In my novel nothing stops any character from learning magic (better thought of as being based on chi but I've not picked a word) but some of the most powerful characters are able to inscribe chi "shortcuts" into people with no chi practice/ skills allowing them to use magical abilities without any formal understanding or awareness of chi.

Political power grows out of the gem of a staff

• warlock mao

Ooh that's a good inversion. You could have a magic kropotkin give up the royal secrets ans teach the masses magic lol

Is this a published book or still something you're working on? I haven't read fantasy in a while and this sounds interesting. Also I'd much rather buy a book from a comrade than some publishing company.

I have a magic system that makes people feel an inherent attachment to the world and people around them. The same way you would feel hungry if you don't eat, you'd feel a natural disgust with yourself if you tried to hoard resources. Work is rewarding and being an adventurer solving problems is a lifestyle that you choose, retire from, or do casually.

In the continent of interest there are two different communes and one kingdom. The kingdom only lays claim to the land that they can reliably provide food for. Taxes are modest. Yet the existence of the inherent hierarchy disgusts the leaders of the communes. So when word gets around that the kingdom is raising an army, the leaders of the communes go through extralegal means to assist a vigilante, his friends, and a diaspora to attack the kingdom. Both communes decide to not intervene to keep the peace as a treaty demands and they look the other way as adventures fight in conjunction with the vanguard (e.g. "I don't conscript them, how am I going to give them commands?!")

No chosen ones, communes get plenty of screentime, and the main character develops from wanting to be a proud, pious knight for the kingdom into a drug smoking traveler who just wants to help solve the existential crisis facing the continent. There are lots of instances where people highlight how differently one could consider being part of a society like not paying for basic food and shelter. Tilling the fields in volunteer work and a popular excuse to exercise mana. BEEG BEEG LIBRARIES. People will only try to maim each other at worst during wartime and avoid carrying escalating weapons like swords and spears because they don't want to kill each other (which highlights how dramatic it is to say you want to kill someone).

The main character in Mistborn is literally the most special special person, tho.

I feel like the answer to this is more The Boys, where normies paramilitarize to confront Magical Corporate Fascists.

Alternatively, if you don't mind kid drama, The Rescuers Down Under or An American Tale. Or even just 101 Dalmatians.

Stories about little guys and underdogs standing up to old corrupt establishments.

Aang is kind of mid as a bender,

Aang was a prodigy as an Airbender, he became a master at the age of twelve and invented new techniques. He was mid at the other 3 because he hadn't had time to practice.

But I do agree with your overall point. Animes are usually good on this trope because they love the idea of training super hard. That has it's own tropes of bootstrapping, but I love how in the DBZ verse you can just do martial arts hard enough and learn to fly.

Sokka and Suki are regularly shown to be the strongest and smartest of the gang and they are just normal peeps with a boomerang and a tsudnere they stan.

benders made up the entire police force & the governing body. even in the text of the show unsympathetic to the equal-guys those conditions are textbook intolerable. fuckssake the avatar's son whose tribe is all of 6 people got an equal say to the earth, water, and fire people

it is hereditary did you not notice that the people with magic always have at least one magic parent

and for example the fire nation royal family seemed very sure that their kids would have magic

Obviously the difference is purely the medium, since jrpg are very much video game anime a lot of the time, but those are anime, not jrpgs.