How do Scarterrans rank magic users?
As a Game Master or player it is common to say "She has Healing Three" or "She is a three-dot Healer"), but in-universe, Scarterrans don't see the dots on their character sheets in magic or any other aspect of ability that has a dot rating.
That said, Scarterrans do recognize there are powerful spell-casters and not weak spell-casters and scholars and theologians are wise to the notion that most magic in Scarterra seems to fall under a five-tier system.
Theurgists
There are sixteen known "spheres" of divine magic and each operates on a ● to ●●●●● scale with a different power or ability at each level for a whopping 80 possible theurgist spells not counting the lesser known combination powers. Unlike arcane magic, theurgist spheres have to learned in a specific order. In order to learn Healing ●●●, you need to first learn Healing ● and Healing ●●. Scarterrans are not going to talk about how many dots someone has, but they recognize the order in which powers arrive. Most Scarterran commoners are aware that there are different power levels of theurgy but they don't commonly know the specifics, but most Scarterrans that seriously study theology can probably recite what all eighty known theurgist spells can do even if they have never met someone who can do a quarter of those things that are theoretically possible. Many theurgists top at ●●● in their favorite spheres and very few theurgists every acquire ●●●●● powers. Theurgists who followthe Dragons' Path will gain mystic power much faster than those that rarely leave the temple. A great many powerful adventuring theurgists often choose to gain ●●● in several spheres rather than strive to get ●●●●● in a single sphere. For a theurgist in the field, the most utilitarian spells tend to fall at the ●●● level. Conversely, those theurgists that choose the slow and steady route of mystic advancement in a temple or monastery tend to be singularly focused on developing one sphere of a time. The various priesthoods have their own in-house terms for the five levels of ability in each sphere but the priests do barter and sell potions, scrolls or direct spell-casting services amongst each other so they need a common language to communicate. The terms below were originally developed by the Cult of the Compact and serve as the common language that theurgists of other orders use when talking to each other. ● Initiate ●● Novice ●●● Acolyte ●●●● Disciple ●●●●● Guru Even if a theurgist has several spheres, his or overall standing and title is based on their best sphere. For example, Ragani the gnome Guardian is a very potent adventuring theurgist. On her character sheet she has Spirit ●●●●●, Healing ●●●●, Protection ●●. But Scarterrans don't recognize character sheets of course, so she is a Guru in Spirit, a Disciple in Healing, and a Novice in Protection. In short-hand, she is referred to Guru theurgist because theurgists are labeled by their best magic. Most people will say "Ragani is a theurgist guru". No one is likely to bring up her lesser titles unless someone specifically asks her to heal an amputee, then she might say, "I can't do that, I'm only a Disciple of Healing." The above is the vernacular if she dealing with priests and theurgists from other groups. In Ragani's own faction, the Guardians have their own system of ranking theurgy. Ragani is a Grand Master in Spirit, a Master in Healing, and a Novice in Protection. Just because Ragani is a "Grand Master" as a spell-caster doesn't mean she is a Grand Master as a priestess, Ragani's regional ecclesiastical group, the Fumayan Guardians has about 200 men and women in it, not counting those still in training. 90% of the Guardians have the rank of "Brother" or "Sister" and about half of these men and women will never rise about that rank. Of the 200 holy men and women in her order, only about 50 of them are theurgists and you can count the number of theurgists in Ragani's casting tier on one hand. Despite being a magical badass, Ragani is still only known as "Sister Ragani". In ecclesiastical terms, she is equal to most of her brethren (even though she could beat most of them up if she wanted to). Assuming Ragani survives the current military campaign, she has a good chance of being fast-tracked for promotion. Not because of her magical ability but because she has bravely and competently succeeded in many dangerous missions. Even if the war drags on a very long time, she will probably not be promoted during the war because her superiors want to don't want their elite little theurgist to leave the front lines. When and if Ragani does get promoted, it will not because of her magical prowess because she is a war heroine who did difficult and dangerous tasks without complaint. A lot of Guardian war heroes are not spell-casters but they get promoted all the same. This is pretty normal, in most of the major priesthoods, spell-casting ability is not required to be promoted. Valorous deeds, years of seniority, political connections, managerial skills, and general charisma all factor in as much if not not more so than magical ability. Among the Guardians, combat prowess and skill at crafting are highly valued on top of the above mentioned things. The Children are an exception to the norm of the other major priesthoods. Because Greymoria is the goddess of magic, it makes sense that their pecking order is determined almost exclusively by who is the most powerful spell-caster. Among the other groups, spell-casting is nice to have, but not required.Nomenclature for theurgist levels by priestly faction
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Testers
The Testers theurgist ranks are loosely based on predators.
● Fur
●● Bone
●●● Blood
●●●● Fang
●●●●● Apex
Tenders
Tenders base their theurgist rankings on water.
● Teardrop
●● Splash
●●● Stream
●●●● River
●●●●● Sea
Stewards
The Stewards base their terms for Theurgist levels on stages of plant growth
● Soil
●● Seedling
●●● Sapling
●●●● Tree
●●●●● Forest
Rovers
The Rovers based their terms for theurgist levels on the wind
● Still
●● Breeze
●●● Gust
●●●● Gale
●●●●● Tempest
Children
The Children use similar terms for theurgy that wizards use to talk about their arcane magic.
● Apprentice
●● Novice
●●● Adeptus
●●●● Master
●●●●● Arch Theurgist
Keepers
The Keepers adopted the theurgist terms used by the Cult of the Compact verbatim.
● Initiate
●● Novice
●●● Acolyte
●●●● Disciple
●●●●● Guru
Lanterns
The Lanterns system of theurgist ranks is based on the moon.
● Dark
●● Crescent
●●● Quarter
●●●● Gibbous
●●●●● Full
Guardians
The Guardians theurgist ranking system is inspired by trades guilds' rankings.
● Apprentice
●● Novice
●●● Journeyman
●●●● Master
●●●●● Grand Master
Masks
The Masks magical system is based on wealth.
● Copper
●● Silver
●●● Gold
●●●● Platinum
●●●●● Bejeweled
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