Earwa > General Earwa
Schools, their numbers and resources
What Came Before:
--- Quote from: Wilshire ---
--- Quote from: Wilshire ---Also the Mandate (and so presumably other schools) have more ranking systems other than just 'sorcerers of rank'. In the library scene (I think) Akka refers to himself as a "war-cant master".
--- End quote ---
Pretty much just correcting my post since I remembered typing this out months ago and just recently re-read the library scene.
In the section with the Sareotic Library (page 271 WP, paperback) Akka says about himself: "He was a Mandate Schoolman, a Gnostic Sorcerer-of-the-Rank", a "War-Cant Master".
my bold.
Reasons for the bold:
"The" was left out of my original thing I said, and I think this could be an important distinction, or at least then copuled with the capital R in rank. This seems to imply "the Rank" is a further line of distinction within the Mandati order, as opposed to "the rank" being some kind of sweeping statement that pretty much just says that you arn't an acolyte.
Also I found it interesting that as he starts to realize that he doesn't have a chance he thinks "He was a Scion of Seswatha, a Disciple of Noshainrou the White. He was the slayer of Skafra, mightiest of the Wraku. He had pitched his song against the dread heights of Golgotterath. He had stood proud and impenitent before Mog-Pharau himself..."
Akka slips so easily into the guise of Seswatha.
And just to spread the wealth a bit from other threads to make it easier for people to find specific information:
stuff from me, on TUC exerpt thread.
--- Quote ---Since I didn't know where else to post this: there is a passage in WLW, the first large battle, when Kayutas sends out the Witches. A description of how many.
"At her brother's command, Serwa deployued her witches behind the common line, holding forty-three of the most senior and accomplished in reserve" ... "They climbed out beyond the common line, a second chevron, like a mathematical apparition of the first, two hundred lights flung into the blackness of the plain" ... "Bars of heaven, lines of blinding white rising from the wasted ground to shrouded sky, some two hundred of them"
Anyone recall how many Mandate there were during the first trillogy? I know it was explicitly stated how many Spires schoolmen there were, but I cannot remember if they said exacly how many Mandate. I thought it was around 100 but I could be wrong.
If Kellhus could train a school from 0 to 200 gnostic users during his reign, I wonder how large he could have grown the Mandate in that time? Especially considering that the Sisterhood and the Mandate would not be competing for members.?
--- End quote ---
and a response from Madness later on
--- Quote --- "And so the number of the Kites flown by the Army of the South was doubled. More than three hundred sorcerers of rank and some two hundred more understudies now strode through the sepulchral clouds above the Horde" (WLW, p706).
This includes the Schools of Vokalati and the Mandate.
--- End quote ---
--- End quote ---
What Came Before:
--- Quote from: Triskele ---Cishaurim: 1
--- End quote ---
What Came Before:
--- Quote from: Wilshire ---
--- Quote from: Triskele ---Cishaurim: 1
--- End quote ---
lmao
--- End quote ---
What Came Before:
--- Quote from: geoint ---
--- Quote from: Wilshire ---Sologdin, just in case you where unsure, this section is not one where spoiler tags have been used much.
Also, I do believe that Achamian lets us know the exact number that the scarlet spires has. Unfortunatly I dont remember if it was in TWP or TTT. I seem to remember something between 1 and 2 hundred scorcers (of rank or otherwise).
Also the Mandate (and so presumably other schools) have more ranking systems other than just 'sorcerers of rank'. In the library scene (I think) Akka refers to himself as a "war-cant master". This leads me to believe that the number of 'ranked' scorcerers could be like counting the number of officers in an army. Sure there are a lot less officers, but if you killed a couple generals the rest would fall apart (the head of a snake and all that). There is the matter of how those ranks between schools stack up. Its like collecting baseball cards, where 90% of the value is in 10% of the cards. Same with the few. Each 'rank' is probably a pretty significant step, especially when you consider the amount of knowledge, the purity of meaning, and many other factors contributing to strength.
If you look at TFS you can see that although the two sorcerers there (sorry forget names) have vastly different "power levels", even though they both have the gnosis and they are both at similar 'ranks' in their respective schools.
--- End quote ---
Losing EVERY General in the Army would not do anything except save taxpayers a TON of money. Overpaid to do a whole lot of nothing.
With that said, my impression of how the schools work is you actually have to be good at what you do to get promoted (as opposed to playing politics and having a good haircut like our modern military). So ya a SoR is probably actually important for his school. A General in the US Army just does admin. (And I guarantee you they delegate 99% of everything to their Sergeants Major and civilians)
The days of Julius Caesar or George Washington are long gone. The Army is too bureaucratic for most soldiers to care.
--- End quote ---
What Came Before:
--- Quote from: lockesnow ---even a few hundred seems too many. I guess almost all the Mandati stay cloistered on Atyersus?
Otherwise why have only one spy with the holy war? Where was the spy in Momemn for Achamian to reconnoiter with? Where was the spy in Sumna for Achamian to reconnoiter with? Where was the spy in Shimeh for Achamian to reconnoiter with? Achamian was the spy in Carythusal and apparently the Mandate had no other eyes, no other ears in all the world. No wonder a Skin Spy was watching Achamian in Carythusal, he was the only active Mandate sorcerer in the three seas. ;)
--- End quote ---
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version