Welcome to the FVA, or the Fulmen Venificus Agency, a global agency responsible for magical law enforcement. The FVA is founded in February 2043 by UN mandate, two months after the conclusion of the second US Civil War and six months after the appearance of magic in the world. Because while regular laws are specific to countries, the world is beginning to realise that laws of magic obey no such boundaries.
Or: X-Men meets Avatar: The Last Airbender in a modern political dystopia.
Novel
In the year 2042, the second US Civil War begins. After winning the 2040 presidential election, the administration of president-turned-dictator John Smith embarks on a campaign of ruthless efficiency, targeting anyone they believe to be “insufficiently contributing to society”. Illness and past trauma become checkmarks that can bar you from entry into the country on anything longer than a holiday—checkmarks that can get you killed.
Then magic begins to manifest, almost exclusively among the administration’s target population. No one knows the extent of its capabilities, including those who suddenly find themselves holding power over the elements, but its users rapidly become a new, more critical target for the government.
With the borders closed, it’s largely up to the stateside members of an unacknowledged and officially nonexistent international law enforcement agency to find and protect magic users. They must also simultaneously figure out what the hell to do about this sudden, unknown power—especially once two of their own acquire magical capabilities.
Novella
Sometimes, Debra Seong really hates her job.
After the war, she resigned from LAPD Homicide, turning in her gun and gold shield after they denied her field clearance. Instead, she went to head up the Critical Manifestations division of the FVA. Along with her team, she works with people who’ve suddenly found themselves imbued with magic and on the verge of—or in the midst of—catastrophe. She’s good at it, too: deft, impersonal, and highly effective.
Then a standard call unexpectedly yields a new assignment: mentoring a young woman in an uncomfortably familiar situation. She’s spent her career trying to compartmentalise her life, keeping her own experiences as far from her work as possible. Now, in order to train and recruit the young woman whose life she’s just saved, Debra must trade on the how and why behind her own manifestation—the deeply personal story of the disability she’s refused to let define her for nearly a decade.