Allergonian Imperial Army Service Mage By Imperator-Zor Watch

1 Favourite 0 Comments 740 Views

A certain number of humans are born with the ability to make use of magic. How many and how strong they are varies based on a variety of factors, most notably the levels of background magic in an area. One in 100-300 humans has enough magical ability to qualify as a mage, with one in every 1,000-2,000 is usually what you get in low background magic environments such as the Coldlands. But what is known is that whatever causes it, it is not hereditary. A pair of utterly mundane peasant is just as likely to give rise to an archmage as a union between two powerful mages. It is possible to magnify the magical potential of an individual using spells, as well as inducing magical abilities in an adult mage using certain rites. The problem is that these rites require a fair bit of magical skill and mana to perform, are time consuming, are unreliable in that sometimes they don't work, or fail spectacularly, often have unfortunate side effects of various degrees of severity and even when they do work, will generally only result in a modest increase in power or giving someone moderate magical abilities.



As is the case in general with human civilization, there is a pronounced social stratification amongst mages. In the lands west of the Dragonspine, mages are generally not rulers but they do hold a fair bit of prestige and prominence in society, at least at the higher levels. In most societies mages have organized into bodies known as (among other things) colleges, universities, societies, academies and guilds (for sake of simplicity we shall use Guild as a catch all). The most elite of which usually have royal (or, in the case of the Empire of Allegorn, Imperial) support from the ruling dynasty. They train mages to make the most of their abilities and powers, as well as having stores of magical artefacts and vast libraries of spell books. They also guard their secrets very tightly. Entrance into these guilds is based on several factors of which magical ability, while significant is not alone. While they would gladly accept a mage of the highest level of raw ability from a peasant background for free, mages with more modest powers can join said guilds if they are from the nobility or wealthy families. They are usually literate, often have some elementary training early on and their families are usually willing to pay large sums of money to enrol members into guild training should they qualify.



The majority of wizards from poor backgrounds are employed in a variety of fairly unromantic tasks where their skills are of use. Dealing with supernatural waste, dispelling malignant spells, helping with agriculture, healing, charging magical objects and so forth are fairly common. These jobs are usually fairly low paying. Large cities often have their own guilds of magic, which tend to be either specialized in one specific field or simply employ whoever can pay their fairly modest guild dues. Those that have more talent might be retained by a local nobleman as an advisor on supernatural issues or to support for the forces under their command. Others end up working for mercenary companies. Military forces can usually make use of mages of even fairly modest magical abilities. In more recent years in the Empire of Allergorn, a few of these mages of modest ability have been enlisted by the Allergonian Imperial Army and Navy.



An army on the march can make use of even modest magical abilities, being able to dispel curses, charge runic armor and other such magical items, operating supernatural defences, healing wounded soldiers and horses, casting rune disruption spells in various ways, detection of magical phenomena in an area, patching up a ship’s hull after a battle , dispelling curses and low end undead are a few of the more common task assigned to these mages. Training takes a few months. The pay for a low ranking mage in the mage corps is better than the pay for a common rifleman. The uniforms of these mages is fairly traditional for the empire, involving a robe with a mantle with the Imperial Dragon insignia on the shoulders as well as a pointy hat, backpack and boots. Most of these mages avoid direct combat. Though they can do a couple basic combat spells such as firing off a few range fireballs or low power bolts of lightning. They are also provided with a staff and a wand, both made with their duties in mind. In total there are some 1,500 of such mages employed by both the army and the navy as of 34 IA. It has increased in its size nearly eightfold since 0 IA.



These mages provide magical assistance to the army on a regular basis. For work which requires more power, the empire still relies on the seven Imperial Guild of Mages. In exchange for certain monopolies of certain types of magic and assistance in protecting their secrets, these guilds will train some of its members in combat magics and provide them when requested. They also usually command a fairly substantial fees for their services. The practice of having mages as part of the standing army is fairly new, first emerging in 93 Before the Infrastructural Age. There was something of a fuss over that back in the day but since most of the wizards that were in the guild have now died there is less hostility to the Mage Corps by the established guilds. A few mage corps veterans have even been admitted into the Guilds after completing their terms of service. Even so, the Guilds still largely look down on the “peasant magics” of the Mage Corps and its expansion in recent years is not particularly popular.

IMAGE DETAILS Image size 2132x4210px 1.13 MB Show More