Mages

For a list of the known mages, go here.

Mages, also known as magicians, are people with a propensity toward magic and those trained with its handling. They draw on the elements—earth, air, water, fire, and the void. Mages who have achieved mastery in their study of the elements are called Masters.

Origins

There are only about one in twenty-five thousand people who possess magic. Magic is usually, but not always, hereditary. Some mages may be legacies, born into families with magical backgrounds; others, though, may be born with no magical relatives at all, chosen because they are believed to have affinity with the elements or the potential to become mages.

Duties

Mages have duties in their community, such as the need to keep magic a secret, to not use magic for personal gain or evil ends, and to share the knowledge gleaned from magical study with the rest of the mage community.

Power

Most mages can access the four elements, drawing on them to perform magic. They can manipulate and handle it and other forms of the elements, such as the wind and ice. With the elements, they can forge metal with earth, shape air into illusions, fire into prophecies, earth into bindings, and water into healing. The rare mages who can access the void and create chaos magic are called the Makaris.

Mages can be vulnerable to elementals, and the utilization of the elements themselves. If they draw too much power from the element and overextend themselves, or if they face a powerful elemental, they may be consumed by and into the element and become Devoured.

Training

Mages are usually naturally born with the power of magic. If left untrained, they can become dangers to themselves and those around them. Hence, they need to be taught control.

Most mages are trained at the Magisterium, though it is also possible to train them outside of the school by other mages in preparation for the First Gate. The students at the Magisterium are taught by Masters, whom are required to take apprentices, even temporarily; some, those who find their vocation as teachers, choose stay on as mentors permanently. Upon graduation from the Magisterium, the apprentices become journeymen mages.

History

The first mages who began studying their magic, upon noticing the first stirrings of their power, started by studying the teaching of alchemists, particularly Paracelsus, and eventually exploring elemental magic. Eventually, they discovered that magic could be performed by those with inborn power and was performed best by the young. After that, the mages found new students to teach and to learn from, seeking all over Europe for children with power and gathered up those they could and began the first school of magic, training them to rid the world of the threats these untrained mages held.

References

• The Iron Trial