Alastair Archibald - A mage in the making

Grimm stopped, clapping a hand over his mouth; his own aura was now awash with shades of yellow and grey.

"Very well, Afelnor," grunted Crohn, unhappy that his barrier of emotionless impassivity had been breached.

"You have the basis of Mage Sight. You will find that it is polite to keep silent about much of what you see in future, and you should never again do this unless given permission; to inspect another Guildbrother's aura without invitation is considered the height of bad manners."

Grimm's cheeks became flushed, and he lowered his eyes in obvious embarrassment.

"However, since I instructed you to demonstrate your control of the Sight, you are guilty of nothing more than a lack of tact, which is not a punishable offence, unless I suspect it is deliberate."

Crohn waited for a few moments to let the lesson sink in and then continued, "Now, Afelnor; with the word 'tact' in mind, be so kind as to inform the class what you can divine concerning my Mage Staff."

"I've never tried to see the colours for things, Lord Mage… but I can see something… it's a funny sort of colour. It glows… like a sort of… of reddish-grey-purple. I can't explain it. I've never seen the colour before, but it shifts and changes all the time, faster than it does with people."

"That is what magic looks like, Afelnor," said Crohn, impressed with the boy's level of understanding. "The swirl and play of the colours are important. They can tell a mage about what the magic can do. One of the most important applications of Mage Sight is in the identification of magic, and it will be some time before you have the ability to apply this knowledge. But you have a good start here. You may be seated."

Looking relieved, Grimm sat back down, but Crohn did not fail to notice looks of spite from some of the other boys.

For the rest of the lesson, Crohn taught the Students exercises to bring forth the Sight and by the end of the morning, eight of them were able to see auras, if only in a dim and haphazard manner. This gave Grimm a little reassurance after his earlier gaffe.

"We will revisit the subject of Mage Sight later," Crohn said. "I must now tell you something of the structure of the Scholasticate.

"You come here as Students, as I did many years ago. If you work well and diligently, you will become Neophytes within a period of seven years or, on occasions, less. By that time, we should have learned enough about you to understand in which field your magical vocation may lie.

"At that point, the paying Students among you may elect to leave the Scholasticate, with only the merest glimmering of what it means to pursue a life as a true mage. I hope you will not do so."

Crohn's eyes seemed to burn, and Grimm's attention was drawn to them. From the utter silence that filled the room, he guessed that every boy in the room was as rapt as he.

"Those of you who choose to build on your education will begin to be introduced to the actual practice of the arcane arts," the Magemaster boomed. "Should you prove equal to the requirements of your magical calling, you will be declared an Adept. An Adept is a mage-in-waiting. Your main task as an Adept is to refine and practice what you have learned, and to begin work on your Staff.

"The Mage Staff is the true token of the mage, unbreakable, immutable and proof of your deep understanding and control of your chosen craft. A mage puts part of his soul into creation of his Staff, and it is a bonded part of him from that time on.

"When your Magemaster agrees that your Staff is ready, you will be called upon to take it to the Breaking Stone in the Main Hall and strike it against the stone thrice with all your might. If it remains unbroken, you will be Acclaimed as a full and true Guild Mage. This is a prize beyond compare, although regrettably few persevere until this point. Perseverance is the key. Are there any questions?"

A stout boy near the front of the class stood up. "Lord Mage, I've heard that there are lots of different kinds of wizard-I mean, mage. Can you tell us what they are?"

Crohn nodded in acknowledgement of the question. "Firstly, I will say that there is far more to being a mage than carrying a staff and bearing a ring," he said. "A saying that you will hear many times is that 'power and presence complete the mage'. You will never bear the ring until you are cultured and educated people, in your bearing and in your speech. A true mage bears himself with true gravity, a presence that is beyond the norm. You may think that all Magemasters are pompous windbags-" Crohn paused to let the laughter die away. "-but the formal manner in which you hear me speak-that which we call 'Mage Speech'-is but one of the tokens of a master.

"From this moment, you are not to use street vernacular such as contractions in class. That means that you will say 'it is' instead of 'it's', 'cannot' instead of 'can't' and 'would not' in place of 'wouldn't'.

"I also wish to point out that to ask me a question beginning: 'Can you tell us…?' is asking if I am able to tell you, to which the only reasonable responses would be 'yes' or 'no'. The correct and polite way to commence such a request should be something like: 'Would you please tell us?' With this in mind, please rephrase your question."

From the Student's fine clothes, Grimm guessed that he was well-educated, and that he had only forgotten what he had already been taught.

The boy nodded, cleared his throat and said, "Please, Lord Mage, will you be kind and tell us which types of mage there are in the Guild?"

Crohn suppressed a smile. "Near enough, boy-Shule, is it?"

"Yes, Lord Mage. Angor Shule."

"Well, Shule, there are many different kinds of mage within the Guild. From time to time, new names are thought up by High Lodge for mages who do not fit the standard moulds. I will not tell you details of each kind of mage at this time, for our time is limited, but some of the mage categories of which I am aware are Scholar, Reader, Necromancer, Manipulator, Weatherworker, Illusionist, Shapeshifter, Questor, Healer, Summoner, Dominator… there are several others, but I suspect that this list will suffice for the moment.

"I am a Mage Manipulator, a mage who changes the physical form of objects. Senior Magemaster Urel, who has charge of the Scholasticate of which you are all fortunate to be Students, is an Illusionist, a mage who can place images, glamours and sensory impressions into an impressionable mind.

"The types of mage have an order of precedence, of which you will be taught more in good time. Suffice it to say that Mage Questor, Mage Weatherworker and Mage Shapeshifter are the vocations most highly regarded by High Lodge and by magic-users in general. The reason that they are so highly esteemed is that they are very rare indeed.

"I know that many of you have fathers or relatives who are Guild Mages of one of these rare types. As I have said, you may therefore imagine that this will guarantee you the same talents. I regret to say that, whilst genetic inheritance is a factor in determining whether or not a child has magical power, it does not determine his eventual calling.

"Granted, a powerful mage is likely to have a powerful son. Yet power alone does not make a mage. Dedication, talent and firm, constant self-control are essential factors. Such traits rarely run entirely true in families. My father was a Seventh Rank Weatherworker, as was my grandfather.

"Father brought me up from an early age to use and analyse the Sight, and I was taught how to read runes before I fully learned my native tongue. By the time I reached your age and started out here at the Scholasticate, I had what amounted perhaps to a three-year advantage over most of the other boys. Nobody was more surprised than I was when, as a Neophyte, my Magemaster told me that my vocation was to be as a Manipulator. This is a relatively highly regarded profession, but I had been so sure that I would be a Weatherworker like my father and his father before him."