Magic and gifts are separate entities. They are not the same. In many cases they are incompatible.
Spells over the soul require the host's admittance. Augmenting the mind is more of a grey magical area; the results could be unexpected.
Magic subtracts from the magic-user's soul.
Gifts are stronger than magic, but are less controllable. Gifts require surrender while magic requires control.
Magic by its nature creates and sustains fear as being part of the unnatural.
Fear dampens gifts.
Magic can be used to shatter or steal gifts.
Non-sentient creatures cannot naturally obtain gifts or use magic but magic can be used on them.
Many non-sentient creatures are skiddish of magic.
Werepeople cannot be affected by magic nor can they use it.
Magic can be used to corrupt or muzzle gifted powers.
Wizards are generally viewed with distrust but after the Great War where set up in place of the void left by the fall of gifteds as both political and religious leaders. Because magic tampers with natura law, it causes fissures in the world, often breaking into alternate dimensions leading in monstrous creatures such as ghouls and wandering curses. However they're so powerful and mankind is so greedy in times of desperation there's always people meddling in magic. So much so that it is normalized in many societies.
But power comes with consequences, and the more one has power the more one hungers for power.
Sensitives
Sensitives are people who can intuitively sense magic, sometimes even to the particular type. They can sometimes even go so far as sensing the curse behind a magic spot and the sequence of events leading to such destruction. All of this said, sensitives are easily tricked too because magic is not a force to used by man and far beyond human capacity to understand.
It is as ill-advised to trust a sensitive as it is to trust a wizard.
Magic Spots
Magic spots are places likely cursed or subject to spells. These places are frequently deemed haunted and people tend to avoid them. However, wizards usually frequent these places to practice spells, as a magic spot is already seeped in magic, making summoning daemons and placing curses all the easier.
Animals generally sense and avoid magic spots.
The Snake Alter: Stories say there's a particularly potent magic spot possessed by no less than 666666 daemons. Even more wizards shrink from that place as previous summonings involved human sacrifice and cannibalism. Only the Surreala cult go there, intentionally and inadvertently spreading plagues - esp the windigo fever. This disease causes people to become possessed and develop ghoul-traits, namely eating people alive or dead sometimes even devouring their own limbs. Its cult followers worship death, believing that Life Itself must be destroyed and that all mankind should be ground to wraiths to spite God. This cult has a guild linked to it marked by a rune and snake-tongue symbol. The rune is the name of the guild: Surreala, which traffics ability-compromising drugs, experiments with magic to develop artificial ability-borns and spreads ghoul plagues.
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