BPRD Laws of Magic

The Seven Laws of Magic

The Seven Laws of Magic are intended to guard against the abuse of magic by wizards against other wizards and humans. Wizards in violation of the Laws are called warlocks and can be spared from the punishment of execution if a wizard of the White Council takes responsibility for them. The Laws are as follows:

Thou shalt not kill by use of magic. Wizards of the White Council are forbidden to kill human beings through the use of their power. Self-defense is very occasionally allowed as a mitigating factor. This Law is also a primary reason Wardens wield swords. Several times however, Wardens have fought to kill with magic against other human wizards; it's possible wardens are given somewhat of a free pass in regards to this Law in combat circumstances. The law is very flexible, however, in regards to things that are not actually human. A wizard may kill, for example, a vampire, ghoul, or any being from the Beyond without penalty.
Thou shalt not transform others. Transformation of another's body against their will -- changing a man into an animal, for example -- creates an imbalance between body and mind that ultimately degrades the transformed subject's mind to an animal state as well.
Thou shalt not invade the mind of another. Forcible magical violation of someone's mind by extracting knowledge against their will is inherently destructive.
Thou shalt not enthrall another. Enthrallment is the term for dominating another human's mind and personality through magic by binding their will to your own; it is not the same as compelling beings of the Beyond through arrangements or exchanges. So long as the wizard in question does not actually control the being through magic, the law is not broken. A popular alternative is trapping the creature in a magic circle until it accepts the terms of a bargain, though some Wardens have ignored this distinction in their zeal. As with mind-probing, magically controlling the mind of another person is an inherently destructive and evil act -- it is almost impossible to control safely and precisely, and taints the user of the power as well as the subject even if done for the best of intentions. This taint often sends the user into a self-destructive downward spiral, where every act of magical mind control further twists the user and makes more such acts likelier; if the cycle progresses far enough, the user becomes functionally sociopathic, and impossible to rehabilitate short of execution.
Thou shalt not reach beyond the borders of life. This prohibits the research and practice of necromancy, described as the summoning, binding, and exploitation of the unwilling dead (the psychic talent of mediums for speaking to willing spirits is called ectomancy, and is not governed by the same Law). It would also theoretically prohibit any attempt to genuinely resurrect someone from the dead back to true life, although nobody actually seems to know what kind of afterlife, if any, exists (ghosts, even the most apparently intelligent and self-aware, are only psychic echoes of people created by violent death, not the actual souls of those people themselves). As the Laws are intended to protect humans against the abuse of magic, a loophole in this law allows the practice of necromancy on non-human dead.
Thou shalt not swim against the Currents of Time. This prohibits any attempt to change the past through temporal manipulation for fear of paradoxes. Even divination of the future is frowned upon in all but the vaguest, most general instances.
Thou shalt not seek the Beyond. It is unknown what lies in the Beyond, but it may mark the furthest boundaries of the multiverse. Beings from Beyond are known only as Outsiders or Outlanders and are among the deadliest threats to humanity known -- their sheer existence is antithetical to the universe and they are noted as being immune to most magic. One Senior Council member is known by the title of the Gatekeeper , conjectured to be permanently assigned to watch for attempts upon them due to the extreme threat.