Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Most lore appropriate starting characters?

I am new to the Divinity games. I've played through a couple hours of Divinity Original Sin, but reached a point where I realized my characters were awful (also I forgot to give them AI presets) and I want to restart. I had a few questions first though.

You're working for an organization that seeks out and destroys all magic users, why can you yourself use magic? Is there a reason for this hypocrisy? Or are we just given the option to play whatever we want for people who don't care about the lore?
Would it be possible to work your way through the game with no magic users?

Is the game particularly balanced toward any particular combination? Or is any combination considered 'Canon'?