We find mages in most fantasy courts. They certainly appear in Altearth, where my own stories take place. So I've been putting some thought to this, which mainly means I have questions.
The fundamental question is this: what powers would court mages need in order to justify the cost of keeping them? The cost might be a stiped or might be some grant of income from land or office; in any case, it represents a cost to the lord who might otherwise grant it to someone more useful.
To answer that question I needed to get a sense of the range of magics that might exist. For this discussion, let's let that be pretty much anything (and let's keep this prior to steam and electricity). While any sort of magic would be useful in some way at some time, I quickly saw that a great many needs could be met by simply hiring an mage as an independent contractor (or through a guild). That mage would not need to be resident, not a "court mage."
So, a poisoner or indeed anyone concocting a potion or powder, only needs to be hired for the occasion. There might be consideration of trust worthiness, but even a court mage can be bought.
A battlemage seems the likely candidate. A great lord might even have a whole contingent of these, something akin to a palace guard. Most lesser lords would probably have but one or two. I leave aside how battlemages get used on the battlefield, except to note that such a mage would be an obvious target for the other side. If your battle plan depends on the battlemage and they are killed at the outset, then your plan depends on a slender reed. And sending in an assassin to kill the mage before the battle even begins also makes sense.
IOW, a court battlemage is not without complications and implications, especially for a minor noble.
In general, it appears a court mage is *most* useful when used regularly. What would be some of those regular uses? A court astrologer starts to make sense, especially when we see there's historical precedence for that. I can also see roles for anything that increases income or cuts expenses. Very mundane magic, like increasing crop yield, easing transport of goods, aiding in construction, that sort of thing. Not very exciting for story-telling, alas.
That's about as far as I've got. I'm interested to hear the thoughts of others on the topic of the court mage. And please don't forget the lesser nobility. Might there be a dividing point between those nobles who had a court mage and those would did not? Then there would certainly be those who retained one despite it being foolish.
The fundamental question is this: what powers would court mages need in order to justify the cost of keeping them? The cost might be a stiped or might be some grant of income from land or office; in any case, it represents a cost to the lord who might otherwise grant it to someone more useful.
To answer that question I needed to get a sense of the range of magics that might exist. For this discussion, let's let that be pretty much anything (and let's keep this prior to steam and electricity). While any sort of magic would be useful in some way at some time, I quickly saw that a great many needs could be met by simply hiring an mage as an independent contractor (or through a guild). That mage would not need to be resident, not a "court mage."
So, a poisoner or indeed anyone concocting a potion or powder, only needs to be hired for the occasion. There might be consideration of trust worthiness, but even a court mage can be bought.
A battlemage seems the likely candidate. A great lord might even have a whole contingent of these, something akin to a palace guard. Most lesser lords would probably have but one or two. I leave aside how battlemages get used on the battlefield, except to note that such a mage would be an obvious target for the other side. If your battle plan depends on the battlemage and they are killed at the outset, then your plan depends on a slender reed. And sending in an assassin to kill the mage before the battle even begins also makes sense.
IOW, a court battlemage is not without complications and implications, especially for a minor noble.
In general, it appears a court mage is *most* useful when used regularly. What would be some of those regular uses? A court astrologer starts to make sense, especially when we see there's historical precedence for that. I can also see roles for anything that increases income or cuts expenses. Very mundane magic, like increasing crop yield, easing transport of goods, aiding in construction, that sort of thing. Not very exciting for story-telling, alas.
That's about as far as I've got. I'm interested to hear the thoughts of others on the topic of the court mage. And please don't forget the lesser nobility. Might there be a dividing point between those nobles who had a court mage and those would did not? Then there would certainly be those who retained one despite it being foolish.