of the wizarding world is centered aroung two facts: that the members can use magic due to inborn capabilities to do otherwise impossible things, and that it is not possible for Muggle society to coexist peaceably alongside Wizarding society and therefore it is kept secret.
Internal Relations
The most obvious example of wizard prejudice is what ranges from a longstanding disdain to genocidal hatred for Muggles.
Wizards appear magically capable until advanced old age, there seems less prejudice toward the old. Young wizards and witches, on the other hand, are often not respected till of legal age.
Werewolves, perfectly normal human beings he majority of their lives and terrifying monsters for a small fraction of it, are so hated and despised that to reveal their affliction is to end all possibility of future employment. Some werewolves, such as Fenrir Greyback, infamously used their lycanthropy to take revenge on society, however most suffer in secrecy due to fear of becoming cast out from society.
Giants, normally solitary creatures given to territorial aggression, were rendered nearly extinct by the refusal of wizards to allow them near habitable land. This forced their kind to cluster together is desolate rocky lands, leading to in-fighting and further deaths. Giants are so feared by wizards that gentle and intelligent half-giants such as Rubeus Hagrid are made to feel ashamed of their heritage and suffer the same prejudice that Muggle-borns and half-bloods do.
House-elves willingly and joyfully do whatever tasks their wizard masters ask of them, have thus been ruthlessly exploited for centuries as a slave-class. The fact that they seem to like being enslaved has made wizards sned their house-elves on life-threatening errands at all corners of the globe. The casting-out of a house-elf from a family is the deepest and most traumatic punishment imaginable for them. This most often leads to the house-elf to harm itself in grief to the point of death.
Goblins, while they appear to have at least a grudging co-existence with the wizard world, have nonetheless experienced much discrimination from wizards, and many have led significant uprisings against them in the past.
Muggle Relations
Most things of magical nature are hidden from Muggles. However to wizards, the Muggle world is also very mysterious. Muggle technology, such as the telephone or revolver, are foreign and obscure to wizards. Muggle Studies is offered at Walpurgis schools, but the subject is considered a waste of time to some.
Religion
Wizards practice all manner of faiths and religions, however, the most prominent being Christianity. Christmas and Easter are celebrated communally, though the celebrations mainly cover the non-religious portions of the holidays. Witches and wizards can be members of any faith, and there are no specifically wizarding religions. More than 90% of witches and wizards are Christian.
Education
An untrained wizard child may perform random bursts of magic intuitively when distressed or excited. Honing and controlling this into a usable skill takes years of education. There is no official elementary school, however parents may home-school their children or send them to Muggle schools until they are of age to move on to formal wizarding education. In Walpurgis, formal wizarding education begins when an individual is eleven years old on or before September 1st of each year.
Ability to use magic is automatic grounds for admittance to wizarding school. There is a magical quill that writes down the names of those that are born with magical capabilities. Eleven years after a child's name is entered into the book, a letter is sent to the child's home to explain that they have been accepted to school. The homes of witches and wizards who are unaware of their abilities receive an envoy to explain the situation.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, located in Scotland, provides education to the entire wizarding nation of Walpurgis. Students may enroll at age eleven and undertake seven years of training in a wide variety of subjects. When education is complete, graduates are considered mature and capable members of the wiarding society. Some subsequent professions, such as Auror, require additional education and training.
Wizarding Examinations Authority
The Wizarding Examinations Authority examines students in their fifth and seventh years of education at Hogwarts who sit O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams.
Transport and Communication
As witches and wizards live in any and all areas of the known world, wizard modes of transport and communiation must cover distances in a variety of ways.
Apparition
Apparition allows an individual to vanish and appear at another place almost instantly. The act of Apparating creates a noise ranging from a small pop to a loud bang. It is a difficult technique to master and becomes increasingly unreliable over long distances. It requires complete concentration on the destination, determination and focus upon the desired location, and deliberation and certainty of reaching the goal. Only of-age wizards who qualify may legally Apparate. Walpurgian schools offer Apparition classes to students ages seventeen and older. Side-Along Apparition allows those with licenses to bring minors along with them. Poor focus may result in Splinching, which causes body parts to be separated and left behind. The process of Apparition is said to feel like being "forced through a very tight rubber tube".
Floo Network
Floo powder is a green powder that is thrown into a lite fireplace and allows for a portal to connect to another fireplace at a desired location. The system is operated and overseen by the Floo Network, which is based at the Ministry of Magic. A fireplace must be connected to the Floo Network for one to travel to it, and firplaces can be connected temporarily, in the case of travelling to Muggle homes.
Flying
Wizards use broomsticks to travel long distances, or for sport, particularly in the game Quidditch. The Cushoning Charm invented by Elliot Smethwyck provides comfort. Modern broomsticks include the Comet, Cleansweep, Nimbus, and Firebolt. A range of flying creatures are also available for transport, such as Thestrals and Hippogriffs.
Owls
The most common means of communication is owls, which cooperate with wizards to convey packages, messages and letters. In circumstances that a wizard or witch owns a separate animal that can be used instead, they are.
Portkeys
Portkeys are objects that allow for travel across extreme distances or to places that have been charmed against detection. Portkeys may send unsuspecting people anywhere, and so they require Ministry authorization to use and operate. They are disguised as ordinary trash, such as a crushed aluminum can or a dity, discarded sock, so Muggles will ignore them. Portkeys can be set to activate either at a prearranged time, or as soon the person comes in contact with them.
Miscellaneous
- All-wizarding radio stations exist, and the radios receive the frequency magically.
- The Knight Bus taxies stranded wizards to anywhre in the United Kingdom.
- Hogwarts Students are transported to and from the school on the Hogwarts Express, a train that departs from a magically hidden rail platform in London.
- The Ministry of Magic has a flying carriage that is used for very special events.
- Flying carpets are a primary from of wizarding transport in Asia, and are designated as contraband in Walpurgis.
- Very rarely, a Centaur willl allow a human to ride on his back. This is the most solemn of events, offered only to highly honoured riders.
- Photographs and portraits in the wizarding world are usually enchanted so that they move, with photographs acting as brief, looping recordings of an event or person, while portraits possess a form of enchanted intelligence that allows them to communicate with humans and each other, to move locations of their own accord under certain circumstances, and to pass along messages and advice reflecting the personality and knowledge of the original subject.
Population
Every year, exactly 20 wizards and 20 witches are born in Walpurgis. This means that only 40 witches and wizards are born in Walpurgis every year.
Since every witch and wizard has a life span of about 115 years, the total population of Walpurgis at any given moment is around 4,600. There has only ever been around 6,400 Walpurgian witches and witches in history.