[GAME] Conceive a Cross Dimensional Fantasy Milieu

patchwork · 08-01-2019, 07:36 AM

Answer 88 Calledron, like Prussia, is an army with real estate holdings, not a country with an army. Granted, military status is fairly theoretical for most Calledronians, but not for Mages; you'd have to have some significant infirmity for a powerful telekinetic to be left in the inactive reserves. Most Mages are thus junior officers; a typical billet would see them in command of about 40 regulars with one Surgeon-Adept, although variations for temperament, ability and the needs of the Archmage exist. Of course, "army stuff" covers a very wide range of activities, from civil engineering to peacekeeping to recalcitrant village incineration. They will stay junior officers for their entire lives if they demonstrate neither aptitude nor interest in higher command, which is exactly what happens to most of them and isn't usually regarded as shameful; the stories of a Mage and his intrepid forty-person warband that stayed together for twenty years (which probably contains several couples; Calledron has no real concept of "fraternization") resonate with people in many ways better than the story of a Colonel who commands a couple of thousand people he does not know personally. The one major not-explicitly-military duty which Mages are expected to shoulder as often as possible is judicial duty. Calledron's trials are normally conducted by a three-judge panel and the powers that be want those judges to be Mages as often and thoroughly as possible. It affirms in the popular imagination that Mage rule is normal, it inspires a healthy level of terr-respect as a Mage uses telekinesis to execute a condemned man, and further paints the Mages as protecting the general populace from criminals. Social critics argue that the skills necessary to be a military lieutenant and a judge not only have very little overlap, they may actually be exclusive; in being given two jobs that have nothing to do with each other, Mages are being set up to fail at at least one of them. Most Archmages will have several Mages who are also parari [agents], administrators or spymasters, but the Empire didn't succeed by handing important jobs to people unsuited to them; a majority of parari have no supernatural ability and were chosen purely for their skill. A Mage with a disability that rendered them unsuitable for active service probably would find themselves at least nominally in charge of a large trading house or similar institution; it's just too useful an "in" into the imperial power structure for such an institution to pass up.

Question 124 Who or what occupied the plains of Sepulchre before the advent of the ogres and formation of the Concordat?

08-01-2019, 07:36 AM	#11
patchwork Join Date: Oct 2011	Re: [GAME] Conceive a Cross Dimensional Fantasy Milieu Answer 88 Calledron, like Prussia, is an army with real estate holdings, not a country with an army. Granted, military status is fairly theoretical for most Calledronians, but not for Mages; you'd have to have some significant infirmity for a powerful telekinetic to be left in the inactive reserves. Most Mages are thus junior officers; a typical billet would see them in command of about 40 regulars with one Surgeon-Adept, although variations for temperament, ability and the needs of the Archmage exist. Of course, "army stuff" covers a very wide range of activities, from civil engineering to peacekeeping to recalcitrant village incineration. They will stay junior officers for their entire lives if they demonstrate neither aptitude nor interest in higher command, which is exactly what happens to most of them and isn't usually regarded as shameful; the stories of a Mage and his intrepid forty-person warband that stayed together for twenty years (which probably contains several couples; Calledron has no real concept of "fraternization") resonate with people in many ways better than the story of a Colonel who commands a couple of thousand people he does not know personally. The one major not-explicitly-military duty which Mages are expected to shoulder as often as possible is judicial duty. Calledron's trials are normally conducted by a three-judge panel and the powers that be want those judges to be Mages as often and thoroughly as possible. It affirms in the popular imagination that Mage rule is normal, it inspires a healthy level of terr-respect as a Mage uses telekinesis to execute a condemned man, and further paints the Mages as protecting the general populace from criminals. Social critics argue that the skills necessary to be a military lieutenant and a judge not only have very little overlap, they may actually be exclusive; in being given two jobs that have nothing to do with each other, Mages are being set up to fail at at least one of them. Most Archmages will have several Mages who are also parari [agents], administrators or spymasters, but the Empire didn't succeed by handing important jobs to people unsuited to them; a majority of parari have no supernatural ability and were chosen purely for their skill. A Mage with a disability that rendered them unsuitable for active service probably would find themselves at least nominally in charge of a large trading house or similar institution; it's just too useful an "in" into the imperial power structure for such an institution to pass up. Question 124 Who or what occupied the plains of Sepulchre before the advent of the ogres and formation of the Concordat?