Mages of High Sorcery

The Mages of High Sorcery are a fictional group of people in the Dragonlance universe.

Introduction

The Mages are a powerful institution in Krynn. They were founded when the deities Solinari, Lunitari and Nuitari taught a certain group of people how to draw power from the moons and shape it with their wills. With the construction of the Towers of High Sorcery, people from all over Krynn were able to learn the secrets of spellcrafting.

To prevent abuse, the gods decided that powerful spells could only be cast in a limited amount. Thus, a mage is usually able to cast a powerful spell only once, after which it is forgotten. To cast it again, the mage must commit it back into memory, which may require several hours of study. Tracy Hickman commented in "The Annotated Chronicles" (1999) that his eldest son, a professional magician, mentioned how this fact did mirror his own practice, as it was not enough for him to simply learn a magic trick, instead having to "practice it daily in order to maintain the fluid movement of the illusion."cite book
author = Margaret Weis
coauthors = Tracy Hickman
title = The Annotated Chronicles
origyear = 1999
origmonth = November
url = http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dlant/887780000
accessdate = 2006-07-01
edition = 1st edition
publisher = Wizards of the Coast
id = ISBN 0-7869-1870-5
pages = 529
chapter = Book 2, volume 1, chapter 5, The riot. Tas disappears. Alhana Starbreeze.]

The "Mages of High Sorcery" follow a set of laws which are as old as the Towers of High Sorcery:
* Solinari's Law: All mages are brothers and sisters in their order. All orders are brothers and sisters in the power.
* Lunitari's Law: The places of High Sorcery are held in common among all orders and no sorcery is to be used there in anger against fellow mages.
* Nuitari's Law: The world beyond the walls of the towers may bring brother against sister and order against order, but such is the way of the universe.

Under these principles, the Mages collect and share information inside the Towers. Tracy Hickman explains that, although there may (be) some differences in the way every race teaches magic, the language and requirements are the same for every mage in the world of Krynn.cite book
author = Margaret Weis
coauthors = Tracy Hickman
title = The Annotated Chronicles
origyear = 1999
origmonth = November
url = http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dlant/887780000
accessdate = 2006-07-01
edition = 1st edition
publisher = Wizards of the Coast
id = ISBN 0-7869-1870-5
pages = 562
chapter = Book 2, volume 1, chapter 7, —Not destined to meet again in this world.]

Although mages draw power from the moons, controlling it takes a great effort, sometimes leaving the mage drained.

Apprentices

Usually sponsored by a Mage or archmage, the novice is accepted into a school of magic. The location of these schools may be secret, rumored or known, depending on the circumstances. Although the school supplies some elements, the pupil may be expected to pay for either food, drink, or items necessary to practice spells.

Some schools are prepared to keep the students comfortable for long periods of time. For example, the student may consider living at the school during winter to prevent long and unnecessary travel.

Apprentices learn how to pronounce the language of magic, to write runes in scrolls and to distinguish and collect herbs, between other things.

Preliminary Test

After having spent some time learning the basics of magic, runes and alchemy, the best students are selected to take a test of magic. This test is not dangerous, and failure only delays the student's progress.

Though it may vary, the test is usually simple and asks the student to use his gained knowledge to prepare a potion, write a rune, or prepare a scroll. Once the apprentice passes it, he or she is allowed to learn more advanced spells, usually including attack and effect spells.

The Test

When a mage reaches a certain skill level, he or she must take the Test to move on to the higher, more powerful areas of magical study.

In some cases the Conclave sends an invitation to the apprentice, setting a date and time for the presentation.

The Test is designed to divide mages into two branches: those who take the study of magic seriously and those who would use it for simple purposes, like entertainment. When the time for the Test arrives, those who do not want to take it leave the school, and are left on their own. Although these mages are usually weak, sometimes they are able to learn and execute powerful spells. They are not allowed to wear the White, Red or Black robes, as they have not taken the Test.

The Test puts the life of the mage in danger. Failure usually means death. Thus, those who do not accept the risks of the Test remained relatively unskilled and, therefore, not a major threat to the Conclave of Mages.

Test sessions are private and cannot be shared between apprentices.

The Test itself allows the Conclave to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the applicant. It is carried out in one of the Towers of High Sorcery, most times through very realistic illusions. It may affect the apprentice's mind and body permanently.

The apprentice wears a color of robe he or she thinks is suitable. However, it is in the Test that the real allegiance of the apprentice is found. At the end of the Test, the mage will wear the new robes of his or her chosen order.

Alignment

Once the apprentice passes the Test, they are given an alignment.

Three different alignments were the original ones: white, red and black. The mages following Solinari wear white robes of good, the ones following Lunitari wear red robes of neutrality, and mages following Nuitari wear black robes of evil. The robes can be adorned with runes of protection, usually in silver patterns.

Tracy Hickman defines the color of the robes as something beyond simply alignment:cite book
author = Margaret Weis
coauthors = Tracy Hickman
title = The Annotated Chronicles
origyear = 1999
origmonth = November
url = http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dlant/887780000
accessdate = 2006-07-01
edition = 1st edition
publisher = Wizards of the Coast
id = ISBN 0-7869-1870-5
pages = 594
chapter = Book 2, volume 1, chapter 9, Silvanesti. Entering the dream.]

The Knights of Takhisis recruited renegade mages. These wear grey robes, and are despised by the original Orders as they work for the grandness of Takhisis instead of the "Children of magic". For other renegades, the robe colour means nothing, and they can be found wearing red, white, black or any other color. mages who left the Order to practice magic before their Test, but are "not" renagades, wear brown robes. This was shown in .

Mages are able to change their alignment, although the price is usually high.

Spellcrafting

There are nine groupings of magic in the world of Krynn called also called schools :
* abjuration (or protective magic) & divination ; those are provinces of White Robed Mages ;
* illusion & transmutation (or transforming magic) ; those are provinces of Red Robed Mages ;
* enchantment (mind influencing magic) & necromancy (life, death and undeath influencing magic) ; those are provinces of Black Robed Mages ;
* conjuration (transport magic), evocation (energy wielding magic) and universal ; those form the common background of all mages.As apprentices, mages may choose to specialize in any one of them except universal magic, but it's not mandatory. Specializing brings enhanced power in a chosen school while losing access to one or two schools of magic (except divination or universal magic).

Evokers and conjurers do not face any moral problem when accessing any order. Specialized mages tend to enter the order whose favored school they have already chose, but they are not forced to - though moral problems could arise from a necromancer's joining the White Robes for instance.

Newly accepted Mages of High Sorcery may benefit from (further) specializing in one of the schools favored by his chosen order. However, greater power comes at the cost of losing access to schools favored by the other orders.

Mages may also gain access to various branches of high sorcery like war magic, become loremasters or even access to the exalted status of archmagi - like most members of the Conclave.

Conclave

It could be said the last goal for any mage is to become a member of the Conclave of Mages. Only the most respected and powerful mages of each order can achieve this, however. The Conclave itself is formed of twenty one

The leader of each Order is called the Head of that Order, each order choosing its own Head as it sees fit :
* White Robes vote, thus their leader is often a wise or charismatic person;
* Red Robes play, thus their leader is often either clever or lucky - or both;
* Black Robes fight, even to the death, thus their leader often is the most aggressive or domineering archmage.

The Highmage is chosen among the Conclave (most of the times among the Heads of the three orders) to lead the Conclave of Mages. He or she is chosen by the votes of all Mages of High Sorcery on Ansalon through the "consensus spell" - the selected Highmage is then surrounded by a corona of light according to the feelings of the majority of Ansalon's Robed Mages.

Conclave mages (even the Highmage) remain in their position until either their death or their removal by the rest of the Conclave. They may simply step down.

Between other functions, the Conclave mages specify the different guidelines the mages must follow. They may look for promising new recruits, prepare Tests for apprentices, and research for new ways of employing magic.

Renegades

Sometimes, the rules set by the Conclave are not accepted by some mages. In extreme cases, the mages may decide to completely ignore all the rules. In these cases, the Conclave declares them "renegades". Any Mage of High Sorcery is requested to inform the Conclave about the location and actions of renegades they may come across. In most cases, if the mage hunts and slays a renegade, his actions are seen as "fittable" by the Conclave.

Renegades know their fate, and may actively work against the Mages of High Sorcery.

See also

* Towers of High Sorcery
* List of Dragonlance deities

References

Further reading

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External links

* [http://www.dlnexus.com/lexicon/13271.aspx "Wizards of High Sorcery"] at Dragonlance Nexus