Organizations for wizards, mages and other magic users

[Orc Knight]

All right, the many magics of Eld.

Eld has Guilds, Houses, Covens, Hedges, Tower Outliers, Magocracies, Mage Knighthoods. Also Liches and Seers, though most avoid the former and the latter were mostly killed off and then prophecy got broken. Anywho.

The Guilds: Among the more powerful in the world, usually a fairly large size collective that do basic duties and are spread all over Eld. The Guild of Lao and Hat Fanciers, The Hats for short, are very common. Though known for necromancy and a big part of their business model is on the basis of getting in touch with ancestors or historical figures they also do everything in between. From the Lao of Life and Fertility to Mage Tinkers and a lot of others in between. They can usually be easily found by the fact they dress very well, usually in suits or dresses and of course the fancy hats.

The Houses: These are currently four, Houses Black, White, Red and Blue. All ruled by a head witch, Liza, Baba Yaga, Silver and Glinda. The four stand as bedrock of both political and social magic. Each have armies they can throw around and several have gone to war with each other from time to time. In time Blue, Black and Red would ally together and White would continue to be a pain to everyone else. All of them have enough clout to make even the elves and greens listen to them. And Liza and Glinda all but co-rule with the rulers of their respective lands.

Covens: Your typical sort, three is standard and they keep to odd numbers. The currently most powerful coven is the Sylvan Forest coven, consisting of Maleficent, Ursula and Grimhilde of Bluebells. They have all defied their songs and stories and two rule over cities and Grimhilde hangs out at the Seven Dwarfs Inn and keeps trying to get Snow to join the coven. Covens tend to stick to themselves, meet from time to time and take care of local issues. They tend to have to be able to use multiple magics and have a sort of jack of all trades vibe. Or Master of All Trades in Maleficent's case.

Hedges: Traveling sort of low level mages, wizards, witches and other magic users. There's always a few who are shady and snake oil sorts. Most are fairly honest and usually not going to fake things. They're usually in need of food and coin, so they need to have a good rep. Many will take up apprentices and they attach themselves to villages to become the local Hedge. They wander until they find a place that has need of them and then become the local wizard.

Tower Outliers: Those like Edwin the Necromancer, or as he is nicknamed, 'Ed of the Dead'. He doesn't come out of his tower often enough to be bothered by said nickname. The Tower outliers are the sort of mage who prefers to hang out, do lots of research and experiments. Or in the old days, to cast curses and cause all sorts of trouble from. The Outliers range in power and clout. Most around just want to be left alone and sometimes go to lethal measures to be left alone. But ever are they in a tower.

Magocrocies and Mage Knights: Born of the human slave rebellions of Zukal. Ruled by the might of mages and their golem armies, alchemists, forge knights and mage knights. They are the single most powerful entity on this list, even as a broken kingdom. Once a continent and ocean spanning empire at it's peak. They also have the best University for magic and it creates even to this day a great many mages of some power. They are currently ruled by the Arch Mage Selina and the Mage Queen and King of Zukal.

Bonuses-

Liches: The life suckers of Magic and what everyone fights against. They are supreme magical powers and have been known to kill gods and elders. They started the war named after them. They don't have names so much as titles.

Seers: With the end of prophecy, they are few and far between. Not helped by the fact The Mab killed as many as she could and stuck their eyes and souls into her armor and cape and helmets so she could never be caught off guard. This worked until the paths of prophecy were cut out.

Death Priests, Reapers, Keepers of the Dead: Hallowed necromancers who deal with the rites of the dead and operate more as holy temples to the deities of death. They bring the dead to peace, fight the undead and give rites to the dead. The Liches tried to give them bad press but they live on. They are also out after The Veil Walker, the only necromancer to turn to Lich. To put it to peace. Preferably violently.

 

[Orc Knight]

One last bonus I forget.

The Nones: The natural born anti magical people. Counted among the original dragon slayers and mage killers in a world known for exceptionally powerful magic. Due to being hunted down even as they were used as elites in a usual dichotomy of things. They are the natural counter who in time can kill magic by simply existing. Those left over and who know what they are have a fortress monastery on the Celestial Lands side of the Dragonspine Mountains where they keep hidden. Once brought out, due to the undead and Liches being unable to see them through magic, they are really good at killing them. Again. They are still few, numbering little over a couple hundred and not all of them joining the fights. The best known None is Flora Sunshield, the titled Dragon Puncher and bodyguard of Adriel Sunleaf.

 

[Saigonnus]

I think each culture should have a different way of doing things. Maybe some are like monks, others more like a school, perhaps in other places magic is prohibited, so it needs to be kept secret.

 

[WooHooMan]

This thread went longer than I thought. That's nice. Thank you everyone for you posts.

I figured I'd talk a little bit about my mage groups though I didn't really plan to. I'll start with the groups and so forth as they relate to my main character and then mention/summarize all the other groups that appear in this story. But first, I'll point-out that I really went hard on the idea that spellcasting is a skill like painting or playing an instrument and that magic, as a whole, is an art.

The main character was the apprentice of a master mage twice in his life. He was one of several apprentices to a master mage between the ages of 12 and 15. That's where he learned the basic building blocks of magic. He more or less dropped it after his dad passed away. Then he was the only apprentice under a different, more highly regarded master mage between ages 18 and 21. He got his first apprenticeship because his parents were friends with that teacher. He got his second teacher by being recommended by his first teacher.
In between his two apprenticeships, he lived with a commune of young magicians who practiced and learned magic from each other. Very democratic with no leaders or agendas save for their own betterment. Also, they split the rent on their communal home.
From ages 22 to about 26, he was part of the Bleeding Hearts Club who were just a social club for magicians. They had a chairman and "governing body" who oversaw the groups finances, administration and whatever events or parties they were hosting. Being a member was just a social status thing and they were very picky about their members - they only accept "accomplished" magicians.

The most prominent mage group in the story (in that the reader meets all of their members) is a group of five mages who have no group name or rules to being a member. They are just a group of mages who meet-up, hang out and do magic together. They learn from one another and pull their resources. The de-facto leader is meant to be the "frontman" of this "band". He's the face and personality of the group. His teacher is the drummer: the fun guy who acts as the backbone for their little act.

There's also a "movement" called the Syzygarians. They have characteristics: they approach magic the same way, they dress similarly and they generally have a similar method of doing things. They don't have any real unity. There's cells and gangs here and there but there are no really leaders. Though some Syzygaian mages may be icons within this movement. At their core, they are all about the relationship between the consciousness and reality, and they see magic as a tool for where those two spheres overlap.
There are other magic movements like the Neogaians ("modern" druids, basically), Illuminists (a "genre" that hybridize alchemy and illusionism) and so forth. They all have their fashions and their philosophies.

Then there are groups like the Starbrokers (a magic crime organization), the Windrunners (a religious order who use magic as a religious tool), various orders of mage-knights, and the Infernal Order of the Outer Ceremonies (a group who are commissioned to assist people with demon summoning rituals). Those groups all have names, leaders, ranks, rules and agendas.

So, there's different levels of centralization and structure. From the apprenticeships to the loose social circles to the movement to the organizations.

 

[ChasingSuns]

There's too many variations of mage factions in my WIP to go into in one thread, but there's a couple of primary ones that I can talk about.

The first (and arguably the largest) group is the city of Vharja. It is a floating island that moves around in an effort to remain well-hidden. The island is basically a single large mage city that sort of functions as a place of study. It doesn't function like a school, but rather a place for capable mages to hone their craft without having to worry about paranoid anti-magic groups or curious townsfolk getting in their way. The city is maintained and controlled by a group of powerful mages known as the Conclave of Mysteries. They mostly focus on the day to day aspects of keeping the city functioning, such as maintaining the spell that literally keeps the island afloat. The only thing that might make them feel inclined to interfere with a mage's research would be if the island were placed in jeopardy. There are also ideas that are considered taboo in Vharja. One such taboo is the discussion of magic being of a divine nature. Most mages here perceive magic as an innate power similar to the Force, rather than being the gift of a god (I guess you could call them magical atheists).

Another group who are very well known are the Kholgaru, a religious sect of warpriests who wield magic in battle. You could kinda think of them as Tibetan monks with magic. They are also based in a region that is completely driven by trade. The philosophy of this kingdom is that, at the end of the day, everything is for sale. So, even though these priests mostly focus on their devotion to their deity, they also act as a sellsword company.

There are also mage units in other kingdoms, although these function more like knightly orders than mage guilds. In fact, you have to be a knight in order to even join those mage units, so being a mageknight becomes a symbol of prestige.

 

[Mathas]

Something you could possibly think about is the idea that maybe the government or ruling body of your world has segregated magic, or it runs on magic, and it needs in both cases to enforce or control the use of magic.

Or maybe in a society or world where magic is allowed, you might have different races that use magic for different reasons, not just dark and light, but for different purposes like building, war, cultivation of crops, protection of royalty, recording of history etc. Then you could possibly think of it as less like magical orders, and more like actual roles and jobs, like a shoemaker, a fishmonger, a carpenter etc. like in Harry Potter, you have teachers, and you have aurors who are basically magic police. Then you would think about your race and how they work, and how they name things and what they believe in, and try to apply all of that to certain roles, instead of just having an Elvish shoemaker, you could have something that would apply to the society, and not necessarily what we know to be normal.

Adversely, in a world where magic is seen as illegal or dangerous, and the ruling body is against it and are trying to control it, you may have other organisations whose purpose is to control, incarcerate, attack or prosecute magic, like the Inquisition, or some kind of military force out to stop magic at all costs. Then you could think about how they prosper, and how magic users would not prosper. Take it one step further and think about how magic users might have to hide and therefore change their geographic location despite being more suited to a different climate, and how that would challenge them.

You could go the route of a religious order, like the Knights Templar, but they are magic users and their religion is the magic. In that case, you should try to find info on The Knights Pandion, from David Eddings books. They are a military monk order like the Knights Templar and they can use magic.

 

[Onion Volcano]

I thought the series by Lev Grossman, "The Magicians," handled this well. You have formal magical schools and you have people who learn on their own or with smaller groups. The magical schoolgoers are arrogant about their credentials and refer to the other groups as "hedge witches," or some other such derogatory terms.

Those same hedge witches are much tougher and better at magic, and the things they do are horribly dangerous.

 

[Rosemary Tea]

Since you two have really short, concise answers; I’ll throw out a follow-up question for you (and this is kind of a question for everyone else too, I guess):
Why would an experienced wizard want an apprentice? If it is really the equivalent of a real-world trade, I’m expecting that the master would be looking to get some monetary compensation for their teaching but I feel like if that were the case there would be some manner of industry for magic teaching. If there’s a supply of teachers willing to offer their services and potential students with a demand to learn, doesn’t that make a business?

This is a question I've really explored in my current WIP. It involves that very scenario, but the motivation for the experienced wizard (mage, in my story) to take an apprentice isn't monetary compensation, but status. It's considered a very high honor, in their magical society, to train an apprentice. It's also a culture where lineage counts for everything, and for a mage, the lineage that really counts is their magical lineage. Your magery ancestors are the master you learned from, and their master, and theirs, back down the line. Your magery descendants start with your apprentice. Having them really raises your status.

Plus, many of the mages find emotional satisfaction in teaching an apprentice and developing a relationship with them. Some really care much more about that than about status.

They're all allocated the resources they need to live on and do their jobs. A mage with an apprentice gets enough extra to support the apprentice, but that isn't treated as compensation, just making the job of training one possible. Money isn't really what motivates a mage. What they care about is the actual work that they're doing, their values, and their status.

 

[SirenSon117]

In my primary setting(Terra Sola), everyone can use Magic. It's been integrated into everything through Alchemy(which I define as mixing Magic with different things). Magic is taught at school as a compulsory course alongside Math, History, Science, and English(your common core stuff). As a student progresses through the grades, they learn more about Magic and and can cast basic spells and use Magic Items after finishing high school. It's part of getting your diploma. After high school things start getting complex. Whether you go into college or into the military, you are trained in appropriate magic and Alchemy for your career. Chefs will learn Fire and Water Magic and Alchemy designed to help in the kitchen while Gladiators will lean towards flashy battle magic. Everyone knows a little bit of battle magic and little bit of healing magic to get by on in case of emergencies. If college/military doesn't seem right for you, most spells are tucked away in spell books that anyone can pick up and learn from provided they can read the language. Every organization in Terra Sola uses Magic in some way, because everyone in Terra Sola uses Magic or at least uses Magic Items. Thus, every organization can be considered a "wizard's guild" on a technical level because everyone is a wizard.

 

[John McNeil]

I have 4 schools of magic. The mages are drawn from four nations. Three of the schools work together to train students and qualified mages are free to move about serving the public or carry out work required by the schools. They have a number of limitations put on their actions by the accords drawn up by the four nations (the most important being that a mage can never return home to the nation of their origin). The fourth school monitors the activities of the other three and acts as diplomatic liaisons to the leaders of the four nations. A secret society of normal humans monitors the fourth school.

Mine is highly structured but that comes about because the ability to perform magic is granted by a substance to only the people selected by the four nations.