Mage

Mages are people gifted with the ability to perform True Magic. There are four ranks of mages, the higher a level of complexity and the more power a spell requires, the higher a mage must be ranked in order to cast it. The four ranks are:

• Apprentice
• Journeyman
• Master
• Adept

An apprentice mage studies at a school or under the supervision of an individual Master- or Adept-class mage. After this round of study is complete and the apprentice has demonstrated mastery, they become a Journeyman.

Not every mage is born with a strong enough Mage-Gift to advance farther. In fact, hedge-witches and wizards don't have a strong enough Gift to reach Journeyman and be considered true mages by most other magic practitioners. However, villages are considered fortunate if they have a hedge-witch, mage or wizard to provide assistive magic depending on the individual's various but limited abilities. These might include protections, charms, spells, healing, foresight, etc.

Magic power sources

A journeyman mage has no outside resources to draw magical power. All of the energy needed must come from within them, and it is a finite resource, limiting the amount of magic they can do before exhaustion. However, an advantage of using internal resources is that the use of such magic is hard to detect.

The use of external power sources, ley-lines and nodes, distinguishes Masters from Adepts. Some schools, such as the White Winds School, teach that only Adept-class mages can draw power from outside themselves for a spell. But the Tayledras teach that Master-class Mages can, with proper instruction, access the less-powerful ley-lines. Only Adepts can access and utilize node energy without burning themselves out. This ability to draw on all external sources to power their spells is much of what makes Adept-class mages so dangerous.

Extra-planar creatures can also be sources of magic, but it requires diplomacy, bargaining, or coercion. Coercing an other-planar creature has disadvantages: the mage has to be vigilant against deception or treachery, ensure that their control doesn't slip, and worry about the creature's desire for revenge. However, obtaining voluntary cooperation also has disadvantages: it takes energy to attract the attention of a benign being, particularly one that does not know the Mage, and more to convince that creature that their intentions are good. The Mage may draw a circle of protection so that the creature will know itself to be safe. The art of this summoning is described as being “like balancing on a rooftree while screaming an epic poem in a foreign language at the top of your lungs.”

Blood magic

A taboo source of power is Blood magic. Even a Mage with a weak Gift can access magical power by causing pain and death. The sacrifice of human life is especially powerful. A Blood mage with enough victims can pursue grand personal goals, wealth and power.

Typically the users are evil, but there are exceptions. Self-sacrifice is a form of Blood magic, but is powered only by the blood or death of the user. For example, Shin'a'in shamans have been known to commit self-sacrifice for the good of their clans (such as the First Sacrifice.)

Another example is Final Strike, the "last ditch" method of taking out an enemy by magic. To use it, the caster uses all of their power and the power of their own blood magic to attack their enemy. There is normally no trace of the caster left, apart from a pile of ash. Herald-Mage Vanyel in Magic's Price calls down Final Strike on Leareth.

Notable evil Blood Mages in the series include Leareth (Magic's Price), King Ancar of Hardorn (Mage Winds trilogy), and Mornelithe Falconsbane (Mage Winds trilogy).

Special talents

There are several specialized types of mages with corresponding special talents. These include Healing-Mages and Sorcerer-Adepts.

Other nations

The mages of the Eastern Empire parse out the four basic rankings into a sophisticated hierarchy. The Master class is divided into First and Second Rank, and then further subdivided by color, starting with Blue, Purple and Red. Tremane was classed as a 'First-Rank Red' Master mage.

See also

• For a list of Mages: Category:Mages
• For more on Magic: Category:Magic