sga_santa rec: The Sacrificial Mage

The Sacrificial Mage by taste_is_sweet
McKay/Sheppard; Teyla/Kanaan; background Weir/Zelenka; R; magic!AU; 65,000 words
Summary: Magic was a substance, like fire or water. It was abundant and incredibly powerful and could be manipulated with the correct application of knowledge and will. But if you didn't use it properly, you'd be immolated or drowned. Or worse: other people would be, and you'd be forced to watch it happening. That was why it terrified him to see the casual, unthinking way Teyla and Carson used magic, because he knew that someday they'd be forced to pay for what they'd taken. Every wizard would, sooner or later. It was the first thing mages ever learned, and Rodney had lived it.

Magic was a zero-sum game. If you didn't sacrifice as much as you were given, you would lose.

I spent a considerable part of yesterday reading it, and a good day it was. :)
The story sucked me in immediately and I had no trouble at all seeing the characters just belonging in this universe. I love how it's original and still SGA through and through. The worldbuiling is really effective, very vivid! The story is told through the eyes of Rodney, who knows that magic comes at a price and is willing to pay it. John's fate is mysterious and intriguing. All the other characters translate into this story really well too, every one of them. Gripping plot with moments that are tense, and heartbreaking, and funny, with gradually unfolding backstory (<-- major narrative kink)... I could not put this story down once I started reading.

*mental note: check out other magic!AUs*

linkage: Some Copyright Basics

For everyone interested in issues of intellectual property law, elf has posted an excellent primer on copyright and fair use over in the scans_daily community on DW. There's always a great deal of misinformation and confusion whenever issues of fair use are discussed, and of course IP law is messed up and confusing as hell, but elf laid out the basics clearly and nicely comprised, without confusing legalese or tl;dr.

[eta: more links on the subject:]
by shadowkat67: Intellectual Property Law and the Fan - A Primer This one's longer and goes more into detail (but it's by no means tl;dr... in fact it's a fascinating read!)

by executrix: This is a slightly updated version of the handout from my ConTxt presentation on Fanworks, Copyright and Trademark. I apologize--I just hacked it together in a couple of days, it's a subject that deserves more exploration. The short version: "There just aren't enough court decisions about fanworks to reach any real conclusions, but that's significant in and of itself."