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I'm always fascinated by the way that fantasy writers' interests influence their magic systems, even though it's utterly predictable:

• linguist: magic words / language
• translator: magic powered specifically by translation between languages
• programmer: magic that follows rigidly defined rules, and therefore has bugs and exploits
• botanist: magic is derived from plants and their products
• eugenicist: magic is in your blood
• hack: magic only works in ways that support the plot
• pervert: sex magic
• Adrian Tchaikovsky: bug magic