> I suspect the issue here is that magic like weapons, or sex, is
> potentially dangerous and must be used with responsibility and
> respect. Thus it is is for adults, not children. Children will of
> course be learning from the adults around what responsible behaviour
> is, their play will probably include pretend rituals, just as it will
> wooden swords, cut-down tools etc. But without understanding the
> inner secrets of the religion they cannot use the magic any more than
> a forigner who has not been initiated into the secrets could.
Yes, this is the basic truth IMO. Although there's also the fact that HW has lower resolution than RQ (and wider scope). Some things that RQ defined as "magic" are not so defined in HW.
Basically, children are not taught the High Magic that's available to adults, and which is the only magic that HW bothers with, at least overtly. If a child gains an AP transfer during a contest against someone, or rolls a crit or somesuch, well in some cases it might very well be thanks to the child's innate magic.
As far as the unavailability of magic to children as described in TR and ST, I'd say that "children cannot learn magic" equals "children cannot learn Feats or Affinities". Which is sensible. However, kids can still *use* magic, if they have any, whether from a special item, a stand-alone Feat mentioned in their 100 word write-up, a special power gained during a Quest, having "the abilities of an adult" contained in their 100 words, an excess of midichlorians, or whatever special source of magic that seems to make sense IYG.
Julian Lord
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