Once a Stranger

HAHAHA! One of my personnal fanon, but it'll take a while to explain.

Well. There's this game called Mage:The Ascension which is about Mages in the modern world, and this game called Mage:The Sorcerer's Crusade which is about the Renaissance version of that world. In this world, reality is shaped by people's belief. When lots and lots of people believe in something, that thing becomes reality (it's what they call the Consensus, or consensual reality). In the Medieval Age, in Europe, the world was actually flat, and various superstitions worked.

However they are specific people, who are Awakened, and called Mages, who are able to more directly affect reality with their beliefs, including to go against the consensus. They have a strong, complex vision of reality, called a Paradigm, which allow them to do it. Paradigms can be based upon faith (some Mages are miracle workers), symbolical systems (such as Hermetic sorcerers), or pseudo-science, etc. Their paradogms defines the tools (foci, can be incantations, talismans, prayers, dancing, a skill in mechanics, a knowledge of astrology, sacrifices, meditation, martial arts etc.) to do magic. Coincidental magic is magic which works with the local Consensus. Vulgar magic is magic which works against the local Consensus, and it causes a backlash against the Mage.

At some point in beginning of the Renaissance, a group of Mages have gathered together. They all had a more scientific paradigms (before it was called scientific though), they works with organized framework, they works with mechanical tools, observation of the human body's reactions, etc. They thought that the human society was living in fear and obscurity, not least of all because of the various nasty supernatural creatures that were preying on it. They were yearning for a more enlightened era. They called themselves the Order of Reason and they declared war against the Mages who did nothing but keep humanity enslaved in its ignorance and obscurity. They started helping the world to change.

The world would become smaller as ships explored new shores. Wicked creatures like Krakens would be slayed. Gods playing with human fortunes were bound. Profits would be made of the natural world.

Which is why I see Beckett as a member of the Order of Reason, the subgroup specialized in trade and money magic called the Guild; and Mercer is one too, the subgroup specilized in spying and assassination called the Ksirafai.

At sea, there is no Consensus because no one actually lives there. That means that magic of all kind is extremely easy. That's why sailors, and especially pirates, have always frequently dabbled in it. That's also why it's a place from where it's easier to reach the spirit world (the Umbra) and the other shores lying in it. If you follow the proper directives and the right maps. It's also been a natural refuge for the other Mages, the ones who didn't belong to the Order of Reason. (Some of them are organized into the Council of Traditions, others are independant Cratfs).

This is the background.

Jack Sparrow is a Mage, of course he's a Mage, even if he's mostly a dabbler. He was taught by Tia Dalma. He mostly uses Coincidental magic though, with a spatter of random superstition and magical stuffs as well. He's got a bit of Entropy magic (which allow him to pull up the impossible plans and fall back on his feet, and also grants him luck), Spirit (just enough that he made his deal with Davvy Jones), Mind (to be extremely charming and convincing people), and Correspondance (helps knowing exactly where you are, and where other things are, and helps with the most impossible kinds of swashbuckling like the firing-cannon-jumping-over-to-the-other-ship).