Magicall clasification system

[Mireille]

How do I talk about a magic system where society has created a classification system without it sounding like a game or D&D campaign?

My novel is a contemporary fantasy where the ability to use wild magic is a genetic trait accessible from birth (sort of like Jack Jack from the Incredibles). Over the centuries, the kingdom (yet to be named) has developed a classification system that is assessed when children enter secondary school and begin learning how to control it. Before children enter secondary school, they are banned from the magic zone (this needs a better name) where there is wild magic. Due to the potentially lethal nature of young children with powers either killing themselves or others accidentally. Think newborn trying to transport back inside its mother because the world outside mum is uncomfortable, or a toddler who wants something just summoning it magically.

When they finish school, they are given a license to be in the magic zone, with their classification on it. Adults are permitted to use magic any way they want, so long as it doesn’t harm anyone else.

People are ranked from 1 to 9, with 9 being almost no magic, to 3 being very high. Classes 2 and 1 are special cases. There is only ever 1 class 1 that is the monarch chosen by a magic sword when the previous one dies. (I am using the sword in the stone base for this) They get a boost to their natural magic and could be anyone with approximately 50/50 split between kings and queens. Class 2’s tend to be either genetic anomalies or children of monarchs. They make up the monarchs council. New class 2’s tend to be found when there is a change in the monarch, as they can seem like 3 unless they are in the presence of the sword. They can’t pull it but it sings to them.

This has led to a classist system amongst the higher classes with eugenic tendencies and an exclusion of women duet to caring rolls when they have children and are subsequently banished from the magic zone.

 

[Finchbearer]

I think it would be unavoidable to have it not sound like a gaming system, especially if you use numbers.

 

[CupofJoe]

Purely personally...
I'd remove #1 and 2 from the scale.
If you can't attain 1 or 2 but are born to them, then I'd call them something different.
As for making it feel a bit less hierarchical...
How about using colour?
If you remove 1 & 2 then you have 7, and that a nice sort of number for colours [sins, levels of hell, wonders of the world, take your pick]
I have no idea if it's been used before [almost certainly]. but it would be harder to argue that some one Blue is higher up than someone Orange, or if Green is better than Yellow.

 

[Rexenm]

It depends if the magic is offensive or not. If it is mundane, that is okay too. Usually, writers tend to stay away from the love\hate, sex\violence trope, because of the classifications of romance. There is inklings and subtleties to prose, that makes you gag if it goes off wrong, not just the ultra-violence of the movies. If there was something to stay away from, it would be ultra-realism.

 

[Mireille]

The premise of the story is my protagonists get stuck in the royal vault when the old king dies. One of them is the son of the old king and uses magic for almost everything. The other one is the royal archivist and despite being reasonably gifted, almost never uses magic because of social conditioning. So the topic comes up as they try to escape.

I kind of see the ranking thig like SAT scores or GCSE results. They are kind of important and everyone knows their own scores, but most people don’t talk about them or care really beyond getting through school and how it opens up life options.

I like the colour option will have a think about it.

 

[pmmg]

I think there are plenty of terms you could choose from (and some of the 1st edition D&D books used to have titles to go with their levels--not sure if the current ones do.) and though IRL we dont really use levels (unless you are a freemason), we do have many terms that kind of do the same things. Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Master are some. The belt system in martial arts. Certification systems. Maybe I am not called a fire mage until I show it in front of a certifying board.

Any classification system would only approximate at best. Many people are good at things they are not certified in, and many are certified and not skilled.

One might get ranked something, like a prize fighter. Tyson is no1, heavy weight champ, until someone else shows differently, but...you know...there is always a bigger fish.


Personally, if you said, So and So is a level 3 wizard, I am going to think Gaming, and if you say, this wizard is ranked no 3, I am going to think Anime.

So I would not talk about things in those terms. I would instead I would show the ranking system as something that people tested out for. Such that, I would call my friend a fire master, if he passed the fire master test before some authority. But this would not preclude everyone else, cause there might be some who could pass it, but never tested on it. How else would I know what to call them?

Alternatively, there could be some measure, such as when someone shows they can cause gouts of fire to some degree, they might get esteemed as being higher up on the chart. So, after some feat, I might say, they are at least level 3 fire master, but they could also be greater and I would not know.

I think if you want those kinds of rankings, it would be best to have a non-RPG reason as to why, and make that come early in the story.