Damn it.
That is what I am arguing! Is that IT ISN'T WIDESPREAD! Also, a bow isn't magic. This is my [censored] point. You're literally arguing my argument against your other one.
I remove myself from this [censored] argument.
I think we have lost something in translation. Widespread to me doesn't mean everyone can use it, but that magick pervades most aspects of Nirn. The Sun itself, Magnus, is a big gaping hole to Aetherius that is constantly leaking out creatia, which filters down to Nirn as magic, which is used by the people to use magick.
Everyone has the potential to use magick, but it takes refinement and practice (in-game: skill points and stats) to actually harness the magic from the sky to create magick. Daggerfall probably had the best example of this. If you didn't build your character as a mage, there is little chance you would ever be able to cast decent spells, but if you did invest in the right skils and such, you are a spellcasting machine. Now translate that to a realism version of Nirn.
The Mages Guild was created by Galerion so that everyone could use magick (an action he later came to view with regret). So look at it this way. Everyone has the potential to learn magick, so they go to a master/mages guild/whatever to learn. Then, depending on their dedication and natural ability, they can become a mage of varying power. Now, the most widespread teachers, Mages Guild, wants money, so only people with money/connections would be able to enroll and learn magick, which shunts aside people who don't have the capital. The Unwashed Masses.
Any person can become Syrabane, it's just a matter of whether they want to.
As for magick pervading most aspects of Nirn, just look at alchemy. The reason plants have the properties they do is not because of some inherent bit, but because the magic that came down from above gave the plants their properties. Alchemy is just taking those magic properties and distilling them into a magick potion.
A more proper thing we should be talking about when it comes to RPs is just a matter of balance and fairness.