At 02:05 PM 6/30/98 -0400, J.D. Lail wrote:
>Random Thoughts
>
>1)Here's a notion to consider when looking at the number of Mages. Because
>of the fact that there is very little room for a new human blooded mage
>(wizard) to acquire sources except in Rjurik or Vos territories there should
>be an impetus for a wizard to emigrate south. Obviously to some extent this
>is true of every class but not every race ! The elves can not do this. AFAIK
>they did not exist anywhere else in the known parts of Aerbynnis.
>
>Given human breeding patterns and rates you need something like this to
>partially explain why every human in Cerilia is not blooded. Actually
>you need a lot more than this but that is another thread. :)
>
Do you care to explain point 1 in more detail, I'm not sure what the hell
you are talking about

>2)Some of you seem to saying that because all elves can cast true magic that
>huge numbers of them should. If they were faced with imminent, overt,
>extinction that might make more sense but that is is not the case*. If you
>turned this around and applied it to the humans then all blooded non regents
>should be wizards or priests. And of course any one with the intelligence to
>be a simple mage would have to do so. This is not a scenario favorable to
>the elves IMHO.
>
>*Simply put what the humans did was to breed real fast. By the time they
>started to crowd the elves it was too late.
>
According to all literature on the subject, elven society is much more
magical than human society. As there are no elven clerics, this implies
large numbers of elven mages, especially as elven mages will have to fill
the roles covered by priests in human societies (ie. judges (detect lie?),
healers (curing spells), and leaders).
As far as the scenario of all blooded humans being spellcasters and all
elves being mages, it would not be that unfavorable. Remember, blooded
humans are either 1/1000 or 1/10000 depending on your campaign. I don't
think that the humans outnumber the elves by more than 10 or 20 to one.

>3)Another point, Realm Magic, how did the elves learn to cast it ? The humans
>had a God of Magic and his Priesthood to help them in their efforts to
>learn. The Elves had nada and likely had to pick it up the old fashioned way
>(i.e., steal it).
>
If you look closely at the book of magecraft the elves had realm magic
before Deismaar, but had trouble controlling ley-lines to use it. The elves
therefore had a magical tradition to fall back, as well as a more intimate
connection to the ley lines and the lands mebhaigal.

Pieter A de Jong
Graduate Mechanical Engineering Student
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada