Names of magi (brainstorming)

[Temuchin Khan]

I'm not necessarily advocating these ideas, I just thought I'd throw them out there:

Code: Select all

                  -> Trismegistus
Mage -> Fire Mage -> Wizard -> Master Wizard
     -> Mystic -> Thaumaturge

If you like them, feel free to use them.

"Trismegistus" is from "Hermes Trismegistus," who according to Medieval legend was the founder of a school of magic. Since Hermes was the messenger of the gods in Greek myth, it seemed like an appropriate name for the mage who could warp from village to village.

"Thaumaturge" is from Greek "thaumaturgos," which means "wonder-worker."

[Konrad II]

I really never would have imagined a monk casting spells at their enemies, using a staff, instead of punching them up .

Really?

I'm not sure for Wizard, because I am not sure about what this word really means.

'Wizard' originates from the Middle English 'wys-ard', meaning 'a wise person' (the suffix '-ard' is also seen in, for example, 'drunkard').

Incidentally, 'Mage' and the more traditional 'Magician' are derived from the Persian 'Magus' and possibly the Latin 'Magister' (meaning 'master').

Bah, I gotta use Wikipedia more often.

So, for wizard vs mage, they are pretty much the same but according to the origins you gave, a 'mage' would be higher in hierarchy than a 'wizard'? So it's incorrect to put mage before wizard, right?

[Aisling Morrighan]

Most probably, but not necessarily - it depends partly on their Order/Temple/School/Whatever's view of the world and their teaching methods.

Power can be (and, sadly, usually is) obtained long before the understanding of how it should be used...
If 'wise' is taken to mean 'knowing how to cast spells', then yes, a Wizard is probably less experienced than a Magician (who has 'mastered' his art). If, on the other hand, 'wise' means 'knowing when not to cast spells', this knowledge might not be obtained until long after it is needed - 'mastery' (= control = power) could be the very first thing that a young Magician learns, but then he must spend a decade learning to use it responsibly before being allowed to cast spells unsupervised.

Less sensibly, personally I think 'wizard' sounds like a higher level than 'magician' or 'mage'.

[Ken_Oh]

I personally think wizard is best left as a term for anyone who specializes in magic, kind of like how WCs and Soullesses are both zombies.

Isn't Delfador referred to as a wizard in HttT? I seem to think that but I can't remember.

[Leo]

Mystic

I like this, especially if holy damage will be renamed to mystic damage.
So my proposal is changing to:

Code: Select all

Apprentice -> Mage -> Master Mage -> ArchMage
                             -> Silver Mage
                -> Mystic -> Master Mystic

[irrevenant]

Wesnoth Magi are not Mystics. Mystics are more intuitive and spiritual. Wesnoth Magi are more like Ceremonial Magicians or proto-scientists.

As such, I wouldn't be opposed to latin names.

eg.
Magi
-> Ignis Magus
->->Argentum Magus
->->Maior Magus
->->->Dominus Magus
-> Vita Magus (or Niveus Magus)
->-> Lucis Magus

[ozymandias]

Concerning the Latin names... I think the adjective would go last, not first, also we should take care to get the conjugations right. If it's not an adjective, and a noun in genitive case, it'd be behind the main noun, too - i.e. "Magus Ignis". But my latin days are long past, so someone with surer footing might want to look into it.

Apart from that, I believe the fire-throwing thing was something of a spin-off from the Red Mages' main interests anyway, not something they specialized in doing.

And lastly, I rather liked the Mystic-Thaumaturge thing, especially since I was wondering what "thauma" meant just the other day - thanks, Temuchin! The *main* branch of mages (red mage, great-mage, arch-mage) is the one doing things in the scholarly, magic-as-science way... the white mages may well have a different philosophy concerning their methods as well as their ends.

[Konrad II]

We should leave the White mage's idea atm probably, as we don't know how holy will be called later on, and so we don't know what the new name should be related to.

[Blarumyrran]

We should leave the White mage's idea atm probably, as we don't know how holy will be called later on, and so we don't know what the new name should be related to.

i havent found any reason to suspect it wont be called "holy" in the future. only it will change from damage type to ability.

[Konrad II]

What? Damage type to ability? What?

I have found reasons... I've never seen ghosts using holy magic to kill drakes and elves, or even other ghosts or undeads, really.

[Blarumyrran]

umh, maybe i remember wrong. i aint sure anymore.

btw Thaumaturge sounds like Traumaturge (or something like that, you know the doctors who cure traumas)

[Temuchin Khan]

As such, I wouldn't be opposed to latin names.

Nor would I, but ozymandias is right about the adjective coming after the noun in normal Latin word order.

Code: Select all

                    -> Magus Argenti
Magus -> Magus Igni -> Magus Maior -> Magus Maximus
      -> Magus Nivale -> Magus Lucis

[battlestar]

Arcane might be a useful word somewhere in there. As well as words such as elder, high priest, Sorcerer

[Noyga]

I think it is better if we have, when possible, names that would be meaningful for everyone, even people 12 year-old kids.
Thus, names like that should be avoided :

Code: Select all

                    -> Magus Argenti
Magus -> Magus Igni -> Magus Maior -> Magus Maximus
      -> Magus Nivale -> Magus Lucis

Btw i think most of the current mages names are ok, we don't need to change them.
I think there is only on issue with the "Red mage", and it would make sense to make the "Archmage" be the level 4, and we could as well change the level 3 between these level 2 and level 4.
I would vote for something like (not sure for the level 2):

Code: Select all

Mage -> Fire mage -> Master mage -> Archmage

[Velensk]

I think that that works...
Personaly I like the word wizard better than mage. It always seemed to be a more powerful word.