Very interesting topic! I'll enjoy following this…
I know the main question was about magic, but I found this bit to be the most evocative:
Quote Originally Posted by schattentanz View Post
humans living side by side with dwarves, elves and what ever else might be running around there.
That would be quite interesting in a modern setting. Would humans, dwarves and elves live together today? Same rights? Mixing cultures? Would inter-species marriage be allowed? On the one hand, it feels like we all would be pretty integrated, at least in most countries… On the other, maybe we would be too different for that to work. Somebody has probably explored this already though…